I’m on the fence here. I love West, and I’m ecstatic that he’s going to be in DC soon. However, censoring media outlets for publishing the Wikileaks docs is tantamount to Communist Chinese censorship and detention of the Nobel Peace Prize winner or the prohibition of Internet access to the Wikileaks documents. People would get them online or hear about them from others. Censoring the media would’ve done nothing more than elicit cries of foul against the 1A.
I think this response from West is more knee-jerk; however, I respect the man for his views. This is a difficult subject to wrangle, and I think there are more fencesitters than are letting on.
I’d rather plug the leaks and leave anarchist Assange with nothing to publish but conspiracy theories.
Of course it is. Having a press card should exempt you from any laws regarding treason.
Hmmmm. If “journalists” publish classified info stolen from the military there should be no repercussions even if people die as a result. But if those same people were to publish an mp3 of Britney Spears’ latest tunes we throw the book at them. Yeah, that makes perfect sense...
Going after them after the fact may not stop this leak any more than punishing any other crime will undo that crime. But it will cause people to think twice before committing treason in the future. Going after Assange and his ilk is vital to prevent similar or worse leaks in the future.