NYTimes On Dealings With Assange

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NYTimes On Dealings With Assange

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday January 27, 2011 @03:51AM from the i-thought-he-was-a-mastermind dept.

kaapstorm found an NYT story on Assange saying "Assange slouched into The Guardian office, a day late. Schmitt took his first measure of the man who would be a large presence in our lives. 'He's tall — probably 6-foot-2 or 6-3 — and lanky, with pale skin, gray eyes and a shock of white hair that seizes your attention,' Schmitt wrote to me later. 'He was alert but disheveled, like a bag lady walking in off the street, wearing a dingy, light-colored sport coat and cargo pants, dirty white shirt, beat-up sneakers and filthy white socks that collapsed around his ankles. He smelled as if he hadn't bathed in days.'"

37 of 221 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Based on the Cover..... by ObsessiveMathsFreak · 2011-01-27 03:54 · Score: 4, Insightful

You see? Assange is dirty and smelly; he can't be trusted! Real heroes look and smell fantastic!

--
May the Maths Be with you!
1. Re:Based on the Cover..... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-27 04:01 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Real heroes also don't rape women!
  You mean like the troops we're supposed to be supporting in flag-humping fervor?
2. Re:Based on the Cover..... by MoldySpore · 2011-01-27 04:12 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Last I checked, rape victims don't throw their attackers a party after they are raped.
  
  --
  "I hope you know how very lucky you are to know me, because I am so incredibly incredible."
3. Re:Based on the Cover..... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-27 04:14 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Men or women, heroes or cowards all should not forcefully complete a sex act when consent has been withdrawn. This should be universally accepted but is apparently not.
4. Re:Based on the Cover..... by uberjack · 2011-01-27 04:35 · Score: 2
  
  I think if he was a servant of the enemy, he'd look fairer and feel fouler.
5. Re:Based on the Cover..... by Wyatt+Earp · 2011-01-27 04:48 · Score: 2
  
  It's not for life
  http://www.rainn.org/public-policy/sexual-assault-issues/state-statutes-of-limitations
  But you better hope you can keep them from changing their minds for 5-10 years, in the US at least. I don't know about Sweden, couldn't find anything with a quick search.
6. Re:Based on the Cover..... by poity · 2011-01-27 04:49 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I figured you were making a snide quip which was cool, but now that your post has been modded "+5 Insightful" I feel the need to respond, not to your comment (I have no problems with it) but to the general attitude here that would see a joke not as a joke but as an elucidation of some conspiracy by the NYT author to smear Assange.
  In an article about personal dealings with Assange and not about Wikileaks, describing the man through someone's eyes helps to ground the scene of the story, making it more vivid and engaging. Did he not appear disheveled, did he not look tired? If indeed, then it's a vivid way of describing a man who had prioritized his work above even his own hygiene and upkeep, which gives you a sense of how involved and single-minded Assange was in pursuing his ideals -- it gives you the sense that he truly believes Wikileaks is important, more so perhaps than even himself. The short description can say all that without being tiresomely explicit. This kind of story-telling is what makes an article a captivating read, a veiled attempt to make Assange look bad is really the last thing it could be.
  Just throwing some sense out hoping to dilute the deep cynicism and paranoia I see here.
  I kindly ask everyone to read the entire article first before judging it as an attempt to discredit. I think it's a captivating story worth reading.
  
  --
  your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
7. Re:Based on the Cover..... by MoldySpore · 2011-01-27 04:51 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Experience. A close friend of mine was raped. She didn't throw a party for her attacker. The only thing she did was report it to police, who were immediately able to administer a rape kit, get samples, including semen, photos of forced entry bruising and tearing, and testified in court against him. She did not throw him a party nor did she let him stay at her place for a week after the attack.
  
  --
  "I hope you know how very lucky you are to know me, because I am so incredibly incredible."
8. Re:Based on the Cover..... by Draek · 2011-01-27 05:51 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  No, we're talking about an AC's accussations stating Assange had committed rape. He didn't, end of argument.
  If you or the AC want to discuss sexual impropiety, *then* we'd look at the weird Swedish laws and the even weirder accussations leveled against Assange, but that's another subject altogether.
  
