Wish Trump actually had the balls to stand by him. He made comments in favour of him prior to being elected, of course now it’s the opposite. Not surprising unfortunately.
Reckon ScoMo should just take his citizenship off him, cancel his passport and then he can just disappear. Not sure why anyone would care about this person.
So Bacchus are you saying the world would be a better place if the public had never seen the collateral damage video, or didn’t know the extent of private surveillance by government, or the extent of politicians channeling funds to tax havens etc?
Most human rights violations throughout the world are committed by government, not by organised crime. Without organisations like WikiLeaks there would be close to zero transparency of these crimes against innocent people. Unsurprisingly, governments don’t like their dirty laundry being exposed, so they are trying to suppress this flow of information, by imprisoning the individuals who leak this information to the public.
Maybe the process of redaction needs to be improved, but that improvement requires more funding, rather than the pursuit of the CEO of the whistle blower organisation at enormous cost to the taxpayer.
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Your hatred of Assange is hilarious as it is delusional. You comport yourself to be some kind of socialist ‘salt of the earth/man of the people’ type but you show your true colours here. You are siding with the very power structures that you claim to oppose. By design, not by accident.
You are wrong former Zigster, I do not hate anyone.
Your hero worship of Jules is so primary school. Reckon he has more Mates in the alt-right than the Left; like Donny Trump who will intercede and pardon the scum merchant. I am not aware of any actual Socialist who live in Australia; many of us would like to live in a Socialist Democracy but we choose at present to live in a capitalist society, that cares little for its fellow humans. Your Mate, Jules cares for no-one but himself like all right wingers.
IF you think Assange is a right-winger that just confirms how little you know.
The truth isn’t partisan mate. You can’t put a left / right dichotomy on the truth.
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I never said that he is a right winger. You have a comprehension problem. Jules hates all Governments, even those poor blokes who gave him amnesty for years. His actions against US Government are more loved by the right winger nutters who hate their government,
You write as if Assange actively tries to destablise Governments. Come on mate, that’s not his MO. He’s just a stickler for 100% transparency. Publishing war crimes, human rights abuses, abuses of process - this is all very much in the public interest.
If the actual media did their jobs - we wouldn’t need Julian Assange.
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Bacchus I think you are one of the more interesting posters on blitz but this is just irrelevant rambling rubbish that is beneath you. You can’t possibly pass judgement on Assange the person, without addressing the work he does for WikiLeaks, and the role of WikiLeaks in society.
You’re engaging in speculative character assassination when the truth is (and the truth is seriously hard to find) but it is a guaranteed truth that Assange is being pursued by the US for his work with WikiLeaks, not because he may or not be a top bloke. Your ramblings about left vrs right and Trumpy don’t mask the fact that you won’t talk about the benefits of whistle blowers - or the important role they play - the absolute risk to your own personal welfare when you expose governments.
A discussion regarding Assange being a flawed human is hopelessly incomplete if it excludes the work he does, and the real reasons he is being hunted by governments.
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I know I sound like a broken record here but WikiLeaks and potentially other new derivatives are required more than ever. Traditional news has utterly failed in the West due to the capture of once lofty institutions such as the NYT, WaPo by conglomerates and billionaires. Jeff Bezos owns the ■■■■■■■ Washington Post, think about that for a second. The elites completely control the mechanisms of narrative, these institutions which are supposed to be adversarial to power and the State are now just appendages of power and the State. We joke that AFL accredited ‘journalists’ are communications ‘specialists’, well that’s exactly what reporters at the NYT, WaPo are. Pale imitations of what they once were decades ago.
We have a sick situation in the U.S were a weapons manufacturer (Boeing) hosts Meet the Press with the hugely popular Chuck Todd on MSNBC (sorry MSDNC). Any dissident voices are sacked - just ask Phil Donahue, Jesse Ventura and Chris Hedges who all spoke out against the Iraq war and were jettisoned despite (in at least Phil’s case) extremely high ratings.
This concentration of media to the elites is getting worse in Australia with the Nine-Fairfax merger. We don’t get any real adversarial/investigative journalism over here any more. The ABC are absolutely cowed by threat of funding cuts to the Government while corporate media serve the interests of the elites.
WikiLeaks is an absolute necessity to bring us the truth to what the powerful and those in government do without our knowledge.
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BS Cobber. Jules sees himself as a modern Guy Fawkes and is trying to destroy all Government.
It is all about him and nothing to do with the public interest.
So you think Whistleblowers are all for truth and honesty, and to make life better for us all. Not in my experience.
And Mr Ewok, I can pass judgement on however the fark I like, understanding of course that I could be completely wrong and talking ■■■■■. Just like you at times.
Bacchus
Your posts influence people. It’s not just about your freedom to say whatever you like. When you denigrate people’s character you should have some serious facts, otherwise you are posting slanderous gutter-trash. Some people will think you have based your view on something solid, as you often post some really good stuff on here.
I did think you must’ve had a negative experience with whistle blowers prior to your acknowledgement above. But if you do some research on whistle blowing you’ll see the benefits of transparency and the role it plays in accountability of large institutions.
Regarding your comments that Assange only cares about himself and couldn’t care less about the public interest, how do you know his motivation and intent? Are you a mind reader? I think you’ll find it’s the media that makes it all about him and you haven’t bothered to look any further.
If you want to post a serious critique then address the events that his work has uncovered and the consequences of that, and add the bit that you think he’s a narcissistic wanker who loves the attention if you think this is relevant, otherwise you are just acting on an old grudge and preconceived prejudice.
yours sincerely
Mr Ewok.
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Why do you defend him?
He’s exposed the murder of innocents.
Why do you want him assasinated?
I have no doubt he will be, because the US has turned into a state that is brazen about turning a blind eye to such things, even if they’re not directly involved.
But that you support that shocks me.
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When I said governments are responsible for the majority of human rights abuses I didn’t make that up. That was Michael Kirby. WikiLeaks exposes numerous abuses of power and people by many governments, financial institutions and corporate organisations around the world.
I don’t understand why anyone is interested as to whether Assange is a nice person or not. It seems irrelevant in the bigger picture of what the organisation is trying to achieve.
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Character will always matter. It will particularly matter in the central figure of a small organisation with no oversight.
Given the resources of the organisations WikiLeaks has exposed and their ability to manage the message, you have absolutely zero per cent chance of fairly and accurately judging the character of Julian Assange.
That’s not really a refutation of my contention. It’s more a plea to simply ignore anything which might reflect poorly on him.
However I understand your point, and on many elements of Assange I might have some sympathy for it. Not all though. In part because Assange resists transparency for himself.
It doesn’t seem to matter at all in matters such as the US Presidency, or closer to home, various Ministers in our present Government, just for example.
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