America's Vilification of Julian Assange

The name Julian Assange is at the hot bed of discussion. For some, this name sparks waves of anger and hatred, ranking him amongst people like Osama Bin Laden. While for others, Julian Asasnge is a hero in pursuit of the truth, and can do no wrong.

Sifting through the Internet a person can find thousands of articles that discuss Julian Assange’s personal life and history. We can read about his cat obsession or his “disco king” persona. Many portray him living the globe trotting lifestyle, hopping from couch to couch ruthlessly leaking private information.

But who cares?

Knowing Julian Assange and his relationship to his cats does not fill my brain with anything but useless information.

Julian Assange is a representation for something that is much bigger that is WikiLeaks. And what WikiLeaks is actually doing and releasing, should be at the hot bed of discussion. But instead the media is saturating us with articles and images of Julian Assange as the individual, so that we are so distracted, thus the discussion about the leak’s content is unapparent.

We live in a society where celebrities are more important than possibilities, and Julian Assange has developed as a celebrity for the WikiLeaks. But we are ignoring the possibilities for transparency in government and tackling a much smaller individual issue. Boundaries of responsibility need to be implemented because comparing Julian Assange to Osama Bin Laden does not solve anything. Dumping documents is not terrorism, the conversation needs to focus back onto the leaks’ nature instead of focusing on prosecution.

By focusing attention on Julian Assange the media obfuscates WikiLeak’s fundamental arguments regarding freedom of speech and transparency, while instead highlighting a superficial argument concerning terrorism.

Much like a celebrity represents societal ideals, Julian Assange has developed as a synecdoche of WikiLeaks. Mainstream media has assigned Assange values and attributes that enable him to be a characterization, a celebrity. Julian Assange was once an unknown publisher in pursuit of finding transparency with the little resources he had. But now Assange has transformed into a world-renowned icon. The paparazzi follow him constantly, he tweets outrageous opinions, and meanwhile millions of people are watch over him minute by minute.

He doesn’t sound much different than Brittany Spears to me.

He has become a high profile celebrity in which people’s interest is growing as his promiscuity increases. We have an obsession with trying to figure him out meanwhile taking away from the value of WikiLeaks’ leaks.

Julian Assange’s sexual promiscuity is laid out in full detail in hundreds of articles that graze the internet. The account of the two alleged rapes is an ongoing and an in depth investigation splashed into the mainstream media. Not only is the subject of rape a sensitive matter but its’ also a very private matter, but the media is giving us a step by step break down that desensitizes us. But its’ really no ones buisiness, including mine. The rape phenomenon has transformed into a media ploy, so that we may see the “true” nature of Julian Assange. But his sexual escapades have absolutely nothing to do with the releasing of government documents. So why are people getting so hyped up about Julian Assange’s identity?

Like anyone else, Julian Assange loves this media attention. We are giving him exactly what he wants and satisfying his ego. Both positive and negative opinions about Julian Assange circulate and prompt discussion about his character. But what are we actually talking about? His cats? His sex-capades?

But now confidential government documents, that’s the interesting stuff. That’s what counts.

We are unable to receive truthful information when we are blinded by Assange’s celebrity gossip. Unlike that of Julian Assanges’ media façade, Wikileaks’ principle is of transparency.

Wikileaks is changing the way in which information is given by minimizing censorship and allowing us to break the barriers between the government and the people. Information may no longer be catered to what people want to hear. Instead WikiLeaks has created a way for publishing things that the public does not initially want to hear or see. But this organization has a huge potential for decreasing government corruption and unleashing truth.

WikiLeaks is creating immense and profound social change, whether people like to admit it or not. Revolutions are occurring and the question of freedom of the press has come into the limelight more than ever before.

“Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government." The US Supreme Court ruled after the landmark ruling on the Pentagon Papers. WikiLeaks is the definition of this unrestrained press. The Supreme Court was completely unaware of the WikiLeaks’ legacy to follow. But it just goes to show you that you better watch out what you wish for. Democracy does not come cheap. WikiLeaks’ intention is to give the people truth right on a platter, no restraints.

It is important for both the government to watch over us, and for us to watch over the government. It has to go both ways. If people do not want to know these “secrets” or truths about our government’s actions, then don’t pay attention. But there are some of us who want to know where our tax money is going and what we are fighting for.

But what is important to remember is that WikiLeaks is an independent global group of people, not one man acting out of his own opinions and preferences.

By blaming one person in particular, it alleviates responsibility. Mainstream media and government officials are pinholing Julian Assange as a terrorist in order to avoid discussing the actual WikiLeak’s content. The media is exploiting the word terrorist, one amongst many language exploitations in the history of our own government.

On December 5, 2010, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell notably assigned Assange as a “high-tech terrorist” and labeling him of the highest threat to our country. McConnell stated that we should even change the law if we cant figure out a way to prosecute him with the laws we currently have.

The heavy buzz-word, terrorist, sends a red light in our heads reminding us of September 11^th horrors. Calling someone a terrorist, is not something that we should be throwing around at each other at ease. The people name-calling and pinholing are those we should be fearing. Once publishing documents is an act of terrorism, then we have something to be afraid of. I would not say dumping documents equates to Osama Bin Laden.

The American public is not terrified because of the release of State Department cables, people are terrified because that is what we are being told to do. Words like terrorism and communism are developed as a means of ruling by fear. We tend to hate what we fear thus allowing people to finger point to alleviate fear’s heavy burden. The United States government has been doing it for centuries—Julian Assange is but a pawn in a larger game.

The leaks responsibilities need to fall back to where they really belongs, on the governments. Those important revolutionary leaks need to be discussed, but instead we are wasting our time on a witch-hunt to lock up Assange. The United States government is sweeping the leaks’ information underneath the rug.

It is about time things start to peep out from under the rug again.

As technology is growing at an exponential rate, accessibility to information will inevitably increase. Assange’s prosecution is futile in that another technologically savvy publisher could be waiting to take his place. The argument of Julian Assange’s personal ethics and choices are mute points compared to the larger issue of freedom.

The ruthless process of finding a way to prosecute Julian Assange is a scapegoat for the United States government. We are essentially fighting a battle against ourselves. In the end, ignoring the issues of secrecy and security is doing a disservice and putting Julian Assange in jail is not going repair anything. The nature of our democracy is being revealed alongside technology’s growth. If Julian Assange is put behind bars, his legacy will follow. It is a misconception that the fall of Julian Assange equates to the fall of government transparency. There are more “Julian Assange’s” to follow in his footsteps.

Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have started a whole new accessibility to information. As time progresses the wall between the government and the people is being chipped away. Not all secrets should be known but at the very least government has a new technological awareness, a new sense that people want and can know the truth. Things cannot be swept under a rug anymore because the rug is going to no longer exist.

There must be a new level of trust and transparency between the government and the people. It can no longer be an us versus them mentality, because in the end that makes us all miserable. In order to do that we absolutely must start focusing the attention off of Julian Assange and onto government. The government needs to take a look at the bigger picture about our current and future national plans and needs. Sweeping away the leaks is a bigger threat to our freedom than Julian Assange could ever be.