And speaking of slander
This is a perfect example of something I’d already noticed from my limited experience: When most people accuse someone else of slander, what they really mean is that they didn’t repeat the party line. Any time you’re questioning beliefs that people hold near and dear to their hearts, you’re going to get defensive reactions from people who can’t get their heads around a conflicting thought. This holds for every dear-held belief from “The war in Iraq is going well” to “Joss Whedon would have brought Tara back in the seventh season of Buffy if not for that darned Amber Benson.”