[LINK] Assange and John Lennon?

[Tom Koltai]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: link-bounces at mailman.anu.edu.au 
> [mailto:link-bounces at mailman.anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Jan Whitaker
> Sent: Monday, 20 December 2010 5:01 PM
> To: link at anu.edu.au
> Subject: [LINK] Assange and John Lennon?
> 
> 
> I'm watching a recording of The US Versus John Lennon that was on SBS 
> 7 December. It struck me how comparable the situation is between 
> Lennon and Assange, the reactions of the people to unpopular wars, 
> the reaction of governments to those voices and the ones who 
> represent the disenchanted in their respective fields, and the result 
> of what happened to Lennon. I hope those who are standing up learn 
> lessons from the 60s.
> 

One would hope that even the Government understands that by creating a
martyr they would compound the situation in not a good way. 

Then again, most of Government don't yet Grok Twitter which is curious
because they sure try to use it to get elected.

Publishing heretofore [pre-internet] was considered the preserve of the
rich.
The Internet alteration to that traditional dynamic still has some
holdout quill pen users.

Publishing influence traditionally was restricted to the area close to
the location of the printing press.

Those same quill pen luddites are the folk that fail to realise that
today, the entire Global population can be swayed with a single well
worded tweet.

Journalists write reams on the topic of the upcoming Assange US case. I
personally do not believe that a jury of Assanges peers could be found
that are neutral as to the effects of the release of the "confidential"
information.

Without a guaranteed conviction, it is doubtful the US would proceed
towards a public humiliation.
Of course, Judges are political appointees.

Therefore the final outcome would appear to rest on a cost benefit
analysis of an ounce of lead versus Martydom of an internet hero.

As per the Chinese curse:  "May you live in interesting times". I think
we would all agree that whether or not the leaks are genuine or a put-up
job, they have certainly made our future much more interesting;
unfortunately.