To lie outright, deliberately and with malice aforethought, in traducing a fellow-man, is slander in its direct form; but such conditions are not required to constitute a real fault of calumny.  It is not necessary to be certain that what you allege against your neighbor be false; it is sufficient that you be uncertain if it be true.  An unsubstantiated charge or accusation, a mere rumor given out as worthy of belief, a suspicion or doubt clothed so as to appear a certainty, these contain all the malice and all the elements of slander clearly characterized.  Charity, justice and truth alike are violated, guilt is there in unquestioned evidence.  Whatever subterfuge, equivocation or other crooked proceeding be resorted to, if mendacity in any form is a feature of the aspersions we cast upon the neighbor, we sin by calumny, purely and simply.

Some excuse themselves on the plea that what they say, they give out for what it is worth; they heard it from others, and take no responsibility as to its truth or falsehood.  But here we must consider the credulity of the hearers.  Will they believe it, whether you do or not?  Are they likely to receive it as truth, either because they are looking for just such reports, or because they know no better?  And whether they believe it or not, will they, on your authority, have sufficient reason for giving credence to your words?  May it not happen that the very fact of your mentioning what you did is a sufficient mark of credibility for others?  And by so doing, you contribute to their knowledge of what is false, or what is not proven true, concerning the reputation of a neighbor.

For it must be remembered that all imprudence is not guiltless, all thoughtlessness is not innocent of wrong.  It is easy to calumniate a person by qualifying him in an off-hand way as a thief, a blackleg, a fast-liver, etc.  It is easy, by adding an invented detail to a statement, to give it an altogether different color and turn truth into falsehood.  But the easiest way is to interpret a man’s intentions according to a dislike, and, by stringing in such fancies with a lot of facts, pass them on unsuspecting credulity that takes all or none.  If you do not think well of another, and the occasion demand it, speak it out; but make it known that it is your individual judgment and give your reasons for thus opining.

The desperate character of calumny is that, while it must be repaired, as we shall see later, the thing is difficult, often impossible; frequently the reparation increases the evil instead of diminishing it.  The slogan of unrighteousness is:  “Calumniate, calumniate, some of it will stick!” He who slanders, lies; he who lies once may lie again, a liar is never worthy of belief, whether he tells the truth or not, for there is no knowing when he is telling the truth.  One has the right to disbelieve the calumniator when he does wrong or when he tries to undo it.  And human nature is so constructed that it prefers to believe in the first instance and to disbelieve in the second.