I finally watched You Don’t Know Jack, a relatively sympathetic Jack Kevorkian biopic, last night. Perhaps that’s why the crazy twists and turns in the Julian Assange story make me think that he and Kevorkian have something in common. Both are loners and misfits who relied on the kindness of believers to get on in the world, they’re fanatical about their cause, and they’re both a bit paranoid, though probably with good reason.
The point man for Wikileaks, or physician-assisted suicide, isn’t going to win any popularity contests. It takes a bit of a strange duck to be hated by many, sneak around like an outcast and risk prison. It’s not surprising that the same personality traits that allow Kevorkian and Assange to succeed as advocates for their respective causes also makes their personal stories fairly odd.
In the end, Kevorkian was undone by his eccentricity–he moved from assisted suicide to euthanasia. Because he was the prime mover and actor for his cause, it lost a lot of public attention once he went to prison. The difference with Assange is that Wikileaks exists as an independent entity. He’s not a one-man band like Kevorkian, and the site will probably continue to exist whether or not Assange is in the picture.
cat48
Assange tends to leave his victims (actual leakers) in jail…Pfc Manning
is in a terrible position in the Brig and Palin’s email
leaker to wikileaks will be sentenced this month in
TN. All in all, I’d rather be a Kevorkian victim as I’d
just be dead; not in jail.
aimai
I’ve had the same thought watching some of Michael Moore’s films–there are some people who are really outliers in their ability to continue doing what they are doing, what they think is important, against the popular tide–hell, against strong expressions of disapproval by authority figures or even just people they bump into. Michael Moore has the ability, which most people lack, to embarrass himself in pursuit of the perfect shot or the difficult moment for someone on camera. The very idea of stalking someone, pushing a camera at them, or continually asking a question they are refusing to answer makes my skin crawl. But Moore revels in it.
In my experience its generally men, not women, who manage to make a career out of things like this. That is, if a woman is self assured and socially tone deaf enough she can get really high (and maybe she can’t if she isn’t) but society generally moves aside for males at this end of the spectrum where it often squashes women. The lone wolf, the agressive go getter, the salesman who won’t take no for an answer, these are all very well known social figures even if their personal lives are agonizing to contemplate. And they often get things done before they go down before society’s customs and laws.
aimai
mistermix
@cat48: Yeah, death is so much better than jail, that’s why almost everyone who’s faced with a jail sentence commits hari-kari the night before.
NonyNony
@cat48:
You do realize that Manning being in jail is Manning’s fault and not anyone elses?
He was the one who decided to run off at the mouth about how he leaked the stuff – it wasn’t like someone at Wikileaks dropped a dime on him. He was also the one who decided to leak it in the first place. It’s not like Wikileaks blackmailed him into it.
Actually the framing of Manning as a victim of Wikileaks is just really weird. I can see the framing as a “traitor”, and I can see the framing as a “courageous whistleblower”, but “victim of Wikileaks”? That’s just odd.
Cat Lady
That is a crazy story about Assange. Going to the police to complain about a broken condom after consensual sex? Swedish police don’t have anything else to do? The story seems to imply that if he had paid more attention to Woman B than the computer, then she wouldn’t have pressed charges. Assange seems like a cad, but the whole thing seems like a ginned up attempt to distract from the Wikileaks mission.
Before my mother got deep in Alzheimer’s she’d always comment that every neighborhood needs a Dr. Kevorkian. Word.
someguy
… he said, ominously.
FWIW, I think the Palin leaker was actually the Palin hacker, but I’m sure it’s just a Republican talking point.
Platonicspoof
James Fallows links to a series of posts on Assange at Fabius Maximus , while simultaneously keeping it at arms-length.
Thursday
Funny thing about Kevorkian, is that he drew all the fire for the “assisted suicide” supporters; with him visible, the fact that people die in hospitals and extended care facilities because they ask to can be safely ignored.
It’s called “being snowed”, and it’s not an uncommon practice.
TimmyB
(snark alert) Yes, the similarities are astounding.
Both are men.
Seriously, this is one of the most shallow postings I have read in a long time.
ornery curmudgeon
I agree that this is a very shallow post. Mix does this quite a bit.
Misfits and loners … ? Paranoid? Fanatical? Great example of passing judgment without knowledge … and nice carrying of the establishment line. Toolbag.
priscianus jr
@TimmyB:
What TimmyB and curmudgeon said. Somehow the idea of comparing Wikileaks with assisted suicide is a bit of a non-starter for me.
tom
Kevorkian wasn’t entirely a one man band: Kevorkian Suite: Very Still Life [Import]
bjacques
It was actually Adrian Lamo who ratted Manning out to the Feds. I’m not familiar with how the Sarah Palin e-mails got leaked. But it’s worth knowing that sometimes the very fact of the leak can point to the leaker, and the anonymity of Wikileaks might not save a whistleblower from determined investigators.
mclaren
Yes, these bizarre freakish characters who persist monomaniacally in swimming against the tide are not well-liked.
I mean, who really looks up to or admires George Washington? Or Benjamin Franklin? Or Thomas Jefferson?
Strange rangers, the lot of ’em. Real freaks. And they left a lot of their followers in the lurch, especially that bastard Washington at Valley Forge.
Carol
@mclaren: The difference was that they had social skills and worked as a group. Revolution to be successful requires that people work together and support each others efforts. A solo revolutionary is simply a rebel without a cause, and would soon be unsuccessful. To run a Wikileaks requires a less than social, less than trusting personality-you are dancing solo on the edge of the law helping others break it
SciVo
@Carol: Except that he’s not solo, and the open source movement is an example of how obsessive geeks with a shared vision can sometimes actually work together very well, regardless of their emotional intelligence or social skills.