A lot of people who thought Julian Assange was a hero have now immediately contorted themselves in some elaborate rationalisation. Others who thought he was a dangerous anarchist are feeling a strange new respect for him, equally automatically. Even those who always regarded him as an ambiguous figure will find their internal evaluation of him affected. That last includes me, who regarded him as odious but probably necessary in the world, and now find him to be a dangerous fellow, but stand-up guy.
Here's the interesting part: We all change our opinion of Assange, not the people he exposes. The Clinton supporters will be unaffected. As the US military supporters were unaffected by his earlier revelations.
Except perhaps a bit. None of us changes his mind all at once, but stories like these can contribute to rather thorough changes.
Here's the interesting part: We all change our opinion of Assange, not the people he exposes. The Clinton supporters will be unaffected. As the US military supporters were unaffected by his earlier revelations.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point.
I figured he was a Russian agent when he went to Russia. If he hadn't been theirs already (unlikely) he was going to belong to them soon.
ReplyDeleteThey have now admitted Snowden works for them.
ReplyDeleteSo I heard. I'm trying to remember my reactions at the time. I was pretty sure he wasn't a standup guy, or at least if he was he wasn't thinking clearly. (Manning, anyone?) I think my reaction was along the lines of "that explains it."
ReplyDeleteMy question is, was he a Russian agent all along, or did he become one once he went to Russia and figured it was the best way to stay alive? Very different situations, these.
ReplyDeleteSnowdon is in russia. Assange in an embassy in London.
ReplyDelete(thwacking side of head to get neural gears working) Right, of course.
ReplyDelete@jaed - yours seems to be a very common error. Enough so that it will probably be interesting for you to contemplate why that is. I can only see the vague outlines of that, but you may actually have some advantage here, having been in the confusion yourself. What do you think it is? I am betting the conflation increases as time goes forward.
ReplyDeleteInteresting question. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteThey both seem to occupy the "spy" box in my head, although neither one was actually a spy (unless Snowden was in fact a Russian agent from the beginning). They both occupy the "used by anti-Americans to make political points" box, and the related "lionized by anti-Americans [though by no means exclusively]" box. They were both from sorta kinda the same era.