Assassinate Assange: The damage has been done; people have died - and will die because of the actions of this puerile, self-absorbed narcissist. News reports say the Wikileaks founder is hiding out in England. If that's true, we should treat Mr. Assange the same way as other high-value terrorist targets: Kill him. --The Washington Times editorial, December 3, 2010This is the most reprehensible editorial I've ever read in an American newspaper. (You can read the full editorial here.) It's so wrong in so many ways I can barely summon the words to describe how abhorrent this editorial is.
What the Washington Times has called for scares me. It scares me because somebody might act on the Times' words. It scares me because the Times is perfectly serious about this. And it scares me because this might in fact influence how some Americans think we should deal with online publications that we don't like.
No matter how wrong you think Wikileaks was for publishing America's secrets, our laws and morals say we don't kill people who publish information. The Washington Times does not have the moral authority or wisdom to call for the assassination of somebody whose offense was publishing words. Indeed, Republican Congressman Ron Paul has taken the opposite view: "In a free society we're supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, then we're in big trouble."
With this editorial, the Washington Times has joined the same club as radical Muslims who called for the murder of the Dutch cartoonist Kurt Westergaard whose cartoon offended many Muslims. That's not a club any American newspaper should be proud to belong to.
The Washington Times has parted company with the rule of law and civilized society.
This is the Republican way.
ReplyDelete1. War under false pretenses.
2. Legalized torture.
3. Assassination of anyone you don't like.
4. Now that these atrocities are accepted, imprisonment for political dissent here.
5. Total control of the rich over the rest of us as their slaves.