Greetings, and thanks to Al and everyone here at the Faculty Lounge for hosting me. As a longtime reader and lurker, it's exciting to finally "de-lurk" and more actively join in these conversations. I hope that some of my future posts will coax other fellow lurkers to join in the discussions, as well.
Indeed, the move from silent observer to speaking participant relates to a theme of some interesting articles I've been reading lately: the importance of audience in various legal contexts. A smattering includes an article that argues for a more fulsome understanding of reputational interests that goes beyond the usual plaintiff-defendant dyad to include the interests of the audience or community; another that argues that spectator sport, as a form of "audience-oriented entertainment," should be entitled to First Amendment protection; and another that considers how law may be understood as one of the performing arts, and thus one in which the audience plays a crucial role. Although disparate in subject area and focus, these articles argue that the presence of an audience impacts the nature of the underlying right or activity at issue in profound ways.
Given that one of my particular fields of inquiry is the potential of third-party liability to influence social norms, I am most interested in how and why liability may expand to include spectators, audience-members, or lurkers in certain instances, and how the relationship between audience, actor, and activity is understood in these contexts. In future postings, I hope to discuss this topic in more depth, along with some additional musings on the connections between third-party liability, current events, legal history, and gender and race.
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