julian assange and asylum

[Leanne]

I find it mind boggling that so many people will openly support pirate sites, demand freedom of information, insist on their right to transparent governance and still disregard the fundamental issue here, which is censorship of the most appalling kind.

---

Then again:


Assange is not a nice man. I don't like him. I don't like hackers much but I have a reasonable amount of respect for some of his reasons. I despise pirates, but then I understand a number of their reasons. However, pirates, hackers, wikileaks and indecisive Swedish women pale into insignificance beside these two things:

1. Ecuador is a sovereign nation. The British people would be pretty fucking upset if Ecuador threatened to invade the British Embassy in Quito.

2. The only significant harm that resulted from any Wikileaks material was to the reputation of governments. If the governments are acting in ways so contrary to the beliefs of their people and their mandates as elected representatives, they should be exposed. We are grown-ups. Governments do not have the right to decide what we're mature enough to deal with. Censorship is a disease.