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Don't shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths
The Australian ^ | 12/7/10 | Julian Assange

Posted on 12/07/2010 6:38:54 PM PST by SmithL

IN 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide's The News, wrote: "In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win."

His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch's expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to shut him up but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public.

I grew up in a Queensland country town where people spoke their minds bluntly. They distrusted big government as something that could be corrupted if not watched carefully. The dark days of corruption in the Queensland government before the Fitzgerald inquiry are testimony to what happens when the politicians gag the media from reporting the truth.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

These things have stayed with me. WikiLeaks was created around these core values. The idea, conceived in Australia, was to use internet technologies in new ways to report the truth.

WikiLeaks coined a new type of journalism: scientific journalism. We work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true. Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?

Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories...

(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: assange; cables; espionage; hackers; iatz; ibtz; mendax; spy; wikileaks; zot; zulooscartango
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To: TheOldLady

Ah. My mistake. I get it. Haven’t seen the spoof ... heard of it, though.

SnakeDoc


61 posted on 12/08/2010 10:30:16 AM PST by SnakeDoctor ("They made it evident to every man [...] that human beings are many, but men are few." -- Herodotus)
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To: SnakeDoctor

>>it was just a quote

Stupid is as Stupid quotes.

It’s not non-sequitur to recognize that without demoralized miscreant jackwagons like Manning, and those who facilitated his/her/its brainwashed demoralization, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

>>Assange should spend the remainder of his life in custody.

I feel the same way about the those involved with the Pentagon Papers. But.

We’ll see.


62 posted on 12/08/2010 10:31:22 AM PST by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: LomanBill

If you can think of a better quote about killing a messenger when a messenger needs killing, let me know.

Otherwise, take your whining elsewhere.

SnakeDoc


63 posted on 12/08/2010 10:40:01 AM PST by SnakeDoctor ("They made it evident to every man [...] that human beings are many, but men are few." -- Herodotus)
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To: manc
[Many people on both sides of the aisle put them down and yet believe on their reporting.]

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to ta... errr... {click click click}...um - who's winning Dancing with the Stars and American Idol between Viagra and Soma commercials this week?"
That seems to be about the extent of the exercise lately.
 

64 posted on 12/08/2010 10:53:33 AM PST by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: LomanBill

so true.
Ask someone about an issue on what is happening in the country and they have no clue, ask them who is dating who in Hollywood and they know that answer, My MIL is EXACTLY like that and yes she is a long time MA Dem voter


65 posted on 12/08/2010 10:56:18 AM PST by manc (FOX and the media never talk about the queer private who stole all the secrets do they? mmmmmm)
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To: SmithL

I have to admit that I am a bit torn on this issue.


66 posted on 12/08/2010 11:04:42 AM PST by CSM (Keeper of the "Dave Ramsey Fan" ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
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To: SnakeDoctor
>>a better quote about killing a messenger
 
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouth_of_Sauron
 
But then, exterminating such a foul abomination of nature is probably a little too close to the closeted occult heart of "300" fans like/of Private Manning -- and the other advocates of the culture of "Hellenistic-paganistic idea of homo-eroticism and militarism" that is the REALITY beneath the Hollywood 300 facade.
 
 
For those like Manning - the Inner Ring is so close, and yet so infinitely far away.
 
 

67 posted on 12/08/2010 11:21:36 AM PST by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: manc
>>ask them who is dating who in Hollywood
 
 
" ....Reach filthy rich movie makers, intellectuals in so-called academic circles.
 
Cynical, ego-centric people who can look into your eyes with angelic expression and tell you a lie...
...This are the most recruitable people; people who lack moral principals - who are either too greedy or too, uh, suffer from self-importance, uh, they feel that they matter a lot.  Uh, these are the people who KGB wanted very much to recruit."
--KGB Defector Yuri Bezmenov 
Soviet Subversion of the Free Press (Ideological subversion, Destabilization, CRISIS - and the KGB)
 
 

68 posted on 12/08/2010 11:54:44 AM PST by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: LomanBill

You sure do throw around insults quite freely ... all because you disagree about a movie. Admirable.

SnakeDoc


69 posted on 12/08/2010 12:14:29 PM PST by SnakeDoctor ("They made it evident to every man [...] that human beings are many, but men are few." -- Herodotus)
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To: Admin Moderator

Wow! Fast ZOT!


70 posted on 12/08/2010 2:11:18 PM PST by DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis (Chag Sameach!)
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To: mnehring
He is no ‘messenger’, he is a hacker who engages in espionage. He is no different than a Soviet spy who recruits American traitor operatives to sell information.

Don't flatter Assange: he's neither a hacker nor a spy, and lacks the technical/personal skills to be either. He's just a guy trying to get famous off a crazy website idea he had several years ago: Wikileaks began simply just as an installation of the Wikipedia software (pages that anyone could edit) but focused on "leaks".

After a year or two random crazies on the Internet (like Bradley Manning) started sending him REAL secrets, and that's when Assange basically took over the site, closed the "wiki" part and started fashioning himself as an international celebrity.

Don't give him any credit like he's unique or some kind of criminal mastermind. At the end of the day Assange (and Wikileaks) just cuts and pastes documents from encrypted emails onto web pages.

And that's the real core problem: the Internet makes it incredibly easy for anyone to publish information, directly or indirectly (as in Manning's case). This has tremendous benefits (e.g., Free Republic, the explosion of blogs & non-MSM sources) but clear downsides as well. Even if there was no Assange or WL, there'd just be some other website Manning could've sent his documents to (cryptome.org comes to mind).
71 posted on 12/08/2010 2:33:11 PM PST by fours
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To: SnakeDoctor
Insult? LOL.  Who's whining now?   Molting your thin skin are ya?
 
