I personally think that Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, and Edward Snowden are not martyrs nor are they traitors. I do not believe that they are "sacraficing themselves to the noble cause of freedom of speech and transparency". I believe that exposing the truth is a hobby for Assange and that they all feel like the people of United States should know what the government is doing behind their backs; because it is we the people who grant those men the power to choose and speak on our behalf. If the National Defense is going to brutally attack innocent Iraq citizens and that leads to an uproar in the Iraq government. The Iraq government will rage war upon us and not only will the soldiers be impacted; we the people will be at risk of being killed. It is a good thing to have people who don't trust the government and leak out information to the public so they can be informed about U.S.'s behind-the-scenes drama.
An important event that is impacting us is the tension between the U.S. and Syrian. I recently saw a video of a Syrian man showing us what he would do to the U.S.'s soldiers if we weren't careful with our next move. In the video, the Syrian man cuts out the soldiers organs and holds it out to the camera and then eats a part of the heart (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEZUraRor1o). I saw this on Facebook and thought it was a hoax but it was on CNN.com so I realized that it was a real and a warning to the U.S.to watch their next move. This video was showed through CNN to make sure the public is aware of the Syrian rebel's potential so I don't see why Assange is being accused. Newspaper, websites and other informative media publish information that may not be approved by the government but they don't get punished or put in prison do they? Just because in this situation, there is actually a person at the stand doesn't give them the right to convict him of publishing secrets as a crime. Other media are harder to convict because there isn't a person to bring up to the stand and I understand that but Assange did nothing wrong. He has his rights of freedom of speech and press. Plus, people anonymously post their findings on their website so the U.S. should target the ones that gave Assange's website the information. Therefore, the "crime" that he allegedly committed can not be charged against him because he has his freedoms of speech, press, and because other media services aren't charged/convicted of the crime of publishing secrets. So once the government finds a away to punish everybody equally; he can come and serve Assange's plate with the punishment that they think he deserves.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that it may not be fair to convict Assange, without convicting the other people who have leaked information too. I just think we have to be careful, since other countries can see the information that gets leaked. This could be a potential danger and also bring harm to the U.S. I really enjoyed reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this because its not like Assange is doing this by himself nor is he the only person in the world that leaks information like this. Like you said everyone has their freedom of speech and press and there should be no exceptions.
ReplyDeleteI like how you related what Assange is doing to actual news sources and other forms of media. I think they share some paralles, yet there is still a difference. Like what Ally said, I think that sharing national security information is dangerous for the United States. I guess it is a double edged sword because we want to hear about what is being leaked from other countries, yet when it comes to our own, we want to feel safe and protected.
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