5 ms·

Assange clearly stated his purpose for starting Wikileaks [0, 1]: to make people in government fear that their corruption and incompetence will be exposed and t

Assange clearly stated his purpose for starting Wikileaks [0, 1]: to make people in government fear that their corruption and incompetence will be exposed and therefore encourage them to act properly and carefully. Consistent with that purpose, Wikileaks timed the information release for maximum negative impact on the offender. [0] https://www.wired.com/2016/10/want-know-julian-assanges-endgame-told-decade-ago/ https://www.wired.com/2016/10/want-know-julian-assanges-endg... [1] https://cryptome.org/0002/ja-conspiracies.pdf https://cryptome.org/0002/ja-conspiracies.pdf

harywilke 5y ago
He might have had those reasons at the beginning, but by the time the 2016 elections came around, he was, wittingly or not, a stooge with a grudge. He exposed himself as the corrupt, incompetent political hack when he went spouting conspiracy theories abuot Seth Rich.
- arcticbull 5y ago
  I don't think you actually refuted the parents suggestion that timing the release alongside an election would have maximum negative consequences, and that that would be in line with their stated objectives. Further I think this is what the root post was alluding to about attacking "your favorite political party."
- slg 5y ago
  >when he went spouting conspiracy theories abuot Seth Rich. I have noticed that the people who support Assange never want to talk about how Assange implied that Seth Rich was a Wikileaks source which resulted in repeated harassment of the family of a murder victim. Assange knew Rich wasn't the source of the DNC leaks because Assange was still in contact with the source after Rich was murdered. There is no journalistic justification for that behavior.
  - mleonhard 5y ago
    Your comment seems to imply that I support Assange. Please read my comment again, carefully. You will notice that I said nothing about whether Assange or his actions are good or not. I tried only to refute the parent's claim that Wikileaks acted with partisanship when it released the emails. "Simple people talk about people. Common people talk about events. Highly intelligent people talk about ideas." Government transparency is necessary to prevent a never-ending dark age of fascism and suffering. Organizations like Wikileaks support democracy and thereby support human progress. Assange is not a nice person and that doesn't matter. Julian Assange started and ran Wikileaks, and thereby contributed massively to the welfare of humanity.
    - edmundsauto 5y ago
      How has anything from Wikileaks massively improved the lot of collective humanity? I genuinely don’t know - it seems like he released a bunch of stuff that revealed bad behavior, but how has that improved anyone’s welfare in a material sense?
      - heavenlyblue 5y ago
        So you are implying that the information about bad behaviour should not be released because there was no act upon it?
        edmundsauto 5y ago
        No, I was asking if anyone had insight into the results of the leaks. Has it affected change?
        TeeMassive 5y ago
        People are much more aware of privacy and how their innocuous private life details can be used against them. Thank you Wikileaks for helping Snowden find a safe harbor. The Collateral Damage leaks greatly reduced the credibility of the US military as a worldwide humanist agent. The alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime was used as a justification for a full blown invasion of Syria; yet the political push back was too strong and the attacks were reduced to air strikes. Thank you Wikileaks for publishing the cables showing how US had plans in motion to topple Assad since a very long time. But more importantly people are beginning to question their government and that is a good thing.
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    No, but it's not the act he's being prosecuted for. Assange is a shitty person, but he's being punished for his journalistic acts.

harywilke 5y ago

He might have had those reasons at the beginning, but by the time the 2016 elections came around, he was, wittingly or not, a stooge with a grudge. He exposed himself as the corrupt, incompetent political hack when he went spouting conspiracy theories abuot Seth Rich.

arcticbull 5y ago
I don't think you actually refuted the parents suggestion that timing the release alongside an election would have maximum negative consequences, and that that would be in line with their stated objectives. Further I think this is what the root post was alluding to about attacking "your favorite political party."
slg 5y ago
>when he went spouting conspiracy theories abuot Seth Rich. I have noticed that the people who support Assange never want to talk about how Assange implied that Seth Rich was a Wikileaks source which resulted in repeated harassment of the family of a murder victim. Assange knew Rich wasn't the source of the DNC leaks because Assange was still in contact with the source after Rich was murdered. There is no journalistic justification for that behavior.
- mleonhard 5y ago
  Your comment seems to imply that I support Assange. Please read my comment again, carefully. You will notice that I said nothing about whether Assange or his actions are good or not. I tried only to refute the parent's claim that Wikileaks acted with partisanship when it released the emails. "Simple people talk about people. Common people talk about events. Highly intelligent people talk about ideas." Government transparency is necessary to prevent a never-ending dark age of fascism and suffering. Organizations like Wikileaks support democracy and thereby support human progress. Assange is not a nice person and that doesn't matter. Julian Assange started and ran Wikileaks, and thereby contributed massively to the welfare of humanity.
  - edmundsauto 5y ago
    How has anything from Wikileaks massively improved the lot of collective humanity? I genuinely don’t know - it seems like he released a bunch of stuff that revealed bad behavior, but how has that improved anyone’s welfare in a material sense?
    - heavenlyblue 5y ago
      So you are implying that the information about bad behaviour should not be released because there was no act upon it?
      - edmundsauto 5y ago
        No, I was asking if anyone had insight into the results of the leaks. Has it affected change?
        TeeMassive 5y ago
        People are much more aware of privacy and how their innocuous private life details can be used against them. Thank you Wikileaks for helping Snowden find a safe harbor. The Collateral Damage leaks greatly reduced the credibility of the US military as a worldwide humanist agent. The alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime was used as a justification for a full blown invasion of Syria; yet the political push back was too strong and the attacks were reduced to air strikes. Thank you Wikileaks for publishing the cables showing how US had plans in motion to topple Assad since a very long time. But more importantly people are beginning to question their government and that is a good thing.
- boomboomsubban 5y ago
  No, but it's not the act he's being prosecuted for. Assange is a shitty person, but he's being punished for his journalistic acts.