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Journalists have always had a higher status in the west because of their function in a democratic country. Assange proves that there is little in the way to prosecute journalists, even in the west. lives are risked everyday in countries like China to show the world what is going on behind all the propoganda. Yet today, Assange is locked away while the media has chosen to be the silent wingmen of the dictatorship that is the militairy-industrial complex.

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We’re in dangerous territory, here. But we have been for a long time. The role of journalism has largely been democratized via the internet. But the rights of journalism have not followed suit. So, we’re in a pretty bad spot, and it’s likely to get worse before it gets better, as power strictures and incentives are mostly aligned to the current direction.

Mainstream journalism is elitist, is the problem. They seem to see entities like Wikileaks as fake journalism, that circumvents their gatekeeping. Assange isn't a hero to them, so they won't come to his defence.

Is it possible to not be elitist while also being highly educated and expert?

Let me tell you something about highly educated experts. As a highly educated expert i attended a fairly well respected 4 year University where i was taught how to use tactics like framing to persuade my audience to view a situation how i wanted them to perceive it. I was taught that the same set of facts could be weaved into two totally different stories at my choosing. I was taught that Karl Marx fortold the death of capitalism and freedom in favor of the "fight of the proletariat". In other words a bunch of crap that any self righteousness ignorant prick with a bunch of money could pick up and use to screw over the world and enrich themselves. There's nothing inherently good about being "elite". It just makes better liars and more clever traitors.

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