Wikileaks, Assange and Dilbert

One of the most commented issues in the USA and also the West facing parts of the world is Assange's release of documents. The first reaction was demented and only now do the voices of reason start to prevail.

Personally, I do not know who this Assange dude is and quite frankly I don’t need to know. He has done what anybody else who had the know-how and ability to release sensitive information to the public has or should have done. Trying to find secret reasons or a hidden agenda behind his actions is counterproductive, as we cannot positively establish any of it. We might as well get busy trying to find out if God exists, which is at least a similarly idiotic waste of time, but at least there are far more people devoting resources to this last endeavor.

I resent falling in love with him or raising him on a pedestal. We should be celebrating freedom instead and all its manifestations, whether that is wikileaks, the ideas of Chinese Nobel prize winner Liu Xiabao (who is far worthier of the attention bestowed upon Assange), the ideas of Friedman, Hayek, Voltaire. Unfortunately, a limitation of our monkey brains is that we find it difficult to love abstract ideas – we need to pin them on a certain someone. Julian seems to be willing and, having been raised in an acting family, able.

Videos

There is no justification for the hatred some feel for this guy. His releases only confirm what most of us knew already, but had no proof. Here’s a quick video history (opening below):

[Ron Paul] [wired-torture] [apache] [AlJazeera-cyberwar] [rt-wishlist] [journeyman] [rt-assange] [itn-revelations] [journeyman-inside] [assange-lawyer] [tyt] [rt-shut-up] [rt-warlogs] [rt-why] [Ellsberg] [Chomsky] [ForaTV] [tyt-oreilly] [AlJ-sex] [tyt-beck] [ted-assange] [rt-cableg8] [tlgrph-UFO] [fora-goodman-collateral] [tyt-king] [fora-whistleblowers] [rt-insurance] [tyt-rwing-rxn] [economist-assange] [rt-insurance2]

The first wave of reactions, coming mainly from the fascist pundits in USA (Rush Limbaugh and those like him), is calling for his murder by the CIA or for being charged with treason, even though he is not a US citizen. Even progressives such as retired Hugh Shelton consider Assange more dangerous than Osama (!?!?). Only after his arrest on trumped-up Swedish sex charges have cooler heads (Ron Paul, as usual) started to prevail. As the actual documents (see torrents linked below: tpb-insurance, tpb-cableg8) received far greater coverage than the Swedish situation, we found it worthwhile to delve into the Swedish hell (asz-ecil) of good intentions gone astray.

Sweden

As you might know, Assange was first charged with rape, then the charge withdrawn, then charged again with “sex by surprise” because the sex, although consensual, happened with organizers of the Sweden’s Social Democratic party conference and did not involve a condom (or the condom broke during sex). Here’s how Scott Adams interprets the events:

The unintended consequence of his actions is that he managed to make Sweden look like a country that's governed by congenital idiots and populated with nothing but crazy sluts and lawyers. And don't get me started about the quality of their condoms.

(..) Assange had a lot of help making Sweden look like the last place on Earth that you would want to take your penis. (..)

Apparently Swedish laws are unique.  If you have a penis, you're half a rapist before you even get through customs. And if your condom breaks, that's jail time. What I'm saying is that the Club Med in Sweden is a nervous place.

But Sweden’s laws must be seen in perspective. This is, after all, the most democratic country in the world according to the Economist. At the same time, Sweden’s war on its own men has resulted in Swedish women increasingly getting pregnant while vacationing in Spain and other countries known for their macho culture. The recent defeat of the same Social Democrats may signify a general dissatisfaction with this male-bashing direction.

But how does Canada compare? We shall soon see.

Sources / More info: wiki-leaks, .info, .ch, tpb-insurance, tpb-cableg8, tds-shelton/tcn-shelton, dlbrt-swe, wired-torture, tds-pasty, asz-evil, asz-swe-atheism

aLibertarianInToronto, wikileaks, transparency, information, freedom of speech, freedom of information, foi, foa, press, mass-media, freedom of press