Julian Assange, diasporans

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Kate Harding's post on Julian Assange's rape charges

Public evidence, as the Times noted, is scarce. So, it's heartening to see that in the absence of same, my fellow liberal bloggers are so eager to abandon any pretense of healthy skepticism and rush to discredit an alleged rape victim based on some tabloid articles and a feverish post by someone who is perhaps not the most trustworthy source. Well done, friends! What a fantastic show of research, critical thinking and, as always, respect for women.

Also, how a debate on wikileaks took an unexpected turn to: Diasporans: The Fraction we can't name, in Zimbabwe:

"Of course I do," I mourned once more, felled yet again. "One day during the Second World War, Winston Churchill staggers into a room, dead drunk as usual. You know Churchill had a drink problem?" This time around I decided I had had it. I was ready to throw back to stop this vain block. "The way George Bush had the same? Have you read his memoirs, Decision Points," I shot back.

This one had to catch him. I hoped to transfer the plague of insufficiency by which this vain man got at me. Cleverly, he hurried past the innuendo, the sly political MDC man. "Seeing that the Prime Minister of Britain was drunk, dead drunk, one lady plucked courage and confronted him. Without wasting time, she barked a sharp rebuking order, one that reversed power relations. Temporarily at least. "Mister Prime Minister, you are drunk. Get out of the room!"

The error you cannot mend

"You know how it is with drunks and I am sure you appreciate what a drunk wielding enormous power does." I wondered whether my interlocutor was not making another go at me. I don’t drink, have never taken in alcohol. He was appealing to the unfamiliar to compound my insufficiency, I reasoned.

Another condescending assault from this bastard! "The drunk Briton, the drunk British Prime Minister, doddered forward, towards the cheeky woman who had dared him. Once satisfied that he had gained suitable distance for a maximum uptake of his piece of mind, the Prime Minister, letting out thick fumes of the substance, pauses for a dramatic while, hardly steady and upright. Then the bombshell: "My good lady, I am druuuuuunk, and I don’t deny dzat.

"But tomorroooow morning, tomorrow mooooorning, I shall wake up sober, possibly with a small, nagging headache which will vanish together with early morning dew. But as for you, darlin’, you are ugly, uuuuugly. Let’s see how you will look tomorrow."

[ETA: The blogpost is about diasporans and how hierarchies define identities and the current situation in Zimbabwe, as well as Churchill being appallingly sexist.]

Comments

Salon doesn't seem to like my browser

[thejeopardymaze]

However, I can understand some of the mentality behind it, even though it isn't justified. From my personal perspective, I believe a lot of these reactions stem through paranoia on the left, which I can't blame them for after the past nine so years. But acting out of it isn't good for making rational decisions or conclusions for cases such as these.

Re: Salon doesn't seem to like my browser

[colorblue]

ohhey, spiralsheep c&ped the article over here, if you want to read it. And, I agree that a lot of the reactions stem from paranoia, but at the same time, to me, they also reveal what most of the liberal left in the US really values, and what it's willing to throw under the bus in its fight against the Great Evil. I don't see this is an isolated incident; I see it as the continuation of a pattern, if that makes sense, and I do blame them for it.

Thank you for the link, I'll read it asap

[thejeopardymaze]

If the allegations are true, he shouldn't be running Wikileaks, but to be honest I've been privately thinking that he should have stepped down the second the news the air waves. I was skeptical for awhile because of the timing, it sounded like too much of a coincidence, but I've read some recent news articles, which certainly do not reflect well on him. To put it mildly. I'm still digesting it.

I don't see this is an isolated incident; I see it as the continuation of a pattern, if that makes sense, and I do blame them for it.

There is a history of misogyny in the left that has never really been faced up to, and it's probably time I start reading more about it as a problem within the movements.

Cockburn

[thejeopardymaze]

This was the same guy who thinks DE Lawrence couldn't have been raped because the guard or whatever was married, not gay. I don't have the link, but I know it's somewhere in the site of Counterpunch.

Naomi Wolf-due to her history, stuff like this coming from her doesn't surprise me.

Re: Cockburn

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If the allegations are true, he shouldn't be running Wikileaks, but to be honest I've been privately thinking that he should have stepped down the second the news the air waves. I was skeptical for awhile because of the timing, it sounded like too much of a coincidence, but I've read some recent news articles, which certainly do not reflect well on him. To put it mildly.

Yeah, I agree.


This was the same guy who thinks DE Lawrence couldn't have been raped because the guard or whatever was married, not gay. I don't have the link, but I know it's somewhere in the site of Counterpunch.

...hunh.


Naomi Wolf-due to her history, stuff like this coming from her doesn't surprise me.

*nods* I don't expect much from her either.

Re: Cockburn

[thejeopardymaze]

...hunh.

He also believes global warming is a conspiracy by capitalists and allows for anti-vax bullshit on Counterpunch. His animal rights history series also had some holes, he relied on an antiquated centuries old diatribe to 'prove' we evolved to be vegetarians, which is nonsense, but it's been awhile since I've read it so if I error on specifics, it's due to imperfect memory. After awhile I decided I couldn't recommend the site anymore. Which is a pity, because it often does have gems, but I think progressives need to speak out more against bullshit in their ranks.

-

After a lot of thought recently (as in hours, but I think pretty quickly) I may have to write up something about the Assange case soon, on the hypothesis if this is true. Not for my blog, but somewhere else. I probably could use help with some critiques though.

Note the word 'if'

[thejeopardymaze]

I'm not saying he is or isn't, but if we get the news we don't want to hear, then the truth must be faced, and there are no excuses to back down and make excuses for him. If there is to be a movement guided by principles, it is up to us to live by them. And Assange should step down (whether or not he's guilty, personally). No room for disgusting behavior like this, period.


Eh, I need more caffiene.