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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).
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."
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.
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. ;)
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.
Silly question: what does a**e stand for? :)
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.
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
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...
Bear in mind that "the article" is published by The Telegraph, which is the UKs chief mouthpiece for the right-wing establishment. Kind of like Fox-News, but not quite as bad.
So left's not confuse what it says with actual facts. They might be the facts, they might not. But The Telegraph is not a reliable source, so we don't know.
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.
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.