Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/hero-or-two-bit-blackmailer

Comment #2208

2011-04-02T12:04:49Z

I think they've both proven that they will advance their own agendas without regard to the cost to others. Which hardly makes them unique, I'll admit.

I still think the press doesn't take enough of its share of the blame. Without media coverage, Jones would be nothing. I like the approach of the spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in declining to comment further: "Terry Jones had his 15 minutes of fame and we're not going to help him get another few minutes," he said.

Comment #2207

2011-04-02T08:50:17Z

"Jones had the grace to back off" was true until a few days ago: Apparently, he thought a kangaroo court was a better, more honorable pretext to burn a Quran.

Now we have protests in Afghanistan turning violent. In our infamy head-to-head, I think Jones has overtaken Assange.

Comment #2206

2010-12-11T04:11:51Z

A completely different view here.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/julian_assange_why_the_world_needs_wikileaks.html

Several people left interesting counter comments on the WSJ article (more civil than most comment boards). However, I agree that using threats to avoid investigation is not the usual route of an activist with good intentions.

Of course, I couldn't make sense of the direct quotes from Assange in the WSJ article, so I don't think I will read the original articles from which they were drawn, which makes it hard to draw any real conclusion regarding his motivations.

Comment #2205

2010-12-07T13:06:39Z

Wow. Terry Jones is looking better and better. Assange didn't even start with good intentions. It's definitely worth reading the whole article. Here are a couple of quotes:

Mr. Assange is misunderstood in the media and among digirati as an advocate of transparency. Instead, this battening down of the information hatches by the U.S. is precisely his goal. The reason he launched WikiLeaks is not that he's a whistleblower—there's no wrongdoing inherent in diplomatic cables—but because he hopes to hobble the U.S., which according to his underreported philosophy can best be done if officials lose access to a free flow of information.

Mr. Assange's idea is that with enough leaks, "the security state will then try to shrink its computational network in response, thereby making itself dumber and slower and smaller."

So, Assange wants to make America slower and stupider. Haven't our entertainment obsession, prolonged adolescence, and compulsory schooling done enough?

Comment #2204

2010-12-07T02:42:06Z

A perspective in today's WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989004575653113548361870.html