How media turned Julian Assange into a blameless Saint – the best quotes
WHY is Julian Assange big news? Why does Julian Assange feel no need to talk to the Swedish authorities about an alleged rape? It’s because big news decided that they loved him. They loved him because he game them the leaked cables and good copy. They built him into a Messiah, the embodiment of truth and light:
Raffi Khatchadourian in the New Yorker: “Under the studio lights, he can seem – with his spectral white hair, pallid skin, cool eyes and expansive forehead – like a rail-thin being who has rocketed to earth to deliver humanity some hidden truth”.
Nick Davies in the Guardian: “We are going to put you on the moral high ground, so high that you’ll need an oxygen mask. You’ll be up there with Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa…They won’t be able to arrest you”
Luke Harding and David Leigh (Guardian writers in WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy): Assange is “brave, uncompromising and dangerous”. Assange is “messiah” or “James Bond villain“.
Time magazine: Assange was beaten to the title of 2010 Person of the Year Award by only Mark Zuckerberg.
Forbes : he is “the prophet of a coming age of involuntary transparency”
CounterPunch: Assange is “Truth in Chains”
John Pilger: Assagne is “the truth teller”
Huffington Post: “For our sake, he’s being crucified to satisfy right-wingers’ bloodlust”
AboveTopSecret.com: “Just like Jesus of Nazareth, Julian Assange had a mission to reveal the truth. Now, just like Jesus, he faces persecution and/or death on false and trumped-up charges.”
Heather Brooke in Assange Agonistes:
He sighs. “I just have so much to do.”
“Yeah, it’s a tough life being a messiah.” I joke. There’s a pause.
“Will you be my Mary Magdalene, Heather? And bathe my feet at the cross?”
And you wonder why he feels no need to help an investigation into an alleged rape?
Spotter: Brendan O’Neill
Posted: 17th, August 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
