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I'm not sure what you mean by "being a royal asshole politically". And yes, i'm pretty sure gp knows what destroyed his good-will with many, everyone knows, tha

I'm not sure what you mean by "being a royal asshole politically". And yes, i'm pretty sure gp knows what destroyed his good-will with many, everyone knows, that doesn't mean it's his fault that the vultures are making an opportunity out of it. If having a right as a journalist is only contingent on you not giving opportunities for those rights to be taken away you don't really have it. I do wonder however how things would look if he leaked the other way around, especially now that the american left has been morphed into the same warhawks from the bush era and pretty much rolled back the entire public perception grounds gained regarding government surveillance after the NSA leaks. This whole misinformation hysteria has just given them an excuse to implement patriot act v2 lite, and worst of all it's being exported and done with a heavier hand internationally in places where you don't have the first amendment.

monetus 4y ago
> I'm not sure what you mean by "being a royal asshole politically". And yes, i'm pretty sure gp knows what destroyed his good-will with many, everyone knows He tried to sway a foreign election to help himself. Understandable, but it was irrespective of the policies - he is being given some onus for the outcomes of the administration he helped empower. He became a single-issue partisan - not going to a u.s. prison being the issue. After all he had done, it was sad to see. Stuck in the fricken embassy, he lost either perspective or integrity. Faulting him for creating an opportunity to criminalize whistleblowing is implying that he knew that that would be the outcome. Indignation won't save him, or the bob woodwards of the world either. > do wonder however how things would look if he leaked the other way around There is a continuity of government, so I think he would have been screwed. His only chance was hoping that the new administration would throw a wrench in the gears and the DOJ would be told to drop it by the AG. > now that the american left has been morphed into the same warhawks from the bush era and pretty much rolled back the entire public perception grounds gained regarding government surveillance after the NSA leaks There were gains? The public awareness was a gain at least. > it's being exported and done with a heavier hand internationally in places where you don't have the first amendment. These posts are all tangential to area 51, but what are you talking about?
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  > He tried to sway a foreign election to help himself. In a free society, everybody is entitled to advocate for their own interests. Foreigners have every right to voice their opinion on American politics, particularly those foreigners who've been threatened with murder by American politicians. Would you get bent out of shape about Iraqi, Afghani, or Mexican journalists publicly advocating against another republican in the White House? You certainly shouldn't. You obviously don't agree with Assange's priorities, but that doesn't mean he isn't a journalist. By that standard of journalism, only people who agree with you can be journalists. Obvious bullshit. He wasn't lying, he wasn't scripting bots to impersonate Americans to astoturf a false consensus. He didn't do anything except publish information that embarrassed a politician who threatened to murder him. What he did was journalism, plain and simple. Journalists have no obligation to be politically neutral; journalists have been partisan from the very beginning. Benjamin Franklin founded partisan newspapers to push his political agenda before this country was even formed. Do you think he went out of his way to embarrass revolutionaries, just to be fair to the loyalists he opposed? Hell no.
  - monetus 4y ago
    You're not arguing with the op, I never said he wasn't a journalist. He obviously was, being a publisher. I said he lost goodwill and arguably integrity. > Would you get bent out of shape.. Of course I wouldn't. I'm not bent out of shape about assange advocating. He prioritized his life, as is normal. He isn't a hero. He prioritized his principles as well. I'm bent out of shape about the doj precedent. Arguing over the true definition of journalism is beyond our postings, but if you put things in a journal you might be a journalist. That doesn't keep him from being a fulcrum that society will pivot over. Why are you so angry and who is it directed towards? Or am I misreading the tenor here?

monetus 4y ago

> I'm not sure what you mean by "being a royal asshole politically". And yes, i'm pretty sure gp knows what destroyed his good-will with many, everyone knows He tried to sway a foreign election to help himself. Understandable, but it was irrespective of the policies - he is being given some onus for the outcomes of the administration he helped empower. He became a single-issue partisan - not going to a u.s. prison being the issue. After all he had done, it was sad to see. Stuck in the fricken embassy, he lost either perspective or integrity. Faulting him for creating an opportunity to criminalize whistleblowing is implying that he knew that that would be the outcome. Indignation won't save him, or the bob woodwards of the world either. > do wonder however how things would look if he leaked the other way around There is a continuity of government, so I think he would have been screwed. His only chance was hoping that the new administration would throw a wrench in the gears and the DOJ would be told to drop it by the AG. > now that the american left has been morphed into the same warhawks from the bush era and pretty much rolled back the entire public perception grounds gained regarding government surveillance after the NSA leaks There were gains? The public awareness was a gain at least. > it's being exported and done with a heavier hand internationally in places where you don't have the first amendment. These posts are all tangential to area 51, but what are you talking about?

MichaelCollins 4y ago
> He tried to sway a foreign election to help himself. In a free society, everybody is entitled to advocate for their own interests. Foreigners have every right to voice their opinion on American politics, particularly those foreigners who've been threatened with murder by American politicians. Would you get bent out of shape about Iraqi, Afghani, or Mexican journalists publicly advocating against another republican in the White House? You certainly shouldn't. You obviously don't agree with Assange's priorities, but that doesn't mean he isn't a journalist. By that standard of journalism, only people who agree with you can be journalists. Obvious bullshit. He wasn't lying, he wasn't scripting bots to impersonate Americans to astoturf a false consensus. He didn't do anything except publish information that embarrassed a politician who threatened to murder him. What he did was journalism, plain and simple. Journalists have no obligation to be politically neutral; journalists have been partisan from the very beginning. Benjamin Franklin founded partisan newspapers to push his political agenda before this country was even formed. Do you think he went out of his way to embarrass revolutionaries, just to be fair to the loyalists he opposed? Hell no.
- monetus 4y ago
  You're not arguing with the op, I never said he wasn't a journalist. He obviously was, being a publisher. I said he lost goodwill and arguably integrity. > Would you get bent out of shape.. Of course I wouldn't. I'm not bent out of shape about assange advocating. He prioritized his life, as is normal. He isn't a hero. He prioritized his principles as well. I'm bent out of shape about the doj precedent. Arguing over the true definition of journalism is beyond our postings, but if you put things in a journal you might be a journalist. That doesn't keep him from being a fulcrum that society will pivot over. Why are you so angry and who is it directed towards? Or am I misreading the tenor here?