Hacker News Reader

Comment by tripplethrendo | Hacker News Reader

Yeah most people are only happy with Wikileaks when they're going after Republicans. They can't stand the same heat when they go after Democrats.

I have always been, and will remain, a fan of the truth being exposed.

View on HN

It's my personal belief that WikiLeaks is, perhaps has been for some time, a tool of a foreign state actor to threaten political candidates and push conspiracy theories (see: Seth Rich, Pizzagate.) That crosses a line for me, and the amount of "moral good" they do is significantly diminished when, instead of working with leaks that help align politician's actions with their speeches, seek to undermine democratic norms by dealing in crass and unfounded conspiracies.

I'd venture a guess that many people who don't like wikileaks now didn't feel that way when wikileaks was exposing the democratic president. Many likely thought and continue to think of Snowden as a hero. I find wikileaks sensationalist in a way that mirrors the sensationalism of grocery store checkout-aisle tabloids.

Promoting conspiracy theories about satanic rituals, pizzagate, the seth rich lies, and clinton-organized child kidnappings is not in any way exposing something resembling truth. They promoted conspiracy theories criticizing that the Panama Papers release was a George Soros-funded conspiracy to target Russia and the former USSR.

None of these claims had evidence attached to them. Leaks of truth are valuable, but I have lost all faith that wikileaks publishes in a non-partisan "truth for truth's sake" mission, rather, I think they have specific targets in mind and publish whatever it takes to harm those targets and help others.

But I think therein lies a horrible truth: Manning, her crime, her release, and everything that flows from that, has been turned into a purely political issue. What might have happened had it never entered the political arena? Perhaps a shorter sentence, confinement to a hospital instead of a prison, better care for her psychosis, an assortment of things could have been better. Her commutation was the single, greatest act of political f* you to America. Not even the pardoning of Nixon, or the failures of every single President since comes close to this level of politicization.

You mean the "truth" about Seth Rich that Assange's organization has been spreading.

I wouldn't claim to know the truth about that situation unless you're involved in the investigation.

And I suppose you wouldn't claim to know the truth about chemtrails and Bigfoot either? The Washington PD has already ruled it a botched robbery.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com