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Ghostwriter Reveals the Secret Life of WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange
An anonymous reader writes "From the Telegraph, 'He is vain, secretive, paranoid and jealous, prone to leering at young women and making frequent sexist jokes – and that's not the view of one of his many enemies, but of a friend ... A damning picture of Julian Assange ... has emerged in a detailed account by his ghostwriter. Assange behaves ... like an egotistical tyrant interested more in his own self-publicity than in changing the world. Worse still, he turns on his friends with increasing regularity ... Assange describes the Ecuadorean ambassador offering him diplomatic asylum as 'mad', 'fat' and 'ludicrous'. Even Assange's girlfriend, WikiLeaks researcher Sarah Harrison, grew increasingly frustrated at his behaviour. 'He openly chats girls up and has his hands on their a**e and goes nuts if I even talk to another guy,' she says. O'Hagan, who had hoped to find an anti-authoritarian rebel figure worthy of admiration, says he comes to regard Assange as someone who sacrificed the moral high-ground by attempting to evade trial over the rape charges.' — The Scotsman adds, 'Canongate director Jamie Byng yesterday hailed O'Hagan's account of the "impossibility of trying to ghost Assange's memoirs". He tweeted: "Andy O'Hagan's compelling, ring side account of Being (& being around) Julian Assange is smart, accurate and fair."'"
Sounds like much we already knew or suspected. I'm more interested in why some people keep trying to show us what an awful character Assange is, instead of focussing on what he has done. Love him and Wikileaks or hate them; the latter seems a lot more relevant.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Yea a lot of people who do really amazing things aren't always the best people. Sure he deserves some criticism, but we obsess over these take down articles. Clickbait etc
If you can't win: Ad Hominem.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Speaking as a ghostwriter, this is not how one operates. This guy is just being an asshole.
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
Could describe any number of people who are/were successful in public but had feet of clay. Rev. Martin Luther King, Pres. Bill Clinton - the list goes on and on (admittedly King wasn't necessarily paranoid, they really were out to get him).
Not being a friend of Assange at all (who jumped bail and now is costing the Ecuadorian government lots of money), but what does that have to do with anything? And everybody can ask themselves what they would look like if someone tried hard to show them in the worst possible light.
can I have 'smear campaign' for 100, please, alex?
we can see thru this character assasination easily enough; but the fact is, if you keep repeating lies enough, people will believe them.
regardless, what the man has done is what matters. personality does not enter into it, not one bit.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I have to admit, I don't get "a**e". Is that supposed to mean "arse" or something? If so, why the self-censorship for such a benign word?
How many people would stay "nice" if you found yourself choosing between staying in self-imposed jail or stepping outside and likely finding yourself in real jail?
I have no idea to Assange's personality before all this happened, but a severe case of cabin fever can drive people off the rails.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Sorry to post A/C, but there's too much hate for contrarian opinions on Slashdot.
I love how the pro-Assange crowd is already dismissing this. I'm sorry, but it does matter. The "why" someone does something is just as important as the "what". Assange takes a lot of credit for Wikileaks, but the truth is there are a lot of people involved in Wikileaks who are more valuable to the organization whereas Assange's narcissim and poor ethical decisions have not only made him an easy target but have also damaged the brand itself. With what they're trying to do, maintaining the ethical and moral high ground is paramount as the only thing they have to go on for their work to make a difference is their reputation; once that's damaged then the public at large will not trust them and nothing will ever really change. If you truly believe in what you're doing, then you don't put yourself into compromising situations with women etc.
It's redacted.
Not that I don't believe it, necessarily. Merely that it can't be trusted. At all.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
I am not interested in his character but his results.
He's self centered and likes to flirt with younger women. Oh no! Our faith in the very integrity of wikileaks must be revisited!
Meanwhile an enormous personality cult continues around an asshole who regularly destroyed the lives of people working for him (Steve Jobs).
If I were going to pick someone to have a beer with, I would pick Assange any day. I don't give a fuck if someone has personality flaws. That means he is the same as every other human alive. What I care about is their effect on the world around them. Assange has had such a net positive impact with wikileaks that no amount of aggressive flirting or being-a-dick-sometimes(tm) is going to burn it.
That's just one of the fancy new features of beta. You're welcome, slashdotters. ;)
Maybe, just maybe, he did assault the woman. After all, it is the "seriousness of the charge" that counts.
Conservative, mod down for violating
If your ghost writer turns on you, of all people, is it really fair to say one is paranoid? Sounds like his belief that people are out to get him is fairly confirmed.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
more like self appoint, failed and bitter biographer.