  --
  No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
9. Re:Based on the Cover..... by houghi · 2011-01-27 06:01 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  And the real reason is here: http://houghi.org/Fun/4L3O6E9.jpg
  
  --
  Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
10. Re:Based on the Cover..... by mapkinase · 2011-01-27 06:51 · Score: 2
  
  That's how many "personal" stories get published: looks are in the first place.
  Actually, it's a basic human decency not to pay attention to the secondary (in this case, irrelevant to the story of how nihilism of world diplomacy works, how it became exposed and how TPTB are after the man in the center of this) drawbacks of the character and the GP was making a joke elucidating the dirty tricks of NYT.
  
  --
  I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
11. Re:Based on the Cover..... by Jah-Wren+Ryel · 2011-01-27 08:46 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  a veiled attempt to make Assange look bad is really the last thing it could be.
  It seems you missed the earlier sentence, the one that says he "slouched into the office" and looked like "a bag lady." Both of those comparisons are explicitly uncomplimentary. I read the entire article when it was first published and what I took away from it was a writer who has some personal issues with Assange trying his damndest to wrap up his insults in a thin veneer of professional neutrality and wordsmithing.
  For example, he took a shot at Assange for describing wikileak's goal as "scientific journalism" - which is the term wikileaks has been using for the practice of providing all source materials for a story to the reader along with the story itself. The writer hand-waved that the the NYT has been doing just that for years now, when as reader of the NYT online for years now, I can't recall them ever providing full sources and have frequently been frustrated by their lack of any sources.
  
  --
  When information is power, privacy is freedom.
12. Re:Based on the Cover..... by gknoy · 2011-01-27 09:04 · Score: 2
  
  His point was that many people consider soldiers to be heroes, a-priori based on them having chosen to go defend our freedoms (or kill terrorists). In reality, some soldiers are heroic, many are ethical, and some are decidedly un-heroic. He was pointing out that we cannot assume that someone is a Real Hero just because they're a soldier, even if many of the soldiers _are_ worthy of our respect and accolades.
13. Re:Based on the Cover..... by xavdeman · 2011-01-27 10:52 · Score: 2
  
  I replied when this first showed up on Facebook... Some people should stop using straw man arguments.There is no overlap between the idiots who claim Julian is a villain (e.g. Bill O'Foxnews) and the ones saying that Mark Zuckerberg is the Man of the Year. Also, Facebook only "steals" the stuff you give to them. Google has been tracking internet users for years. Neither of these guys is a villain. One is a businessman, the other is a journalist. Some people might argue that all businessmen are villains but that is over exaggerating. Captcha: Harassed.
His socks, shoes, coat, hair.... by ciaran_o_riordan · 2011-01-27 03:57 · Score: 3, Insightful

Thanks for sticking to the important stuff!

--
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
1. Re:His socks, shoes, coat, hair.... by inpher · 2011-01-27 04:06 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  NYT spent less than 0.5% of the text detailing Assange's transformation from the regular hacker attire to someone wearing formal clothes (thus making him also a human, a person, not just a source) on that and you think NYT considers that part the most important? The other 99.5% detailing the leak and relationship between NYT, Other Newspapers, Assange and The US Government are not considered important to you?
2. Re:His socks, shoes, coat, hair.... by Americano · 2011-01-27 04:20 · Score: 2
  
  No, because out of 9 pages detailing the relationship and story behind how they came to be working with Wikileaks, a couple sentences describing someone's first impression of Mr. Assange is clearly the most important. I can see why the submitter would zero in on that single paragraph, rather than the other content across the other 9 pages.
3. Re:His socks, shoes, coat, hair.... by mapkinase · 2011-01-27 06:56 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  From the NYT article:
  
  But in its zeal to make the video a work of antiwar propaganda, WikiLeaks also released a version that didn’t call attention to an Iraqi who was toting a rocket-propelled grenade and packaged the manipulated version under the tendentious rubric “Collateral Murder.”
  
