Julian Assange: Hero or Terrorist
Attention Getter: George Orwell once said,
- ” Political Language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ”
- Bond: Link to Audience: It’s easy to take our 1st amendment rights for granted but imagine if we didn’t have them anymore. Can you imagine living in an America where it’s considered treason to say what you think and to tell the world what you know? Well, that is what the current battle between our government and Julian Assange is about.
- ”Credentials” of speaker: I have been following the developing story of Julian Assange for the last 3 years. So, it’s fair to say that I know a little bit about him.
- Thesis: My research leads me to believe that Julian Assange should be afforded the same rights as every other journalist.
- Speech Preview: First, I’m going to talk about the global smear campaign against Julian Assange. After that, I’m going to talk about the violations that the U. S. is posing to his human rights. Finally, I am going to talk about what America is going to look like if we don’t have our rights anymore.
- 6. Transition: But let’s start with the smears that have been dealt to Julian Assange.
II. Body
1. Main Point #1:
a. State Point 1: A global smear campaign is going on right this moment against Julian Assange.
b. Argument: Some are saying that he is a woman raping terrorist. c. Proof: In an article by BBC News, Julian Assange said he believes that currently there is a global smear campaign to make him look disreputable and crazy.
I read in an eBook called, Assange Agonistes that Nick Davies, a journalist for the New York Times, said that America’s preferred method of control is through Media management. He also said that the American government is,” the biggest media manipulation machine in the history of mankind. ” I think that this is absolutely true because this isn’t the first time the U. S. government has used smear tactics against someone who stood up against them. I discovered 2 other incidents where our government and a major bank had smeared someone’s name through the use of exual misconduct charges; the first being Scott Ritter. I watched a video on YouTube by The Young Turks, where they were discussing the allegations that were brought up against Julian Assange. In the video they were talking about how Scott Ritter, a decorated war veteran, who spoke out against the war in Iraq and said that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Soon after Ritter made that statement, alleged sex charges were brought up against him to make him look like a dirty old rapist who would do anything to make our government look bad.
The second case I also discovered was about Elliot Spitzer, who accused the banks of insider trading. Suddenly the North Fork Bank reported to the IRS that Spitzer was using funds to pay for a hooker and sex charges were brought up against him. Due to the media scandal he resigned from his position as Governor of New York because it painted a negative reflection on our government. d. Give an Example: In an article that I read on Wired. com it talks about a woman that has accused Julian Assange of raping her. In the article it describes the process by which this woman describes her “incident” with Assange.
Ms. Anna Ardin said that he pinned her down to the bed when she reached for a condom, but then he consented and put a condom on. According to Ms. Ardin she feels she was raped because the condom broke at some point in time during the act. While I was investigating I found out that she had posted to her blog the “7 steps to get legal revenge. ” I personally don’t find her story very credible after reading a translation of her blog. Ms. Ardin is known in Sweden for her feministic views on how men achieve social dominance through sex.
The government was anxious to pounce on her accusations of rape even though she is a known feminist with a history of reporting baseless rape. I do not find this a coincidence that a few days before the rape accusation Mr. Assange had released an embarrassing video of US soldiers gunning down no less than a dozen unarmed civilians in Iraq, while they were talking about it like it was a game of Call of Duty. Julian believes it was not a coincidence that after he embarrassed the U. S. by leaking this video, he was then accused of a crime that would have him extradited back to Sweden and then to the U. S. for further punishment.
This was before they discovered there was nothing that the US government could charge him with and it was a violation of his human rights to send him to Sweden where he hadn’t been charged for the alleged crime. To date Julian has never been charged with the rape of this woman and has been confined to house arrest for more than 500 days without any charge against him. e. Restate the point: There is a global smear campaign set against Julian Assange because he is the face of WikiLeaks. g. Transition Sentence: Next, let’s talk about the violation to his rights. 2. Main Point #2: Solutions to those problems . State Point 2: The U. S. government is violating Julian Assange’s human rights.
b. Argument: In an article by The Atlantic quoted Hillary Clinton saying that Julian Assange was attacking their international community. c. Refutation: Julian Assange is a journalist and is protected by the U. N. ’s Declaration of Human Rights under article 19. Under article 19 it says: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. . Give an Example: In 1968 when we were in the thick of the Vietnam War there was a man named Daniel Ellsberg that was courageous and released classified Pentagon documents to the New York Times. On History. com and from my uncle, who was a journalist in the Vietnam War, I learned that that the war ended earlier as a result of a public outcry, where 75% of the American population protested the war. Daniel Ellsberg also helped end the war by releasing classified documents that exposed the lies that made us go to war in the first place which forced President Reagan to withdraw from Vietnam.
If we stand together and say that we need to stop unjustly blaming Julian Assange for promoting a more transparent government and take a look at what it is that we are unknowingly promoting. Julian Assange believes that we have the right to know about the lies and secret dealings going on by our government. It is our right to know what they are saying and doing behind closed doors. Yes, there are instances where our government needs to have secrets, but that doesn’t mean that they can to lie to us about the general majority of secret dealings that are going on.
If Julian Assange is attacking our International Community then maybe it needs to be attacked because what is going on right now and all the lies that we are being told need to be known. We need to see just what is going on. We need to know why the rest of the world hates us so much. e. Restate the Point: Julian Assange’s human rights are being violated and we need to do something about it. 3. Main Point #3: Visualization a. State Point 3: Imagine an America where it becomes treason to say what you think and to tell others about it. b. Argument: Our government would say that there is a need to be censored in order to keep us safe. c. Refutation: Our 1st Amendment rights are going to disappear if we don’t halt this violation right now. Pretty soon we’re going to be trapped in a world where we don’t have our most basic of rights. Imagine a world populated with militarized police and being under lock down in an authoritarian dictatorship where we no longer have any rights or freedom. How many of you believe that the governments placing cameras on the roads and on top of buildings are really about watching traffic?
I believe that it is really about watching the people. So, it’s already begun. d. Give an Example: We need to stand together and we need to tell our friends and loved ones. Spread the word tell people about what’s going on! Everyone needs to know that our rights are at risk right now! e. Restate the point: America is going to change dramatically if Julian Assange is arrested for being a journalist. f. Transition: Let’s summarize what I have been talking to you about today.
III. Conclusion
1. Restate thesis: Julian Assange should be afforded the same rights as every other Journalist. 2. Restate main points: Julian Assange is being attacked by so many companies and governments. His rights are being violated and it’s going to change America if our government succeeds in arresting Julian Assange. 3. Call- to-Action: Protest! Say what you think! We need to challenge our government and show them that they are wrong because if we don’t America, the so-called land of the free, is soon to be the Soviet America.