"[When Assange would not cooperare with the writier]... Assange's publisher, Cannongate, releases its own version of the autobiography, after Assange allegedly fails to honour the terms of his contract. The book flopped, selling only 700 copies in its first week"
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Oh and by coincidence she only decided to put the accusation up AFTER she learned he slept with someone else. Go figure.
I notice this new round coincides with Greenwald's discovery in the Snowdon documents that Assange is indeed on a US three-letter agencies' manhunt list.
Silly question: what does a**e stand for? :)
The second the rape BS comes up it should be a dead give away this is not a legitimate source. Somebody who knows the situation because they have close contact and work with him (at least since he got on the CIA's radar) clearly must know the obvious facts about the Rape BS. But instead decides to act like a CIA operative and push the government's propaganda 110%?? Paid operative before or after is still a paid operative (that doesn't mean spy and who knows what secrets the ghostwriter has, except the NSA...) No, this isn't paranoia, it is common sense. Hell, to say Assange is paranoid is totally idiotic if you have any sense of what he is involved in.
American media is extremely obsessed with the cult of personality; far more than other nations. This is an indirect assault upon Americans by shooting the messenger in ways that highly effective and distracting in the USA (more so than other nations.) The whole point is to make life a living hell on earth as visibly as possible, including thinly veiled BS character assassination so anybody with half a brain can see what is going to happen to anybody who threatens the USA with truth. It is Terrorism plain and simple. The legal system can be made into the punishment (which is why the founders put in that part about a speedy trial in the defunct 6th Amendment ) and if he gets into the USA it'll be the punishment BEFORE conviction and after exoneration he'll still be stuck in Gitmo for his retirement.
Ecuador isn't spending as much as the USA or their bitch, the UK.
It doesn't matter if he is a kiddie fiddler, courageous acts are not exclusively done by saints. If anything it should be more impressive when a "'vain, secretive, paranoid, jealous, rapist" does something that people "above reproach" are too cowardly to do. You'd think Americans would be wiser given how many grow up watching the popular redemption theme in their movies; which has gone to extremes in making everything dark and flawed.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Remember, the NSA's stated M.O. is to publicly smear Julian Assange in order to get people to divert focus away from the crimes commited by the U.S. Federal Government.
Julian's character is an irrelevant distraction, so don't get drawn into a debate over the messenger. Stay on message: The U.S. Federal Government has committed crimes against its people, and will do anything to cover it up.
No, that's our job. Wikileaks can only inform us that we should do it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
You mean that like many rape victims she was hesitant to complain to the police, but after finding that her attacker had a history of such assaults she found the courage? Hmmm.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
. Yeah yeah save use the "Sweden is different, questioning is the same as charging him" crap you usually retort with about this point.
In short, facts don't matter. You continue to honor your custom.
And yes, technically the charges would come after Assange is next interrogated by the Swedes due to the procedures of their legal system. That is a sequence shared by other EU countries.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
If you believe that, you really should watch "The Fifth Estate". The amount of world change that 2 people could institute in a span of 2-3 years is shocking.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
Paul Revere used to butter the milkmaids with his baby-batter.
Philippides, the courier of Marathon used to drink too much, and then screw the serving boys.
However, they are NOT discounted as messengers.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You clearly didn't read the entire article or you would know that Assange signed a contract for this book and chose the ghostwriter. But keep drinkin' that Kool Aide - who needs critical thinking skills (or reading comprehension for that matter), right?
Various Swedish legal experts have fallen on either side of the debate, for example fairly critical article on Assange quotes Swedish professor emeritus of international law, Ove Bring, as saying: "the evidence is not enough to charge him with a crime". So even the experts disagree. Unless you have some inside knowledge I do not see how you can be so sure as to say "technically the charges would come after". So your remarks smell like trolling to me...
Actually, RTFA. It's redacted there, so the summary has it as it was copied from TFA. If you don't like it here, leave, nobody will miss you.
Yes. But it's a secret so don't tell anyone.
You know what the federal government couldn't give less of a shit about? The opinions of the 18 people who still read this site.
Uh, it's perfectly possible to be a sociopath and also do good and important things.
The personality part is interesting because it shows that Assange's personality is both what enabled him to accomplish all he did with WikiLeaks, and what sabotaged his efforts to make WikiLeaks into something even bigger and more powerful. His fallings-out with other WikiLeaks people predates much of the external pressure. Based on many sources, he strikes me as a deeply flawed individual who has accomplished great things. It's sad that he has not been able to accomplish more.
