The hunting of the snark, or the martyrdom of St Julian

[struggle4progress]

August 23, 2012
Martin McKenzie-Murray

... When thanks is gifted to a columnist, what I hear is: ''Thank you for reinforcing my beliefs.'' It's rare that I hear: ''Thanks for thoughtfully challenging some of my assumptions'' ...

Let's apply this to the strange case of Julian Assange. A few days ago he made a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Here's what I heard: a flurry of boilerplate, elision and rhetorical conflation. For a man championed as uniquely brave, he sounded a lot like our own elected hacks.

Others saw a rallying cry from a hero, a man cruelly buffeted by the weird crosswinds of international intrigue. And a man abandoned by his own government ...

... our political beliefs, contrary to the assumptions of the intellectually vain, aren't often the polished outcomes of reason. They're more often rooted psychologically and enforced by tribal loyalties ...

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/the-hunting-of-the-snark-or-the-martyrdom-of-st-julian-20120822-24mmy.html

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. Simon and Garfunkle explain this

I am just a poor boy
Though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocket full of mumbles such are promises
All lies and jests
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest

Lie la lie ...

[Fumesucker]

2. You Better Believe It n/t

[grantcart]

3. Well the article reads a lot better in its original Swedish . . . . dererdereder.

[freshwest]

5. Zat's a tasty meatball! Wait, zat's Italian... I'll check with Cooking & Baking.

[freshwest]

4. You're in so much trouble! From the link, though...

When WikiLeaks was conceived in 2006, Assange penned two essays that served as a manifesto. The first, ''Governance as Conspiracy'', is a short and pungent declaration of his theory and ambitions. He wrote: ''If total conspiratorial power is zero, then clearly there is no information flow between the conspirators and hence no conspiracy.''

It's techno-anarchism - the use of technology to sponsor a revolutionary transparency, a collapsing of the traditional secret-holding of governments. For Assange, government equals conspiracy, so its real power comes not through popular mandate but from secrets. WikiLeaks wants to remove them all.

This radical transparency, it would seem, should apply to all governments as all governments equal conspiracy, to lesser or greater degrees. There's a purity to Assange's vision, a sense of the universal virtue of profound transparency.

I think this is the mindset many have on this. As appealing as it is, we must ask ourselves:

'Who is being served?'

Will the answer be as liberating as the light of truth we want to see or will we indulge ourselves in another system of control?

[OnyxCollie]

6. "St Julian"

Until recently, it was "St Dennis," aka Dennis Kucinich.

Oh, the silly, little games children play when they're upset.

[fasttense]

7. Not all political beliefs stem from irrational thought.

The article is too simplistic. There are things I agree with in what Assange did. But I do not have to agree with everything he believes for me to support him in this case. Yet, the article implies it's all or nothing. I have found that people who pick and choose those issues in the political realm, versus those who buy into a political ideology completely, are more rational thinkers and rarely take sides based simply on emotions. The Tea-Bagger who identifies with all the Koch brother paid for agenda is probably an emotional thinker. The Person who claims they are a Democrat and supports the president but still criticizes the administration and Obama's policies is probably a more rational thinker.

This is a big difference and one the article does not address.

[just1voice]

8. The postings of the propagandists, or the repetiion of inanities

Too bad for you that propaganda is so easy to spot.