  Hasn't it been addressed already ad hominem that there was no "rocket-propelled grenade " and the object that has been carried was a camera? Did I miss something?
  
  --
  I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
4. Re:His socks, shoes, coat, hair.... by _Sprocket_ · 2011-01-27 08:44 · Score: 2
  
  Hasn't it been addressed already ad hominem that there was no "rocket-propelled grenade " and the object that has been carried was a camera? Did I miss something?
  You missed the unedited version of the video. The edited version cuts out parts that show armed individuals within the group but goes to great detail to label the reporters (as well as to drive home how callous combat banter can be and highlight the children). You can find various places that offer some analysis of this, one of which is: http://oldbulllee.com/wikmassacre.htm
Who wants some hot... by Vernes · 2011-01-27 04:04 · Score: 5, Funny

...character assassination!? Piping hot character assassination? Get em while they're hot! You Sir? Some nice hot character assassination for the little lady?
1. Re:Who wants some hot... by _Sprocket_ · 2011-01-27 04:22 · Score: 2
  
  ...character assassination!?
  Piping hot character assassination?
  Get em while they're hot!
  You Sir? Some nice hot character assassination for the little lady?
  And so the propaganda continues. We have people portraying Assange as a "saint" and a "digital Scarlet Pimpernel", ushering in a new age of truth and transparency. But anything remotely critical of this angel of the digital age is conspiracy and character assassination. Of course, then we have those who believe Assange is demon and conspirator, worthy of political assassination - or at least ignoring a few choice laws to warrent arrest. So there's more than enough noise to go around. Thanks for contributing to the din.
2. Re:Who wants some hot... by nomadic · 2011-01-27 04:41 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  "...character assassination!? Piping hot character assassination? Get em while they're hot! You Sir? Some nice hot character assassination for the little lady?"
  
  No thanks, I'm all full from that piping hot uncritical hero worship fanaticism I had for breakfast.
3. Re:Who wants some hot... by spun · 2011-01-27 05:24 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Personally, I'm full up on all the black and white thinking.
  Guess what? There is a middle ground where Assange is not a hero, he is a human being, who does good and bad things. We can decry the rush to smear Assange without assuming he is a hero. Nothing in the post you respond to indicates hero worship, and so it really appears as though you are trying to smear all of Assange's defenders as mere unthinking "hero worshipers." Is that your intention?
  
  --
  - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
4. Re:Who wants some hot... by Draek · 2011-01-27 05:54 · Score: 2
  
  You shouldn't be watching Fox News so early in the morning, you know, it's bad for your health.
  
  --
  No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
5. Re:Who wants some hot... by spun · 2011-01-27 06:40 · Score: 2
  
  No it isn't mindless hero worship, and there is no need to denigrate those you disagree with as "mindless." There is an organized campaign to discredit Assange. This reporter may not be part of that campaign, but he is doing their work for them by painting Assange as weird and different. It is entirely valid to question the motives of anyone criticizing Assange, because of the very real, very powerful campaign to discredit him. Criticizing their motives does not imply hero worship of Assange.
  
  --
  - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Seems a rational description... by bjk002 · 2011-01-27 04:11 · Score: 4, Insightful

for a man essentially in hiding, trying to avoid being extradited to an unfriendly (to him) country, which happens to have one of the most robust intelligence arms in the world.
Can't read TFA as a NYTimes account is required to access (where are the link tags? They're too helpful to exclude in the new layout/design).
Despite your politics I think you can appreciate the gravity of such a situation and how the attributable paranoia and personal apprehension may manifest itself within an individual.

--
Opinion:=TMyOpinion.Create(Me);
you by unity100 · 2011-01-27 04:13 · Score: 2

successfully trolled me. im a moron who is not able to know about what rape is, in general legalese, and learn about what it is in swedish legalese, and make a distinction from common sense in between.

please, troll me again.

