I know the basis for Mr Assange's support is 1st Amendment protections of a journalist. Does someone engaged in subtrafuge such as this pervert journalism?
Well therein lies the rub. Assange isn't a journalist or an American citizen. Neither applies. Seriously though, I don't think those rights are exclusive to either journalists or Americans. I personally believe those rights are inalienable rights that everyone deserves, among others. In fact, all others. We are all created equal and should be able to live as such, but any right comes with responsibility. I don't feel Assange is being responsible or transparent. He's past the point of being given the benefit of the collective doubt. I don't know what's going on, but honestly, no one involved in any of this seems innocent at this point.
I'm not sure how much of that narrative I really believe, and yes I did read relevant sections of the report. I still think the public having that information offered far more benefit than harm.
Moar conspirology! It used to be Trump in cahoots with GRU. Now it's <s>reptiloids</s> Assange.
Since when leaking the evidence of shady dealings is something immoral? Really, why outrage at Assange who is merely a messenger rather than at people whose deeds were so embarrassing so the leak is widely seen as damaging?
How about simply not doing stuff which will cost you an election if made known to general public? Nah, too hard.
It's not black and white as you present. Media has limited bandwidth, people have limited attention span, voters have limited things they can care about deeply, etc.
The absolute part doesn't change - bad actions are bad. But you can definitely divert attention from some things to others by feeding the right facts at the right time. So if you publish something with a specific intention/framing then it can definitely be held against you, irrelevant of the content itself.
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 26.8 ms ] threadAfter all information wants to be free.
Since when leaking the evidence of shady dealings is something immoral? Really, why outrage at Assange who is merely a messenger rather than at people whose deeds were so embarrassing so the leak is widely seen as damaging?
How about simply not doing stuff which will cost you an election if made known to general public? Nah, too hard.
The absolute part doesn't change - bad actions are bad. But you can definitely divert attention from some things to others by feeding the right facts at the right time. So if you publish something with a specific intention/framing then it can definitely be held against you, irrelevant of the content itself.