Julian Assange: Great Ideas, Poor Delivery

Whether you love him or hate him, Julian Assange has a way of making himself known. Through WikiLeaks and hacking Assange has made a name for himself and makes it difficult for the public not to talk about him. He has a simple goal of releasing secrets about the government in order for the public to know the truth about what is going on. Julian Assange has every right to release the confidential secrets he is given, however, by putting personal opinions into the content, involving his self-image, and including real names of those involved, he sabotages the project.

Assange might feel that he has the duty to deliver this secret information to the public, but he should keep his personal image out of the equation. Assange has stated, “I am a journalist, a publisher, an inventor. I have tried to invent a system that solves the problem of censorship across the whole world.” If this is the case, he should not be spotted dressing up as a woman, and constantly on the move running from people who want to kill him. It has been made clear that Julian Assange thinks the world needs his judgment, however, if he is trying to solve the problem of censorship, this should have nothing to do with his personal beliefs in the situations he is revealing. He also claims to have his private life be separate from his public crusade, but in reality his private life is being leaked as much as the secrets he has been given.

Assange is composed of so many secrets, making himself a mystery.

Due to the fact the Assange believes that his interpretations of material is always correct, he is going to do everything in his power to make the public believe his view which leads one to think he is the one who believes he should be in power. Assange believes his opinions to always be correct on the material he releases. A journalist should be confident in what he is writing and his opinion, however his real motives are undefined and mysterious. He is not even a US citizen so there is no nationalism hanging over him and he is not going to benefit from shutting down anything he is representing. Julian Assange is also not portraying to have a want to be a true leader, but he demands respect from them. It is obviously hard for politicians and those involved in his leaks to have respect for him when he is trying to kill their images, yet he claims to not want his motive to be to ruin the politicians. Julian Assange never got a specific degree or connected to specific beliefs, yet he claims that his beliefs are correct just because they are “obvious truths.” It is hard to trace that back to what he believes because in reality we really do not know. His motives always seem to try to prove that those who are in power are not doing their jobs in a correct manner and this could be to try to prove that he should be the one who is making the decisions. His times of releasing sources tend to be right before decisions need to be made, such as elections, times before or during war, and this looks like a way of dictating whom the power goes to, and eventually he might be hoping it falls into his own hands.

Assange has a tendency to release opinions of diplomats and others in charge, which is not showing unethical actions, it is only showing beliefs. If his goal is to show corruption in the government he should stick to actions, because actions speak louder than words, especially when dealing with the government. Assange promises his sources that not only will their identity be hidden, but also he claims that he will make sure the releases have as much political impact as they possibly can. In this interview on the Colbert Show, Assange makes his promises to his sources clear. Along with this, he promises to put the full content of the material so that the public can interpret it how they would like to. Julian Assange did do this, but he releases his version of the content first, and most people will not take the time to view the second video considering the public can barely read more than three paragraphs with becoming bored.

Assange always looks intense in front of the camera. What is he hiding?

When Julian Assange releases information that he receives and he uses the actual names of those involved he puts the lives of others in danger with out their permission. Assange leaked 90,000 intelligence documents that put thousands of Afghans lives at risk because it revealed that they were working with NATO forces. Although he claimed to have held back 15,000 intelligence documents to keep from harming Afghans involved, in reality any names mentioned of an Afghan puts their lives at risk. The papers do not always reveal names, but they do state that Assange gives identities and places in the sources he hand to the papers. A reason why he might be taking this risk is because the U.S. is held responsible for anything that happens to the Afghans morally and legally. Assange even admits to not looking through all of the intelligence documents that he is leaked. How can he decide what should be shown to the pubic if he hasn’t even read through it himself? Julian Assange might not have a problem putting a targeting on his back, but he should not have the right to put the target on Afghan people. He says that his main concern is to protect the people, but he is not doing a very good job of that at all.

How many looks can one man have? His outward appearance alone is enough mystery for a lifetime.

For a man who claims he is trying to be a hero figure to the world, by constantly running and hiding out he makes it hard for the public to be secure with siding with him. Assange never stays in one place for more than a few days and always seems to be in a dark suit. He lives out of a backpack and his laptop, traveling through the shadows and hidden identities. He has never set up a head quarters for WikiLeaks, and claims that he is the only one who ultimately decides what sources are legit. Assange even used to hide behind the identity of Mendax during his early hacking stages. His sneaky ways makes me want to learn more about him and what he is about. It is difficult to defend a man who is releasing all of these secrets, when you are unaware of his true identity and personality. Not to mention Julian Assange has recently been accused of raping two women. This has not been proved, however, it does make the public think twice about Assange. It is hard to know if a person would do something like that, when you are not sure of their true colors. These charges could be false, but for now it does hurt his credibility a little. On the other hand, rape charges could be someone setting up Assange, but most likely someone would go after his public life, and not his personal. He likes to reveal information, just not about himself. Understandably he has the right to be on the run after the target he has created for himself, but why is he creating it in the first place? Maybe Julian Assange likes to run. Maybe it is who he is, a man who lives off the thrill of stirring up issues, and hiding from the consequences.

Dressing in dark clothes is something he does consistently. There is always a feeling of Assange trying to hide himself.

By letting the world know that he is holding information, but not releasing it, makes it seem like Julian Assange has goals of getting more power, than to just inform the public of these secrets. Although Julian Assange has always followed through on his threats of releasing information, it is still suspicious to why he just does not come out and release it right away. It seems like he is trying to release the information when it will benefit him the most. Why would he want to do this? It only creates more of a target on his back because anyone involved with hacking and trying to release government secrets are going to try to get to Julian Assange and figure out what he is hiding. Julian Assange has to constantly be on guard because if he is not, people will not fear him and he will end up being prosecuted. The more fear he instills, the less authority will want to deal with him because they are aware he will not go down with out a fight. He might want to inform the public of what the government is up to, but it is clear that he craves the attention he is gaining.

Julian Assange has the right ideas in mind by trying to create a little more transparency between the government and people of the world. If his image was not as heavily involved the content would be a lot easier to interpret. By involving himself, he is forcing the public to not only take into account what he is release, but also how is image is being viewed. If Wikileaks was consistently releasing information, hiding its sources and the confidential names involved, Assange would have found himself not digging himself so far into the ground. They day when Assange learns to keep himself out of a situation, and thinks about the actual good or bad his leaks could put into the world, his work will be less damaged. As for now Julian Assange will continue to live with a target on his back and to surprise the public with his secrecy and mysterious lifestyle.