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Either they are planning to kill him and frame it as a suicide, or his life has been made so miserable that suicide appears to be an escape. Both are awful to c

Either they are planning to kill him and frame it as a suicide, or his life has been made so miserable that suicide appears to be an escape. Both are awful to consider. I'm not informed enough to know whether any of the leaks he facilitated lead to the unnecessary harm of innocent people, but I deeply respect his dedication to the truth. As far as I know he has not outed his sources. We should aspire to be as brave as the likes of Assange and Snowden.

mhh__ 6y ago
Based on currently available information I view snowden on a different tier to assange. Assange has always been a political activist as well as whatever else he is, whereas Snowden is much less active. The relations wikileaks had with the Trump campaign and GRU do make me somewhat less sympathetic with him. On a smaller scale wikileaks have on multiple occasions published lists containing innocent bystanders's full contact and card details - this is clearly a statement in and of itself (not Redacting the details of someone who made a $50 donation to the democrats is wrong and meditated)
- TheUndead96 6y ago
  That's a good point, I had not thought of it in those terms. Snowden was much more "I saw something wrong and I did something about it".
  - srtjstjsj 6y ago
    Assange built an organization dedicated to uncovering wrong things.
    - FireBeyond 6y ago
      He did. And somewhere along the line, he also realized, "How can I use this organization to _also_ support my ideologies?"
acomjean 6y ago
Well some argue his dump of emails coordinated with a now pardoned US political operative helped push one candidate over another. It had a pretty negative impact on many lives. Somewhat ironically hurting the concept of “truth” in politics.
- mlthoughts2018 6y ago
  You should be upset with the DNC members whose behavior was exposed by the emails. Those DNC members destabilized the election with their behavior, not Assange. Assange reported it. You seem to have the blame completely reversed. Assange did not perpetrate behavior that destabilized an election or facilitated a Trump win, not one bit. Democrat party leaders did that and have only themselves to blame. Assange reported it.
  - hackinthebochs 6y ago
    There was no behavior uncovered by the emails that were unfair or destabilizing. However, reporting of the emails frame them as such. It was the false or out-of-context reporting that was destabilizing. But this was the intent from the start. It turns out information without context is just as bad as outright fabrications.
    - throwawaythekey 6y ago
      Without going into murkier territories like bias Unfair - debate questions were leaked to Hillary ahead of time. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/donna-brazile-hillary-clinton-leak-regret-236184 https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/donna-brazile-hillary... Destabilizing - the Hillary campaign promoted Trump as a candidate. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/hillary-clinton-2016-donald-trump-214428 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/hillary-clin...
      - mlthoughts2018 6y ago
        It’s a shame to see tribalistic downvoting on this. It’s just stating facts that render the parent comment fundamentally inaccurate. There’s nothing to downvote, there’s no possible angle of interpretation or disagreement. Downvoting this is equivalent to saying “Assange is bad no matter what the facts or evidence shows.”

mhh__ 6y ago

Based on currently available information I view snowden on a different tier to assange. Assange has always been a political activist as well as whatever else he is, whereas Snowden is much less active. The relations wikileaks had with the Trump campaign and GRU do make me somewhat less sympathetic with him. On a smaller scale wikileaks have on multiple occasions published lists containing innocent bystanders's full contact and card details - this is clearly a statement in and of itself (not Redacting the details of someone who made a $50 donation to the democrats is wrong and meditated)

TheUndead96 6y ago
That's a good point, I had not thought of it in those terms. Snowden was much more "I saw something wrong and I did something about it".
- srtjstjsj 6y ago
  Assange built an organization dedicated to uncovering wrong things.
  - FireBeyond 6y ago
    He did. And somewhere along the line, he also realized, "How can I use this organization to _also_ support my ideologies?"

acomjean 6y ago

Well some argue his dump of emails coordinated with a now pardoned US political operative helped push one candidate over another. It had a pretty negative impact on many lives. Somewhat ironically hurting the concept of “truth” in politics.

mlthoughts2018 6y ago
You should be upset with the DNC members whose behavior was exposed by the emails. Those DNC members destabilized the election with their behavior, not Assange. Assange reported it. You seem to have the blame completely reversed. Assange did not perpetrate behavior that destabilized an election or facilitated a Trump win, not one bit. Democrat party leaders did that and have only themselves to blame. Assange reported it.
- hackinthebochs 6y ago
  There was no behavior uncovered by the emails that were unfair or destabilizing. However, reporting of the emails frame them as such. It was the false or out-of-context reporting that was destabilizing. But this was the intent from the start. It turns out information without context is just as bad as outright fabrications.
  - throwawaythekey 6y ago
    Without going into murkier territories like bias Unfair - debate questions were leaked to Hillary ahead of time. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/donna-brazile-hillary-clinton-leak-regret-236184 https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/donna-brazile-hillary... Destabilizing - the Hillary campaign promoted Trump as a candidate. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/hillary-clinton-2016-donald-trump-214428 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/hillary-clin...
    - mlthoughts2018 6y ago
      It’s a shame to see tribalistic downvoting on this. It’s just stating facts that render the parent comment fundamentally inaccurate. There’s nothing to downvote, there’s no possible angle of interpretation or disagreement. Downvoting this is equivalent to saying “Assange is bad no matter what the facts or evidence shows.”