tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3293152265787061341.post3590977523355799547..comments2024-03-03T05:11:57.603-05:00Comments on Wings Over Iraq: Julian Assange: Hardly Super-EmpoweredStarbuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02013102906896853767noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3293152265787061341.post-86028057954391001682010-10-25T17:47:30.063-04:002010-10-25T17:47:30.063-04:00Fist, the Collateral Murder video does not capture...Fist, the Collateral Murder video does not capture footage of civilians "caught in the crossfire." It captures footage of civilians who posed no threat being directly targeted by blood-thirsty imbeciles armed to the teeth by the American taxpayer. I assume that means you and me.<br /><br /><br />If you came home to discover that your family had been murdered, that your children's limbs had been torn from their bodies by shrapnel, and that your father was being tortured by agents under the control and general supervision of a foreign power that illegally invaded and illegally occupies your country, you might post something a little different. <br /><br />In fact, you might even be taking up arms to avenge yourself against the monsters who had robbed you of your family, though I doubt you have any experience or taste for direct physical confrontation. Applying the logic of Almighty America (and therefore your logic), you would be classified as AAF, just as Iraqi resisters are classified as AIF (anti-Iraqi forces). In you, Orwell would find a character study of the well-behaved prole, the dutiful servant of BB.<br /><br />The problem with your analysis is that you have fully internalized the myth of American exceptionalism. You belong to a cult. A cult that rationalizes the murder of civilians by the American military. <br /><br />As to the general question question you seek to answer -- is Julian Assange super-empowered -- the question itself is ridiculous and self-centered. You must be comparing him with someone else, and it's not too hard to guess who that someone is. You've been spending to much time at the grocery check-out counter.<br /><br />Sane people could care less about Julian Assange the "personality." It's the information disclosed that matters. And the information disclosed is a damning indictment of American criminality and those who go along with it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3293152265787061341.post-38372593058188872572010-10-25T16:09:26.557-04:002010-10-25T16:09:26.557-04:00"an individual or small group possessing the ..."an individual or small group possessing the knowledge and/or access to critical nodes in complex social systems, and the power and willingness to leverage such to either change the system’s rule set or at least a strong challenge to it."<br /><br />At the risk of sounding overly defensive, Assange still seems to meet these criteria. As a public figure in the media he certainly is present in critical nodes, he is more than willing to leverage his documents to change rule-sets. <br /><br />The better question is can you still be super-empowered if the change you create isn't the change you intended.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com