You asked for a better example, I gave you one.  
 
We disagree about more than "just a movie".  You're evidently unable to acknowledge the role that such convenient historical revisionism in popular media has played in desensitizing American culture and demoralizing it to the extent that Bradley Manning and those like him/her/it are where they should never have been allowed to be in the first place.   
 
Mentaly ill moral miscreant homosexuals are denied access to military power for good, HISTORICAL, reasons.
 
SO if you find the notion that Bradley Manning and those like him/her/it have a lot in common with the REAL historical culture of "Hellenistic-paganistic idea of homo-eroticism and militarism" insulting then excuuuuuse me, but maybe YOU should take your whining elsewhere.
 
 

 

72 posted on 12/08/2010 2:40:23 PM PST by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: LomanBill

Mann is a traitor and must die. the fact he is a queer is not relevant.


73 posted on 12/08/2010 2:48:36 PM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. D.E. +12 .....( History is a process, not an event ))
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To: fours
Assange: he's neither a hacker nor a spy,

Actually, before Wikileaks, Assange was a very famous hacker who gave the NSA hell. There was even a book written about him in the 90s (name escapes me now). Back around 95-99 he was the primary at AUCRYPTO and was part of cypherpunks.

If you want a scary look into his mind, the guy's at cypherpunks archived all his communication for several years.

http://cryptome.org/0001/assange-cpunks.htm

Don't underestimate this guy, plus, don't think he is just some innocent champion of the truth as some try to label him. Some news sources in the 90s even referred to him as a cryptographer and there was speculation he may have been an operative for someone.

Something else that is interesting is The Jester found that Assange buried trojans into the WikiLeaks documents that even he can't crack. This is probably his 'insurance' policy.

http://th3j35t3r.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/wikileaks-insurance-policy-expired/

74 posted on 12/08/2010 2:50:59 PM PST by mnehring
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To: fours
I found the book reference from my previous comment. Assange was the famous hacker known as Mendax. (he even got a mention in the movie Hackers 2- Takedown).

The book about him is Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier

75 posted on 12/08/2010 2:55:33 PM PST by mnehring
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To: bert

>>the fact he is a queer is not relevant.

It is relevant to the extent that he/she/it would have been ASKED and excluded from military service if Comrade Klintoon hadn’t changed the policy and let him/her/it inside the circle of trust in the first place.


76 posted on 12/08/2010 2:56:03 PM PST by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: mnehring
[If you want a scary look into his mind, the guy's at cypherpunks archived all his communication for several years.]
 
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
 
For somebody who claims to be all about transparency and freeflow of information, he sure had a lot of focus upon encrypting and hiding things.

77 posted on 12/08/2010 3:15:25 PM PST by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: LomanBill

I couldn’t care less if you’re insulting ... it was an observation. Nothing you could possibly say could make me whine.

The logical leap required to blame the movie ‘300’ for the existence of “mentaly ill moral miscreant homosexuals” in the military is remarkable.

We don’t disagree on gays in the military, Manning, Assange, Wikileaks, or the punishments that should ensue. We seem to disagree about the level of responsibility of the movie ‘300’ in that fiasco. So, yes, it is just a disagreement about a movie.

I don’t find the comparisons of Manning and actual Greek military culture insulting ... I just find you insulting. As for REAL Hellenistic military culture — as you’ve noted, ‘300’ isn’t about REAL Hellenistic military culture. It is a comic-book adaptation that not only removes homosexuality from the culture, but insults it.

It is an irrelevancy.

SnakeDoc


78 posted on 12/08/2010 3:53:00 PM PST by SnakeDoctor ("They made it evident to every man [...] that human beings are many, but men are few." -- Herodotus)
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To: SnakeDoctor
>>Nothing you could possibly say could make me whine.
And yet... here you are.
>>The logical leap required
There is no logical leap required to observe the demoralizing and subversive effect of the desensitizing crap-"Art" Hollywood produces.
 
As Bezmenov observes:
"1. Ideological subversion is the process which is legitimate old word and open. You can see it with your own eyes.  All American mass media has to do is to "unplug bananas" from their ears, open up their eyes,  and they can see it.  There is no mystery. "
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2095202/posts
>>a comic-book adaptation
Uhuh, and do all of the elements of your worldview, and associated coping skills, originate in comic-books?
>>It is an irrelevancy.
To historical revisionists perhaps - but to those of us intent upon avoiding the mistakes of the past, not so much.

79 posted on 12/08/2010 4:22:57 PM PST by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: LomanBill

>> There is no logical leap required to observe the demoralizing and subversive effect of the desensitizing crap

There is no desensitizing the over-sensitive ... so I’m sure you’ll be fine.

>> Uhuh, and do all of the elements of your worldview, and associated coping skills, originate in comic-books?

Actually, my entire worldview comes from comic book movie adaptations. In tricky situations, I often ask myself ... what would Batman do?

Like you, I don’t have any coping skills ... I just whine on message boards when people quote movies I don’t like. I assume the quoted movie represents their worldview, and divert them with asinine debates about the merits of said worldview.

Good grief.

SnakeDoc


80 posted on 12/08/2010 4:37:06 PM PST by SnakeDoctor ("They made it evident to every man [...] that human beings are many, but men are few." -- Herodotus)
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