assange, those charges, and our hypocrisy

I must confess I haven't followed the Assange trial very closely at all, but I've been struck by how much those who support the activities of Wikileaks have been keen to see him get off the charges of rape.

As far as we know, the charges are real. The case may not have been pursued with as much vigour by the Swedish authorities had it not been for Assange's notoriety. But we should assume that the people making the charges believe they were violated. Yet we have people on the left, who normally argue that charges of rape should be taken more seriously than they often are, blithely dismissing the whole case.

The two issues - whether Wikileaks is a noble enterprise, and whether Assange should be prosecuted for rape - are distinct. It's perfectly possible to believe that both are true or both are false. But everyone is lining up behind these questions as if they were a pair: either Wikileaks is noble and Assange should walk free of the rape charges, or Wikileaks is evil and Assange is a disgusting rapist. So there seems to be a lot of dishonesty, or at least self-deception, in people's attitudes to this story.

Anyway, here's someone making similar points with a lot more force and a lot more swearing.

Comments

[ejoch]

The Times leader today makes exactly the same point.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/leaders/article2847037.ece

[peter]

Perhaps there's a conspiracy here, but not the one that wikileakers are alleging. Does Sweden have an extradition treaty with the USA? Would not someone facing possible extradition to the USA for espionage (or conspiracy to engage in treason, or similar) charges want to make sure he's sitting in a country with no automatic or easy extradition to the USA and with a government not obsessed with showing support for some semi-mythical special American relationship? How better to ensure this than to persuade two of your collaborators (both women worked with Wikileaks) to make mild accusations of rape, so as to get yourself arraigned back to Sweden, and thereby out of reach of US courts.

[LadyMondegreen]

The two issues should most definitely be considered together. Regardless of the rights and wrongs in either matter, in America we journalists already see the frosty influence on investigative journalism of the American way of handling this. I've spent the week researching the issues. The results are on my blog at
http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=4251. Feedback, either on the site or here, would be most welcome.

[Charles]

Wikileaks and rape charges are separate though I think many who think the rape charges are fishy base it on details such as Anna Ardin's blog posts on how to use Swedish law to their advantage and her cheerful tweets after the alleged rape.

[WLfriend]

Hello: I just wanted to say that I hope everything works out well for this young man. He is a Hero and should not have to pay with his life for having brought crimes by the government to light.

[Joshua Wu]

Can Americans handle the truth? Americans have had very little access to the truth. Wealthy powerful corporation who are in bed with the government control much of the main stream media, there for controlling Americans perception of what the truth is. Now, however, with the WikiLeaks disclosures, they are able to have a clearer view of what their reality actually is, but only if journalists do there job by analyzing and following-up on this information, and connecting the dots. We need to stop making excuses about how knowing the truth is dangerous. Truth does not cause death and destruction, nor does it put peoples lives in danger, but lies and deceptions eventually do. If Americans don't have a clear understanding of what their leaders are doing on their behalf, then they don't truly live in a democracy. We need to encourage more leakers. The more truth that is revealed, the better. The more ignorant the masses are, the more dangerous the world is. The truth will save us, but only if we embrace it completely.

[TR]

I totally agree Ian. I refuse to believe the Swedish judicial system has been subverted by US pressure. I was making the same point to someone the other day, who replied "Oh maybe true, but the victims were clearly CIA operatives".
At first I pooh-poohed such conspiracy theorism. But I can't stop this nagging at the back of my mind.