One of the weirdest episodes in the history of Wikileaks is playing out right now.
The anti-democracy organisation, who are too chicken to challenge capital but are paid to lower trust in state institutions, have sent a group of media outlets a list of 140 things they are ‘not allowed to say’ about accused rapist and bail dodger Julian Assange.
The full list has not yet been published (and the so called transparency organisation ironically refuses to release it). However, it won’t be long before the Assange 140 is public knowledge.
It’s the Streisand Effect.
Whenever a public figure threatens to sue for defamation, the ‘net instantly wants to know what the supposedly false claims are.
Whether they’re true or not ceases to be the point. We all just want to laugh at the person stupid enough to publicise the things they wanted hidden.
For Assange, this could be devastating. On a human level, I can emphasise with a person who has locked themselves away from normal human contact for years. It’s bound to be depressing holing up in a couple of small rooms in a vain attempt to avoid justice.
No wonder he couldn’t even look after his cat properly or, as is alleged, get around to washing himself.
This threat to journalists’ free speech will fail, as it should. Any media outlet put on notice by Wikipedia’s lawyers should simply use the celebrated response in Arkell v. Pressdram.
Fuck off.
In the meantime, the world is sniggering at Wikileaks’ naivety.
And waiting for the list of 140 things to be released.
UPDATE: The list of 140 Things We Must Not Say about Julian Assange has been promptly leaked. It’s a wild ride; it flits effortlessly from the fair enough to pompous flights of fantasy. And thanks so much Wikileaks for leaving me with the image of Jules wandering into meetings in his underwear. And to be clear, his mum was never a hippy. Got that?
(Tip of the TS hat to spotter Andre)
.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress