Assange - Hero or Hypocrite?

[ROC181]

I really don't get this guy. The guy fought for freedom of information and now just to save his bony ass is trying to get 'political asylum' with a government regime who's history of freedom of speech and information clearly goes against what his supposed to believe in. I also don't get how he can ask for political asylum when his extradition is about sexual assault in Sweden and nothing to do with the wikileaks documents. I think this guy may have something real to answer for in Sweden which it's why his fighting the extradition with extraordinary allegations. He also breached his bail conditions and has forfeited the bond paid by his supporters. I think the guy is one big hypocrite and perhaps even guilty of the charges he faces in Sweden. I hope that the Australian Govt don't offer this guy any favourable support as this is not a political matter. That's my opinion.

[Guest]

Who really cares

[stephenj]

he seems a bit impulsive?

[Guest]

Straight out farkwit.

[Guest]

Rocky, I think you'll find that the Swedes will roll over and have their tummy's scratched by the Yanks who want Assange so bad they can taste it.

They want to hang him from the highest yard arm, along with Bradley Manning.

They swan around, Pattonesque or, screw it, like Michael Crawford in How I Won The War (watch it, great film) with their 5000 man nuclear subs and stealth fighters and their manifest destiny for the world and one short arsed little Don't Ask Don't Tell escapee pulled their pants down with the internet and a Lady Gaga cd.

I'm with Chook on this one. America can go screw itself.

[Guest]

Who really cares

Bellow when chiding amis for staring into the void wrote,
"Writers and characters alike are on ‘thought trips,’ squaring themselves one way or another with the prevailing nihilism. When the people one meets and/or writes about seek (and find) ideas it is more or less necessary for writers to cut their connections to the abstractions and to hang on to the phenomena, embrace them for dear life. We have no obligation to justify ourselves intellectually to the ruling philosophy, to be accepted as ‘authentic.’ Of course the mental misery is very great. We don’t want to abandon the sufferers. But one does them little good by joining them in their thought-idolatry".

[Guest]

If people are going to quote Saul Bellow, then I'm breaking out the Friedrich Schiller.

[Guest]

It literally amazes me how quickly people can be sucked into a media campaign against someone or something. It reinforces my belief that the average Australian is a dumb as dog shit.

Assange is a hero and we the people need a thousand more like him. If the WMD/Iraq war lies (of less than a decade ago) that lead to hundreds or thousands of deaths is not enough to convince people we need sites like Wikileaks than that again reinforces my belief.

Assange helped expose the utter hypocricy of the United Farktards of America, he deserves a medal from every government not just the Australian one.

Chook.

[Guest]

As Friedrich Schiller wrote:

"Be noble minded! Our own heart, and not other men's opinions of us, forms our true honor."

[Kingbilly]

Assange, another knob that doesnt understand that actions have consequences

Edited to say, Chook some things he exposed needed to be exposed, but a lot did not.
Believing he is a hero is just as ignorant as believing he is the devil

[chook 56]

Yeah, I'm with KB on this one.
He has made a lot of countries look very very silly & sinister with what he has released.
A lot of that needed to be exposed, true, but it usually has a price. Sometimes innocent people get caught in the fallout.

Is he guilty of current charges? Who knows, for sure? To me it smells of the typical CIA/FBI bullshit just to shut someone up.
Can't get him shut up by ordinary means so lets play dirty hard ball.

That said, there are a lot of reports of him being "not a very nice fellow".....whatever that means.

[Guest]

It doesn't matter if Assange is the biggest bastard that ever drew breath, he's done a great service to the world.

Another person who stood up against tyranny is Dietrich_Bonhoeffer. He denounced the Nazi's and paid for it with his life.

Whatever you think of mass media, it's the only reason why Assange hasn't been stabbed with a ricin tipped umbrella or dosed with polonium.

One could almost put Andrew Wilkie in that category for revealing the information he learn during his time at the Office of National Assessments.

[sretsoor]

I may have missed something but is it not odd the Swedes only want to question him? There are no charges. This whole extradition seems excessive when surely a Swede investigator could travel to the UK and interview him.

[Guest]

The Swedes are in cahoots with the yanks, he'll get extradited within hours of landing at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.

[Guest]

We'll agree to disagree KB. In an age where the media is as complicant in the lies as the governments and corporations that start them, we need heroes like Assange to expose these lies so that when we vote we know exactly who it is we are voting for.

As a citizen of a democracy that has an open parliment where every word is recorded on the hansard, there should be nothing for Assange to expose. The fact that there is is an undermining of democracy and the parlimentary process.

Chook.