Assange warns of 'digital McCarthyism'

[witness23]

I don't agree with this guy and what he's done, but I do defend his rights and the laws of our country, and believe proper justice will be done. But, if this guy had any credibility in the first place, it is fading fast. You can't cry about people on TV that would like see you dead, right or wrong, you can't cry about it. Especially when it is coming from FoxNews' Huckabee and Palin. Dude, if you can't stand the heat, you should've never gone in the kitchen in the first place.

WikiLeaks founder on Huckabee: 'Just another idiot trying to make a name'

Link: Assange warns of 'digital McCarthyism' - U.S. news - WikiLeaks in Security - msnbc.com

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Wednesday that former presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin were emblematic of an "idiot trying to make a name” with calls for the execution of whoever leaked secret U.S. documents to his organization. He said people calling for violence against him should be prosecuted for incitement to murder.

Assange also told msnbc cable television that the world was facing “a new type of digital McCarthyism that is being pushed from Washington” in an attempt to quash his organization’s reporting, and he called an Army soldier suspected of helping WikiLeaks a "political prisoner."

Answering allegations by Vice President Joe Biden and others that WikiLeaks was a terrorist organization, Assange said that no one has "ever been physically harmed" by WikiLeaks' release of secret documents.

"Whoever the terrorists are here, it's not us," Assange told msnbc.

Assange said there had been calls by politicians and "shock jocks" on TV for his assassination and the kidnapping of his staff. He called it "the threat of violence in order to achieve a political end ... and that is the definition of terrorism."

Asked by msnbc's Cenk Uygur how he would respond to comments by Huckabee and Palin about his organization, Assange said: "It's just another idiot trying to make a name for himself."

"If we are to have a civil society, you cannot have senior people making calls on national TV to go around the judiciary and illegally murder people," he said. "That is incitement to commit murder."

 

[greg334]

I can't even defend his right to say and do anything, he is not a citizen nor is he here to say it. If he was on US soil, it would make a different case altogether but being in a foreign country, attacking the US makes him a critic and not worthy of our rights of free speech.

The problem for many who don't understand the underlying issues with rights and how our country is different seems to be under the impression that any form of censorship we try to put into place can't be questioned because the government is in absolute control, But through our system we can see if censorship stands up to our constitution, where everywhere else does not have that system. It comes down to how our government is formed, where the rights come from God to the people to the government not where the rights are granted in the rest of the world. Only our system of rights prevent what he, Assange is claiming will come from our country but forgets that everywhere else has some form of censorship to protect their country, and some of these countries do more than openly attack people.

For him to think that Huckaby and Palin are senior members of society also shows me that he neither understands our system or our society. He is clueless in understanding that many don't view the government as the enemy when people talk about it from the outside but rather reserve that right for internal discussions while defending the government against outsiders like Assange.

I also question his comments about McCarthyism and applying it to his situation. He doesn't seem to understand what that was all about, how it evolved and when it actually started. He seems to be taking the Hollywood approach to revised history, using those who were at one time politicians and claiming they speak for all of us.

We as a country went from very free speech to very restricted speech to a new age of free speech where the speed of information is as fast as electrons that carry the information. We had dark times where we were truly censored and even attacked for open speech but now it is d*mn near impossible to censor anyone for any reason - look at the NYTs and publishing actual secrets.

 

[Turtle]

Assange isn't clueless. You're assuming that he's speaking literally. He's not. He's very smart, and using the button-pressing word "McCarthyism" only adds to his goal. There are a lot of people around the world who don't like the US, and therefor are on the side of anything (like Wikileaks) or anyone (like Assange) who can successfully attack the US. McCarthyism conjures up the notion of being unfairly prosecuted (or rather persecuted) by the US government, and those who believe Assange will believe that, too. It's all part of the victimization of Assange, all part of the whole "I'm being unfairly and illegally persecuted," extravaganza.

The real person to blame here is Manning, since he did this for a political purpose, and those who allowed Manning to e-mail and walk out of there with classified information. But Assange isn't exactly squeaky clean, either. He is squeaky, tho. Squeaky enough to get the attention, which, apparently, is also part of what he's after, since there's certainly a way for him to be not-so-squeaky.

 

[witness23]

It's all part of the victimization of Assange, all part of the "I'm being unfairly and illegally persecuted," thing.

By naming Palin and Huckabee as those that are treating you unfairly, you lose any credibility you may have had. He just sounds like a whiny beotch now.

 

[Shadowpanda]

I don't want undue violence against the guy. I do want him arrested, I want him prosecuted, I want him found guilty, I want him hung if possible.
US service member/intelligence specialist Bradley Manning is in jail and I hope they get him for treason and that he hangs as well.