--
Read radical news here
Fuck 'em by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-27 04:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

Funny that, the New York Times and The Guardian pissing on the guy doing the job they failed to do.
fuck you both. fuck you both very hard.
1. Re:Fuck 'em by Luke+has+no+name · 2011-01-27 05:03 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  That's EXACTLY why they'd piss on him.
  The lamestream media is angry that someone is uncovering the truth about our government.
2. Re:Fuck 'em by spun · 2011-01-27 06:11 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  More importantly, the owners of the media are angry someone is uncovering the truth about their robber-baron lifestyle. The government is just a tool, and it is really our tool, we do not have to let the rich use it against us.
  
  --
  - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
3. Re:Fuck 'em by darien.train · 2011-01-27 10:46 · Score: 2
  
  I don't want a news source that withholds information as leverage like Assange is trying to do.
  Do you honestly think you know enough about how major newspapers/publishing orgs operate to claim that they don't use information as leverage against competitors, it's readers or even sources?
  I think your comment shows you don't know the first thing.
  I'll give you an example: "Snow expected this weekend, stay tuned after this commercial break to find out how much and how it will effect your weekend plans."
  So the news network is willing to let you die in a snowy car crash just so that you'll watch the next set of ads. Assange defends himself from the threat of extra-legal assassination and he's an evil monster!
  Welcome to the Kool-Aid you just drank.
  
  --
  I don't know how many years on this Earth I got left. I'm going to get real weird with it. - Frank Reynolds
As long as we're talking about his appearance... by irockash · 2011-01-27 04:26 · Score: 2

The description in the summary is from his first meeting, before the cables were leaked.
From the article:

Assange was transformed by his outlaw celebrity. The derelict with the backpack and the sagging socks now wore his hair dyed and styled, and he favored fashionably skinny suits and ties. He became a kind of cult figure for the European young and leftish and was evidently a magnet for women.
Re:That pretty much describes me at times (often) by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-27 04:53 · Score: 2, Funny

Well, if you accept the "won't interbreed" definition of species then there's some truth to it.
Re:curiouser and curiouser. by gknoy · 2011-01-27 05:26 · Score: 4, Insightful

Heros are real people (with flaws) who choose to do something amazing, by choice or by accident, and often because they feel it's necessary or self-serving.
Bradley Manning is the real hero by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-27 05:28 · Score: 2, Insightful

Everyone seems to forget that Julian Assange is just a credit-stealing con-man.
Bradley Manning put his career, and possibly his life (if convicted of treason) at risk to collect material to expose the treachery and hypocrisy he saw within US dealings with foreign powers - especially the recent wars. Whereas Julian Assange simply put the material on a webstie, then stole all the glory.
Assange even put up a website supposedly devoted to raising money for Manning's legal defense - then kept the money.
And it is looking like the rape charges against Assange may be real.
BUT - the /. crowd likes Assange better because he adopts the costume of an anti-authority web sophisticate, whereas Manning wore a uniform.
IMHO - Assange is a sleazy narcissistic con-man, and Bradley Manning is the unsung hero of this story.
1. Re:Bradley Manning is the real hero by tunapez · 2011-01-27 05:46 · Score: 2
  
  Assange, definitely a narcissist. Con-man? Meh, I think he may be under the influence of the spotlight twinkling in his eyes coupled with the fear of certain persecution.
  Regardless of his motivation, the over-classification of all that is data to be hidden from consternation is good for nobody but the status quo.
  
  Bradley, definitely the hero. No ifs, ands or buts.
  Regardless of his motivation, the over-classification of all that is data to be hidden from consternation is good for nobody but the status quo.
  
  If I had mod points I would give you 5, AC.
  
  --
  Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments...
Re:with a review THAT off-topic by MightyMartian · 2011-01-27 05:36 · Score: 4, Insightful

If I knew the US government was gunning for me, and that at least a few of its politicians wanted me lined up in front of a firing squad, I'm sure "fairly unstable and paranoid" would be among several applicable adjectives that would be applicable.

--
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.