My guess is that history will show him as paving the way for Snowden and other future leakers. He'll be remembered more for the way his actions changed the discourse and environment for transparency than for his actual technical accomplishments. His personality will be an afterthought.
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
www.fogbound.net
I know I live in a basement and haven't ever actually talked to a girl, let alone put my hands on her a**e, which is good, because I don't have a fucking clue what her a**e is.
Be seeing you...
I knew a girl in high school that didn't like to be touched on her ankle. Something about her height and being stuff into waste bins or something.
The woman who had the sex with him dropped out the accusation man. She voluntarily let him in her bedroom and had voluntary sex with him before. She just wasn't 'in the mood' one of the times he did sex with her. That is a crime in Sweden? Good thing I don't live there.
Yeah, it's entirely possible for someone to consent to sex one night and then not consent to sex the next morning. See, people have the right to say no, whether it's because they're not "in the mood", because they're sleepy, because they're sick, or any other reason. And forcing yourself on someone who has said no is rape, even if you've previously had consensual sex with them in other circumstances. And that's not only a crime in Sweden, but in most other countries.
When the ghostwriter has created a legitimate outlet that could save the free world, then he can whine a little. Until then, he and everyone else should just shut the f*** up.
Or, howsabout he be allowed his say like everyone else? Wikileaks, as has been noted, has been about destroying censorship. and informing people.
What you just proposed is the very definition of censorship.
Congrats on graduating Hypocrisy 101!
We ALL have flaws - at least Assange makes up for them by BEING AWESOME.
Why is pointing out someone's flaws all that problematic. Assange is a self-obsessed douchebag. There's millions of them running around the planet nowadays.
Basically articles like this inform people. So that if they're dealing with said douchebags, they don't go into the exchange blind, and expecting the person to act like a rational person.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I'm sure he's all of that stuck in a room by himself at the embassy for the past few years. Maybe five years ago, not today. Sorry, it doesn't pass the smell test.
... Assange revealed to be exactly like all the other guys working in IT right now. Real shocker.
What are the chances that next step for mr O'Hagan would be writing a "tell-all" article series, followed by a book "revealing to the public the intimate details about one of modern day most controversial characters". I bet that would pay a heck of a lot better than a ghostwriting job for a fugitive stuck at a 3rd world country embassy.
Seems like Assange isn't particularly savvy about choosing his friends.
prone to leering at young women and making frequent sexist jokes
This pretty much describes every Australian man I've ever met.
While this is not uniquely an Australian trait, in my experience the percentage of Australian men that exhibit it are damn near 100%.
And yes, I know this is an unfair stereotype so I apologize, but flame on Bruce.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
a legitimate outlet that could save the free world
LOL. Wikileaks hasn't accomplished a damn thing.
There are lots of reactions from governments from around the world, but I'm curious to what extent this is simply a case of: "I am shocked, SHOCKED to find espionage going on here!"
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Yes. But it's a secret so don't tell anyone.
Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
This behavior is all in line with those who have Borderline and Narcisistic Personality Disorders. Most highly motivated people with the drive to be leaders have them to some degree. Some worse than others. That's why all of our elected officials are essentially pricks motivated by self gain rather than true public service. Their behavior drives away the decent people who might otherwise want to participate but can't tolerate interacting with such people.
While not the most admirable traits to have, it also isn't a crime to be a backstabbing asshole. It seems like someone is on a character assassination agenda.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Name. One. Person. Who. Was. Extradited. For. Accusation. Of. Sex. Without. A. Condom.
Just.
One.
Fourth amendment against search and seizure. Mass surveillance and use of such data to undermine opposition. Murder. Conspiracy to commit murder. War crimes. Accessories to murder. Use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians. Throw in the ninth amendment while we are at it. Abuse of secrecy declarations to conceal crimes and persecutions. And the panels are useless - they are carefully loaded with shills. Amazing that one actually broke free and declared illegality.
OOPS. Forgot! He was never accused.
Assange is an asshole womanizing narcissist, Manning was a transsexual on the brink of a gender change with (understandable) anger issues, Snowden is... weirdly normal aside from some seemingly irrational choices in countries to hide in.
Of course you have to take a hatchet piece by a "ghostwriter" with a grain of salt but we already knew Assange could be sleazy from his behaviour that led to the rape charges (regardless of whether you think the charges are legit).
