Originally posted by Imajin
I mean, is it just "it's on the internet and therefore ooh scary"?
I'd say the fact that it's on the internet does change the perception of how it looks. Do remember, perception IS the most important thing, whether you like it or not. If you can sell your point of view to the majority, you've won.
In the case of Wikileaks, Assange wasn't in favor of the media or public. Wikileaks has lost at selling this to the media and public. He couldn't sell it to the media because they didn't profit from publishing details of Wikileaks as they would if they published the details themselves(and yes, I understand that "media" is very, very vague.). Failure to sell to the media means a failure to sell to the public, because they control all that people know of reality.
Deep Throat was a whistle-blower who gave critical details of corruption to a newspaper.
Assange is a reckless terrorist who stole top-secret documents.
It's already been applied to him, maybe permanently (possibly until several years from now, ala the USA founding fathers). The rape charges against him, whether they're false or not, only help to discredit him and the work that Wikileaks has done.
Winner: probably not Wikileaks, despite them doing one of the most important things in modern history. If they lose, so do we.
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