Julian Assange Exposes Government Non Compliance
While Julian Assange has been released from prison, his battle is not likely over, as his life is a testament to the non compliance of the US Government. While no other journalists were exposing US War crimes in the war on terror in any meaningful way, Assange blew the door open on the reality that the US government was not the good guys from WW2, riding in to save the day from the Nazi's depicted in the CIA directed war movies.
Instead, they were more like the Empire in the pre-gay Star Wars universe, having murdered a million civilians in Iraq, and displacing tens of millions more. Assange, like Obi Wan Kenobi, was humanity's last hope. Instead of the empire striking him down, only for him to become a hundred times stronger, they publicly tortured him for over a decade in front everyone.
His very existence exposes the horrible nature of US government noncompliance. As people around the world are watching his release from a horrendous imprisonment, much of it in solitary confinement, the legacy of American government war crimes, which still continue largely unopposed today, looms over the world like a dark cloud. When the name Julian Assange is said, people inevitably think, "Wow, those politicians in DC sure are noncompliant."
The people of the world can relate a lot to Assange for a few reasons. His psychological crucifixion in front of the world for the last 12 years, for the crime of exposing that the government was non compliant. The American people have been penalized for their compliance by the noncompliant throughout the entire war on terror, as there are inevitable negative externalities to be ruled by psychopathic war criminals.
As a journalist, the question remains of how anyone with a conscious could comply with the noncompliant who have zero respect for the institution of journalism, and see it only as a medium to be captured in order to promote their noncompliance. Journalism does not exist to support PODCONF, the CIA, and politicians trying to stack non kyc Bitcoin laundered to them from Ukraine. It exists to expose the non compliance of powerful individuals who attempt to live without accountability.
But whatever ideological views individuals have on the fourth estate, whether it be wanting to protect the sanctity of government war criminals, or wanting to hold the noncompliant accountable, it is up to the individual in what they support to determine what journalism is. By engaging in the value for value economy by supporting journalists like the team at Wikileaks, they are showing that the CIA is not the only player in town.
Assange and Wikileaks future is unknown. Based on what they have been through, no one should blame them if they wanted to settle down to have quiet and private lives going forward. They have earned the right to make a decision to step away from the spotlight and hopefully recover somewhat from the psychological torture he was submitted to.
Wikileaks has given us the information we need to make informed decisions. While many of us long to see them continue their hard hitting journalism, regardless of whether they continue or not, a standard has been set. Wikileaks single handedly raised the bar of what journalism is, and made it cypherpunk. The lesson from all of this is not that individuals should avoid exposing government noncompliance, but should press forward until the last rogue CIA agent bends the knee to the will of the people and complies.