At the end of the day to be a prominent activist you have to believe your issue is so important that it's worthwhile provoking confrontations and stirring up trouble, you need an ideology strong enough to motivate you to throw away a normal life and career to pursue your issue. Normal well adjusted people generally don't become dedicated activists.
I think WikiLeaks is a great idea but nice normal people don't make things like WikiLeaks.
I stole this Sig
I find it highly suspect that the most damage being done to Assanges reputation is by his erstwhile friends and colleges.
.. The e-mails also suggested that the company could pressure some of WikiLeaks' more public and vocal supporters (primarily journalists) by threatening to sabotage their careers." ref
"Wikileaks.org uses trust as a center of gravity by assuring insiders, leakers, and whistleblowers who pass information to Wikileaks.org personnel or who post information to the Web site that they will remain anonymous. The identification, exposure, or termination of employment of or legal actions against current or former insiders, leakers, or whistleblowers could damage or destroy this center of gravity and deter others from using Wikileaks.org to make such information public." ref
"Some enemies of WikiLeaks are not afraid to play dirty. Pro-WikiLeaks hackers (but not the organization itself) gained access to internal e-mails from HBGary Federal, a California-based security company that was allegedly offering to help companies like Bank of America (the rumored target of the next WikiLeaks dump) discredit the organization through falsified documents
Remember, the NSA's stated M.O. is to publicly smear Julian Assange in order to get people to divert focus away from the crimes commited by the U.S. Federal Government. flash action game
As usual from Cold Fjord: half truths, lies, deception, repeating ad hominem and all your typical moral low ground techniques
he doesn't even try to cover up his bias.
otoh:
#include "notsureifserious.jpg"
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
In a 45-page essay chronicling the collapse of a $2.5m deal for Assange’s autobiography, O’Hagan, an award-winning novelist and non-fiction author, recounts how he spent months with the Australian computer hacker in an attempt to extract material for the book.
I can think of 2.5m reasons O’Hagan would not paint a positive image of Assange after spending months of his life with only this article to show for it.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be-T J
Sorry to break your David vs. Goliath outlook, but despite the crap that comes out of a few loud-mouthed Congressmen, the US sure as shit doesn't want him.
http://online.wsj.com/news/art...
Senator Feinstein is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee (What? there's intelligence in the US Senate?). Hardly a loudmouth.
Can you imagine Assange doing the NY morning show circuit?
Only if they do them from Quantico.
The summary reminds me of JFK and of this indirectly related article The Double Standard That Lets Elites Survive Even Catastrophic Failures:
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
Late to the party so I suspect all y'all will miss this but it's important to realise that The Telegraph is a very right-of centre, capital "C" Conservative news organisation. In the UK it's often called the Torygraph for it's unquestioning and unalloyed support of all things associated with the Tory (Conservative) party. For a different spin, try the Guardian's coverage, here.
Even better would be to actually read the LRB article which actually is a detailed, nuanced piece which says both good things and bad about the guy.
Yeah, it's entirely possible for someone to consent to sex one night and then not consent to sex the next morning
But what if you consent one evening, but the next morning decide you didn't consent? That was the situation at issue here, but it's mostly moot since the woman involved has dropped the charges. That just leaves the rest of us in the rape discussion spinning the wheels endlessly.
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
SPOILER ALERT: At the end of the book, the main character is executed by the government.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
He's fully qualified to hold elective office.
There are lots of reactions from governments from around the world, but I'm curious to what extent this is simply a case of: "I am shocked, SHOCKED to find espionage going on here!"
Here are your intelligence briefings, sir.
But what if you consent one evening, but the next morning decide you didn't consent? That was the situation at issue here
No, it wasn't... They had sex the previous day. He then wanted to have sex without a condom, and she said no. That was the withdrawal of any further consent. She then went to sleep. She woke up with him inside her. That was the rape. There was never any "deciding she didn't consent to something that happened the night before".
but it's mostly moot since the woman involved has dropped the charges. That just leaves the rest of us in the rape discussion spinning the wheels endlessly.
[Citation]? I haven't heard anything about that.
It's been public knowledge for years that he's basically an asshole and a pain to work with. Wikileaks is necessary and requires support, and in so far as his work is essential to Wikileaks, so does he, but that doesn't make him personally worthy of respect. The heroes in this piece, if there are heroes, are sources like Breanna Manning and Edward Snowden, and journalists like Glenn Greenwald.
Ass. Buttocks. Hindquarters. Rear. Plot. :P