Notices by thatguyoverthere ن (thatguyoverthere@charlestown.social)

The only real threat posed by WikiLeaks is that it challenges the impunity of the powerful. In order to prevent this idea from spreading through the establishment of a second, third, or hundredth WikiLeaks, potential emulators must be intimidated worldwide. This is why the methodology of WikiLeaks is persecuted and punished in the person of Assange. The spotlight no longer illuminates the official misconduct revealed by WikiLeaks but is pointed exclusively at the messenger. He is declared a rapist, a hacker, a spy, and a narcissist who is trying to evade justice and is not entitled to the protections of press freedom.

Had the crimes revealed by WikiLeaks been prosecuted and redressed in good faith, it might then have been possible and appropriate to initiate a balanced discussion about the accountability of whistleblowers and journalists. But when murderers, torturers and their superiors go unpunished, whereas non-violent truth-tellers like Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are prosecuted and threatened with sanctions normally reserved for perpetrators of the most serious crimes, then any presumption of good faith on the part of the authorities as been effectively disproved.