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Cablegate, the Game

Posted by timothy on from the just-a-hopeless-semantic dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Cablegate: The Game is a game where players can read, tag and summarize the recently released US Embassy Cables. Points are awarded for finding the most tags in a cable." I wish this game were extended to more news sources generally — automated scans are nice, but can't (yet) make all the connections humans can.

9 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. What about tags in Assange's arrest records? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Lawyers cry foul over leak of Julian Assange sex-case papers

    Incriminating police files were published in the British newspaper that has used him as its source for hundreds of leaked US embassy cables.

    In a move that surprised many of Mr Assange's closest supporters on Saturday, The Guardian newspaper published previously unseen police documents that accused Mr Assange in graphic detail of sexually assaulting two Swedish women. One witness is said to have stated: "Not only had it been the world's worst screw, it had also been violent."

    Oh, the irony.

    1. Re:What about tags in Assange's arrest records? by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One witness is said to have stated: "Not only had it been the world's worst screw, it had also been violent."

      It's clear to me that this statement and others like it made by the alleged victim are an insult to actual rape victims everywhere. It gets worse:

      According to her statement she "tried to put on some articles of clothing as it was going too quickly and uncomfortably but Assange ripped them off again". Miss A told police that she didn't want to go any further "but that it was too late to stop Assange as she had gone along with it so far", and so she allowed him to undress her.

      Too late to stop because she had gone along with it so far? And later she goes to lunch with him, and afterwards complains only that he was "the world's worst screw". Unbelievable.

      Without exaggeration: this statement reads like a stereotypical straw man argument trotted out by misogynists who deride and demean rape allegations. This woman did not even have the decency to simply add a line stating at the very least "I told him to stop and he didn't". Today alone, there are women who have arrived bruised and bloody into rape crisis centres, who have had their integrity questioned in court, who have to live with their attackers not only going free, but re-offending; I can't imagine how those women must feel about these patently ridiculous allegations being taken seriously.

      The impact of these farcical complaints in such a high profile sex-offence case is going to set back rape victims' rights by a decade or more. Expect to see the Sweedish Assange case trotted out in every sexual assault legislation debate for twenty years, as the foremost example of how rape allegations can be trivial and how rape victims' testimony is unreliable. I suspect quite a few "mens' rights" groups have made a song and dance over this already.

      Unfortunately, the biggest fallout from the entire Cablegate scandal is going to be in justice for rape victims the world over. So congratulations Miss A.; your actions have changed the world. I hope you're proud of yourself.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    2. Re:What about tags in Assange's arrest records? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Why is it so hard to understand the difference between individual privacy and government secrecy, and that what applies to one doesn't necessarily apply to the other?

    3. Re:What about tags in Assange's arrest records? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What's with the implication that "men's rights" groups (scare quotes and all) are delighted about "injustice for rape victims"? Is your worldview so polarised?

    4. Re:What about tags in Assange's arrest records? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I suspect quite a few "mens' rights" groups have made a song and dance over this already.

      But have they?

      I find it ironic that our friends on the right, who have been warning for years of the dangers of allowing feminists near our rape laws (and I don't necessarily disagree), now have a concrete example of one of their predicted worst-case scenarios, --the (ab)use of the criminal law by women dealing with emotional disappointment --and all they are asking is that the man in question be executed.

      Just one of the many ways Assange seems to be separating the libertarians from the patriots.

    5. Re:What about tags in Assange's arrest records? by Shauni · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There is no "victim script" someone follows after a rape. Never. You watch too many Lifetime movies if you think that is so.

      They may turn up at a crisis center bloody. They may throw a party for their attacker. They may just cover their bruises and pretend it never happened. They may make a joke about it later. They may call it "bad sex" afterward. They may participate during the event, or stop resisting. They may have even agreed until a point, before withdrawing consent. They may do everything "right," and find out that it doesn't even matter.

      That is the nature of sexual abuse of all forms. Often there is an attempt to deny the assault after it happened, because admitting it happened would compel them to act on it. To go to a complete stranger, and relive the event, who more often than not will deride them, blame them, or mishandle their case.

      Then the second they stray from the Lifetime account, it provides a reason to take the man's side.

      The only way to escape the circle of injustice, just understand: no means no.

      Today alone, there are women who have arrived bruised and bloody into rape crisis centres, who have had their integrity questioned in court, who have to live with their attackers not only going free, but re-offending; I can't imagine how those women must feel about these patently ridiculous allegations being taken seriously.

      I would imagine what they feel is something like, "Hey, Glenn Beck sounds just like that asshole defense attorney, or my 'friend' who told me it wasn't a big deal." Alternatively, if they know a little more about the situation, "As usual, the only time a complaint gets taken seriously is when there's a bigger political motive."

      In fact, I don't have to imagine, as I have talked to several, including one about this very event.

    6. Re:What about tags in Assange's arrest records? by JumperCable · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The only way to escape the circle of injustice, just understand: no means no.

      It usually helps if the woman actually says no instead of bitching about it later after she discovers he has slept with another woman.

  2. Re:Yea I'm a contractor too by Duradin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

    Actually, if you're not part of the solution you are part of the precipitate. Saying someone is either part of the solution (x)or part of the problem ignores people that are completely neutral to the situation. Of course narrow-mindedness and binary thinking is the new enlightened so maybe I should just get with the times.

  3. Re:Don't Feel Comfortable Helping by Serious+Callers+Only · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So reading New York Times = learning the truth, right?

    Wrong. Evidently, I'm not claiming the NYT has always and will forever print exclusively the truth, only that it did, along with wikileaks, and now Slashdot, reproduce the particular truths the grandparent is complaining about being exposed to (things that were said by American diplomats in cables). In those particular instances the NYT was reproducing the truth about the USG and its diplomats' views of the world - that was what I meant by 'learning the truth about your government'.

    I hope that puts your mind at rest as to whether I believe the NYT is eternally and universally true!