Think I’m gonna go on a tear about Assange and Snowden before I head to bed

if you think that either of these people deserve what’s happening to them, then it’s clear you’re suffering from some misconceptions that I should clear up.

1: “They broke the law”
The law that Assange/Snowden broke is publishing classified information. This isn’t deserving of life in prison or torture (which they will face if/when they get brought back here. Moreover, the information they published has revealed actual crimes.

What if Nixon arrested the people who broke watergate? Would you think that’s okay because they published “illegally obtained information” or would you recognize that it’s actually fucking dangerous to journalism to arrest ppl for this.

2: “They didn’t go through the proper channels”
Snowden was charged under the espionage act of 1917, which doesn’t have whistleblower protections. Moreover the law that Snowden could have used doesn’t offer protections to contractors.

All of the “proper channels” that Assange could have gone through send their articles to homeland security before publishing. Do you think our government would let NYT or WaPo publish evidence of war crimes in Afghanistan? If you do, I’ve got some wmds in Iraq to sell you

3: “We already knew so it doesn’t matter”
No we fucking didn’t. We did not know any of the shit that Assange published before he leaked it. We didn’t know about the war diaries, or loveint. That information is valuable, and Assange and Snowden brought them to light.

To say otherwise reveals a deep ignorance of the value and function of journalism.

4. “They wanted fame”
How’s that going for them? Assange is stuck in a glass box for a sham trial, and Snowden will never see his family again. Assange will be tortured and killed too. Do you really, really think that people would put themselves through this for clout?

Twitter isn’t real life and not everything is about getting clout. Assange and Snowden were and are aware of what could have happened to them. They did what they did because it was the right thing to do, and not because it would make them famous.

5. (Last one for now) “Assange helped trump win so he deserves it”

Trump is literally trying to get him killed. He wants Assange dead.

You aren’t “owning” trump by wishing death on Assange. You are effectively doing Trump’s job for him. Don’t do this.

If you want to resist fascism, then you have to support people like Assange who do the work of publishing classified information that reveals criminal activity.

Resisting Trump means supporting Assange.

It’s as simple as that.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks. I doubt I’ve convinced anyone with this thread, but I wanted to say *something* about it.

If you want to learn more about this, you can DM or listen to the Free Assange episode of True Anon, which does a great job of explaining this