Julian Assange: Fool? Historically illiterate ? Or Worse?
Access to the Internet doesn’t confer intelligence, but you would like to think that those with high-speed connections to the web could at least educate themselves on the basics.
The web is a positive encyclopaedia and with a few clicks you can find out most things.
So it is all the more annoying to see a constant, almost obsessive, Internet user demonstrate major historical illiteracy, that person is Julian Assange.
Readers will remember how I am somewhat enamoured of Wikileaks, as I think that it is good for information to come out into the public domain and stimulate debate. How I find the timing of the charges against Assange too coincidental.
Nevertheless, as the story unfolds in the media you get the impression that Julian Assange is a bit of a fool, or at the very least rather naive and unworldly.
His failure to do an elementary Google search on Israel Shamir/Jöran Jermas/Adam Ermash was rather worrying.
Assange’s profile on the free dating site, OkCupid.com, is indicative of someone not fully in touch with reality.
His latest comments, comparing his treatment to that of the Jews, is unbelievable, the JC has more:
“The founder of WikiLeaks has compared his treatment by the Swedish authorities seeking his extradition over sexual assault allegations to the persecution of the Jewish people in the last century.
Julian Assange, the 39-year-old Australian behind the extraordinary leaks of US diplomatic cables and documents, told The Times that he believed the allegations and the publicity surrounding them were unfounded and motivated by “a mixture of revenge, money, and police pressure.”
He said: “All sorts of abusive statements were made against the Jewish people in the 1950s and before.
“I’m not the Jewish people, but the people who believe in freedom of speech and accountability [are in the same position].”
Julian, it was considerably more than just “abusive statements”. Try searching Google with pogrom, Soviet antisemitism and mass murder.
I am lost for words.
Written by modernityblog
21/12/2010 at 14:17
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged with Barbra Streisand effect, Censorship, Diplomatic Papers, Historical illiteracy, Internet Censorship, Julian Assange, Obama administration, Wikileaks
12 Responses
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ModernityBlog 
Unless he’d already established say a Soviet context it seems a bit odd to invoke the 1950s.
Sarah AB
21/12/2010 at 16:52
Spot on Mod. I think the debate has been so polarised between his supporters/disciples and his haters that very few people have been able to see that there are (at least) two sides to his story. The more he himself opens his mouth, the more his more sensible supporters see that he is not a very pleasant man. I think that on balance his work has been for the good, but that does not make him a good person, or indeed innocent of rape.
When I heard him on the Today programme this morning, I thought what a pompous tosser. Not letting John Humphries see his electronic tag because he “feels emasculated”. His bragging, pretentious and evasive answers about his sexual conquests. Disgusting.
BobFromBrockley
21/12/2010 at 17:53
See also Francis: http://sedgemore.com/2010/12/the-one-his-work-and-his-people/
BobFromBrockley
21/12/2010 at 18:09
Mods
Is Jermas just a pen name for Shamir or the other way around?
He almost seems to be a marketing creation. He rationalizes the most vile of bigoted obsessions with a so called Jewish face.
Beakerkin
22/12/2010 at 07:48
Melanie Phillips on fine form: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340101/MELANIE-PHILLIPS-Fancy-The-Left-war-Mr-WikiLeaks.html
Jermas/Shamir/Ermash: I’m also confused as to which name came first! Here’s some links from a slightly odd website: http://reocities.com/palestiniansarelies/IsraelShamir.html
BobFromBrockley
22/12/2010 at 12:09
Wikileaks has played a valuable role in exposing government secrets.
Assange is, on all available evidence, more than a bit of a cock.
I don’t think there’s anything mutually exclusive about those two statements.
Waterloo Sunset
22/12/2010 at 15:49
Assange came in to our uni (City, Islington) back in October and was a really wierd guy. He insisted on coming in secretly round the back (perhaps understandable in hindsight), he was really late, incoherent – as if he was high or something – and rude to anyone who questioned his arguments.
At the same time, I find a lot of the attacks on Wikileaks are attacking Assange personally as a cop-out from actually dealing with the issue of free-speach and freedom of information. I was really disappointed to read an article by Hitchens condemning Assange when he’s previously been something of a free-speech advocate. That kind of material makes me view such people as fakes – advocates of free speech abroad but comfortable with cover-ups at home in the name of ‘national security’; and against any universal freedom of information.
Good article though Mod. All the best for the holiday season.
James Bloodworth
23/12/2010 at 21:55
His interview on Today was really sick-making. What “gentlemen” do or don’t do. The women in the case have made a serious accusation against him. He should be spitting with rage against them, not going on like a smirking Lothario pretending not to boast and shame the ladies, God bless ’em. You don’t have to be a feminist to think him a complete tosser, but just a woman, or even just a human being.
I see a consensus forming – Wikileaks good on the whole, Assange bad.
Rosie
24/12/2010 at 01:16
Hey mod, mind if I start sharing my wisdom in the comments box on your site?
Since being considered commenter-non grata at HPs and spending all my virtual time in the HP moderation gulag I am looking for a new place to hang my conservative hat.
I tried PP for a little while but the calibre of the Leftists who hang there just isn’t up to HP standards, they give imbeciles a bad name.
So if it’s OK with you I will give your site the benefit of my ‘wisdom’.
Anaximanders Sandal
31/12/2010 at 09:39
I think WS summed it up nicely….
modernityblog
06/01/2011 at 17:24
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