Earlier quoted context omitted.
You need to step up your game mister! Currently, the alt-right does not see him as a Russian agent, because Russia doesn't meddle in elections and stuff. That's just crazy talk propaganda. They are dangerous with some nuclear stuff so we have to build more nukes. But they are good in Syria and we need to either step away completely from that shit-show or give them a hand and fight on their side. It's complicated. The…
haha awesome. Good to hear the other side :) I'm wondering why the downvotes though? Do we not understand that we inhabit bubbles?
The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
531–540 of 577 posts
Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
#532Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is rarely outright falsehood, but lots of misdirection and omission, and a ton of fluffy echo chamber pieces. There are some good articles but I personally would not rely upon the paper's content as accurate unless all of the facts and assertions were independently verified elsewhere.
Can you provide an example?
I personally am strongly anti-Trump but also broadly dislike both major parties, so citing a WaPo article that is unfair to Trump sounds to many people like I must be a rabid Trump supporter. But in reality I'm just someone who wants journalism to be journalism and focus on facts and strives to do analysis that would be respected by people on all sides of an issue politically.
The decline in quality and shift to partisan and sloppy reporting is the most dire consequence of the Trump era. It's impacted the big newspapers the most. I think part of it is that they feel responsible for getting him elected, but part of it is that their new way of thinking about their KPIs rewards them for writing anti-Trump clickbait.
So they are at once reinforcing Trump's ability to control the news cycle and make whatever story he wants front page news, while writing coverage in a way that loses the trust and respect of anyone whose goal of reading news is non-partisan or even partisan from the other major party perspective. Sadly this allows Trump and orgs like Fox to be viewed by some as the only form of true news. It's really horrible.
No political party or news org benefits from any common ground or shared truth, they all benefit from loyal fans who pay them a monthly subscription fee for content that is mostly entertainment. This is the Fox News model, but it's now been adopted by the WaPo and NYT in their own way. They still do produce some very solid journalism, but it took the NYT several years to write the story on Trump's inherited wealth (which was excellent) while in the meantime it published a LOT of garbage stories every day that fanned the partisan flames and generated revenue while providing zero journalistic value.
Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
#533Earlier quoted context omitted.
People will upvote this comment and complain about the system being broken then turn around and ridicule anyone who votes third party or claims large media companies are corrupt.
Third party is great.... if you have a better election system than plurality voting. See Maine CD-2
Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
#534Earlier quoted context omitted.
It might be accurate to model his operations in two phases. The first, when he was exposing secrets on his own. The second, when (it seems) Russia used him as a deniable way to launder secrets they had stolen into the American press. Exactly when one phase begins and the other ends, whether he knew it was happening at the time, and whether he committed any crimes against the United States during the second phase is m…
>Russia used him as a deniable way to launder secrets they had stolen into the American press. I have never seen proof of this accusation? Can you link me to it? Not the accusation, but proof? What is it: was he "used" like you said, or mislead, or intentionally aiding Russia? To be fair the DWS scandal is a real problem, a big deal, and a threat to our democracy... and nobody was seriously punished for that. DWS is…
Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
#535Earlier quoted context omitted.
While some of the things that were exposed were certainly illegal and should be handled as such, it's hard to feel any empathy for a guy who is essentially a Russian asset. If you think of him as an extension of Russian military intelligence conducting propaganda wars against its adversaries then it becomes a lot easier to understand why prosecuting him is a genuinely good thing. Russia airing the dirty laundry of ot…
Russia airing the dirty laundry through a side channel is MUCH more benevolent than the other things (like blackmailing our world leaders) they could do with this. I don't think all of Wikileaks' revelations are from Russia, but even if they all are - and Russia had selfish motivations - it was a benevolent act toward the world. Truth is power, and revealing the truth to the powerless is never an evil act.
Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
#536Earlier quoted context omitted.
The question is whether WL has passively (or worse, actively) allowed its position as a conduit of information to be leveraged by malevolent actors to shape (or distort) the truth? Obviously leaks that reveal actual wrongdoing are an unalloyed good. When the leaks that merely provide voyeuristic windows into the routine business of institutions (e.g. the diplomatic cables), the social value of the visibility becomes…
I don't understand how publishing primary source documents, even selectively, can be called distortion of truth. The cablegate dump had many interesting revelations https://theweek.com/articles/488953/wikileaks-cablegate-dump... Some may believe it is in the public interest to hide US aggression to protect ourselves from repercussions. I think it is necessary to expose US aggression to public light to minimize its us…
I'm not insinuating that WL was actually presented with that decision in 2016, but it seems clear their acknowledged selectivity in publication is capable of distorting the true state of affairs.
Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
#537Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which articles are you referring to?
There's at least this one: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/julian-assange-i... . Technically free to leave the embassy, so it's not a false statement. But would definitely be arrested and extradited if he did, so it's not quite a fair statement either. Also found this article which said he wouldn't be prosecuted by the U.S. in 2013: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/julia... Also, lol…
Don't forget tortured. Manning was tortured prior to trial, as determined by the UN following an investigation[1].
Indeed, Manning attempted suicide twice under this "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" (words from the UN).
[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/12/bradley-mannin...
Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
#538Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yea but nobody remembers those.
Like the Iraq Warlogs, or DWS scandal. Even leaks like the Stratfor files are certainly in the best interests of the "little guy," if anyone actually gives a shit about them. But if "all a man is, is what others say of him," then by watching the news, Assange is just a Russian agent.
Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
#539Earlier quoted context omitted.
yeah, I don't really understand how someone dedicated to upsetting the authorities got painted as a tool of right-wing US politics. Or maybe my left-leaning echo chamber is portraying him as that, and the alt-right bubble sees him as a Russian agent? It'd be interesting to compare notes... is there a service for matching up people in different bubbles so we can compare facts?
You need to step up your game mister! Currently, the alt-right does not see him as a Russian agent, because Russia doesn't meddle in elections and stuff. That's just crazy talk propaganda. They are dangerous with some nuclear stuff so we have to build more nukes. But they are good in Syria and we need to either step away completely from that shit-show or give them a hand and fight on their side. It's complicated. The…
You're just like Mitch McConnell calling for bipartisanship and fairplay after years of crap. Completely disingenuous.
Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange
#540Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nonsense. The Washington Post remains one of the best publications in the US. I certainly trust it more than Russian propaganda outlets such as Wikileaks.
so was the information provided by wikileaks true, or false?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2017/05/26/russi...