Wednesday, August 11, 2010

More on the hi-tech anarchist: WikiLeaks

In the movie Conspiracy Theory, the Mel Gibson character is being hounded and abused by the state because it turns out that one of his crazy conspiracy theories is not crazy at all, but true.  I suppose my branding of WikiLeaks as nothing but a hi-tech anarchist, and no way a journalist, is similarly one of those darts that actually hit the target and close to the center.  How about the following excerpt:

Amnesty International, Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, George Soros’s Open Society Institute, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, and the International Crisis Group signed the letter (delivered via email), citing concerns that Afghan informants named in the document dump will face the brutal retribution of the Taliban. Assange responded by asking Amnesty International to “provide staff to help redact the names of Afghan civilians,” a pointless exercise now that the documents already exist online, unredacted.
Amnesty expressed interest in assisting, though warned that they are constrained by limited resources, and suggested a conference call to discuss the issue further. Assange responded, via email, with a threat: “I'm very busy and have no time to deal with people who prefer to do nothing but cover their asses. If Amnesty does nothing I shall issue a press release highlighting its refusal." On his Twitter feed, Assange told his followers to not “be fooled on the ‘human rights groups’”—scare quotes are in the original—because they are “US led.”
When Amnesty International is upset with him, well, that ain't good news for a supposedly war-ending, peace-mongering, truth-seeking Assange.  Anarchists are far more destructive than otherwise.  Which is why even though I am usually sympathetic to their goals, I usually follow them only from a safe distance.  Anarchists don't do constructive engagement.  WikiLeaks is nothing but the latest version of a Molotov cocktail.

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