I haven’t had time to think this through, but I wanted to add to highlight the conversation, especially in light of reading a number of things on trust lately.
The issue of Julian Assange has heated up with his first public appearance in two months.
What are your thoughts on Assange and the trial that is happening at the moment? This Guardian editorial is interesting…
But that is precisely the point: the valuable service performed by Mr Assange at WikiLeaks is a different issue from the serious accusations facing him in Sweden. Conflating the two may provide a rhetorical rush, as it did in Knightsbridge on Sunday; but over the longer term it badly damages the reputation of WikiLeaks and does Mr Assange's case no practical good.
I think if Assange truly did what he did to those women that is awful, and any man regardless of stature should be punished for such acts. However, I don’t have trouble believing that he has made very powerful enemies because of his work, which then leads me to wondering about the motivations behind allegations. It is not my place to judge, but I do wonder…
It is an easy way to discredit a man and to cause enough fuss that his work becomes tarnished with the same brush. Yes, the editorial says they are two different issues, but at the same time, WikiLeaks’s brand is so tied into the ‘brand’ of Julian Assange that I don’t think it could escape the spill.
Which would be convenient for a number of people, to say the least.
Interesting times…
Whatever you think about Assange, I think what he did was cause a little chaos, and a little chaos is always refreshing. For me, it was about making governments aware that they should be accountable to the people who elected them. That is the aim, the why. The execution, well, that is another matter entirely, and totally up to interpretation.
We all know where leaving things to interpretation gets us…