Oh fuck off Assange

[Gandalf]

That is all I have to contribute to this thread.

You celebrate what this guy does and why? Because it makes America look bad and to you that is apparently something that vindicates your feelings all along. Well I'm not going to tell you how to feel about America, perhaps my view on politics is a bit too Machiavellian for you, but I live in the real world and shit happens and it's better that it happens to other people in other countries than to America.

Assange doesn't care, he just likes being the center of attention, he has no ties to one place or another, he just wants to wield what little power he has, make his money, and be a cult hero.....I don't see it ending well for him though.

How do you know so much about the personality of Assange? Perhaps you are right, but at the same time perhaps you are way off base. I would avoid such assertions as they are irrelevant and avoid the facts. And the facts that matter are what Wikileaks tells us about the abuse of power.

You say I 'celebrate' Assange. I don't think I do. I make no pretence at knowing who he is, but like Chomsky and your friend Michael Moore, he is not afraid to release facts that show the extent of the corruption that is so blatantly apparent in your country. If the facts didn't exist then there would be nothing to reveal. It is the secrecy and lies that kill people, not the release of facts about the powers that be that commit such acts.

Sure, you live in the real world and the real world of your politics is savage and unjust. It isn't the real world of a lot of other far more civilised nations. I would much rather America keep its own savagery within its own borders and leave the rest of the world alone. Maybe then you wouldn't need to be so concerned about an organisation like Wikileaks.

Again, I ask you to please tell me what facts you have learnt as to America's abuse of power from the 250,000 cables released?

I gave a response in the other thread. My contribution to this thread is officially done. I want to watch the cricket.

[boozeboxer]

I don't really have an opinion yet. I have the luxury of waiting to determine how I feel.

However, the victorian prison comment sounded so prick-like. Too bad he wasn't in a Somalian prison.

[Dizaster]

Besides all that though, the guy is seriously creepy....

I think their could be truth to the charges against him assaulting women...

The dude is like 30 and already has completely silver hair...

My theory is he's some sort of weird Pinocchio type mythological creature who's hair goes more gray each time he assaults a girl in the dark... Like these dark evil deeds turn him weirder and creepier until he's 35 and looking like Golum up there at press conferences saying he's a savior to truth and doesn't do any nasty acts to women....

[El Kabong]

Well miles I think Chomsky clinches the "nutjob liberal" tag by describing himself as an anarcho-syndicalist and libertarian socialist.

Dizaster, I think Assange is Crispen Glover's long lost brother

...I think I'm going to have nightmares

[Dizaster]

Well miles I think Chomsky clinches the "nutjob liberal" tag by describing himself as an anarcho-syndicalist and libertarian socialist.

Dizaster, I think Assange is Crispen Glover's long lost brother

...I think I'm going to have nightmares

haha that's funny! That entire video clip has a whole creepy Assange feel to it...

I wonder if it's his superhero theme music that he plays right before he hits the upload on one of his Earth shattering leaks...


(and in the background while he touches women)

[ono]

Didn't everyone like this guy a few weeks ago?

[El Kabong]

Didn't everyone like this guy a few weeks ago?

No

[Kev]

Didn't everyone like this guy a few weeks ago?

I must admit, I never disapproved of the first big leak they did, that American gunship civilain massacre. I did feel that that was in the public interest for us to at least know about. When you consider the international furore caused by the Israeli's killing Turkish 'peace activist's' in that flotilla incident, this seemed like it should at least merit some discussion and investigation.

The trouble with Assange as I see it is that he is not trying to expose a particular corruption or cover ups. Rather he is just on a mission tear back the veil revealing how governments work in private, and showing us any and every discussion and correspondence he can get his hands on.

Nothing is off limits to him, he will just put everything on show whether it details corruption or not, or is in the public interest or not.

I cannot see how a supposedly moral man like Miles can endorse him. If the American government acted this way he would be absolutely disgusted.

I mean didn't he create a thread saying America had 'lost it's mind' because of the x-ray scanners at airports now? He sees that as a gross invasion of privacy, even though no images are recorded, the only person who sees the footage is in a back room away from the check in and never sees the actual passengers, and the American government is responding to a clear and proven risk of terrorism.

He's so hypocritical on the issue.

If Assange was like Daniel Ellsberg, i.e a man of integrity trying to highlight blatent mistruths told to the American people regarding their entry into war with Vietnam, of which he himself had been part, and who was blowing the whistle on the corruption and lies in order to save lives I could get behind him.

But he's not. He has no moral agenda, just a belief that there should be nothing private and confidential or classified in government and that he has the right to steal, or at least be an acomplice to the theft of such classified documents for theft's sake.

What corruption was he trying to unroot and expose when he released these 250,000 cables? As we have seen so far, even Miles admits there is none. So it's not whistle blowing, it's just theft and espionage and in my opinion an act of terrorism purely to satisfy some power trip that he has.

Thanks to him the American government will tighten up its security now, and will exert a more iron grip on the internet much like China does. He has only made things worse, and for what? America actually looks pretty good so far thanks to his releases, which rather hilariously has prompted those who need to slam America at all costs to claim that he was obviously being unwittingly fed information by the CIA who ensured that only cables that were showing America in a good light would be exposed.

So what he has done is the equivilent of police breaking into a house with no search warrant, of an occupant on no charges, and photographed, categorised, itemised all of his household contents, computer and telephone activity etc and publicly revealed it to the world, only for him to have no incriminating evidence against him at all.

Miles would most definitely not approve of police acting in such an unlawful manner yet Assange to his blinkered eyes is acting in an entirely appropriate and moral way.

He is even angry that they are trying to press Bradley Manning to confirm him as an accomplice as if this shows more corruption in America. What does he seriously expect, that America should react positively to a man stealing classified informtion and listen carefully to his admonishments?

Assange is the law breaker here, and he deserves to be treated as such.