Daniel Assange has a story that could be as big as The Social Network film. His own life story.
If you’ve ever seen the movie, The Castle - Daniel’s story could be like this, except the ‘house’ isn’t a house it’s a website company his dad owns calls wikileaks. An airport (metaphor for foreign diplomats, dubious bankers, sketchy insurance people et al) all want to land on it and kill his father, maybe innocent Daniel too. Scandalous kid’s story–and Melbourne is such a chilled out happy multicultural city. There’s over 48 different nationalities who’ve settled there not too far from the Yara river. It’s always fun in Melbourne. Lots of smiles all round in this community-minded Cosmopolitan City. But not so for Daniel–he’s now an international target because he is the son of a man of mystery. Basically his father is the James Bond, or The Mission Impossible ‘maybe spy’ of this Century so far. All over computers and what information anyone can gather with data code created by people working in systems dependent on being addicted to typing, with those 26 consonants that make up the English (and American) written language. To own private control of data, makes people feel more powerful–but the thing is, this is a myth, because many people can own that data–you just don’t know it.
In a way, if you’re one of these people feeling more entitled to anyone else who uses a computer and typed data, and you feel your sense of power is being eroded because someone else can access your typed information–then grow up. You live in a bubble of false privilege and insecurity based on an identity in owning your own consonants arrangement on a computer screen, that can then be printed and shared. You need to find a deeper sense of identity and personal power than data ownership. Don’t get mad at Daniel’s father for teaching US all the obvious lesson and updating us all in the age of computer technology. Anyway, this is Daniel’s father’s story (mainly) so far. It’s box office shattering hot–all the way across the world from Melbourne Australia. Who would have thought?
Daniel is the 20 year old Melbourne-based, computer programmer son of Julian Assange founder of Wikileaks.
According to the website Crikey: Now with extra source, ‘When Daniel was 16 Julian asked him to join him in a website he called WikiLeaks. According to the news blog Crikey Daniel was sceptical and, not being on the best of terms with his father, declined. ”I never thought he was going to succeed,” he told the blog. Now Daniel seems to have warmed to WikiLeaks. On his website he wrote: ”I have much respect for my father and his cause, and these ridiculously ill-handled allegations of sexual abuse serve only to distract from the audacious awesomeness that he has actually done.”
Julian was born to a sixteen year-old single parent mom when his dad was 19. When he was one, his mother fled with him. His dad was able to seek custody of him when in 1999, after nearly 40 legal hearings and appeals, he worked out a custody agreement with his former wife for Daniel, then nine, after forming the group Parent Inquiry into Child Protection.
Daniel has not had much contact with his dad for three years yet media say he shares the same traits as his dad. Who would have thought? That’s like saying George W. Bush shares the same traits as George Bush Sr. or that the Jolie-Pitt tribe share the same traits as their rainbow family loving auteur parents, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Isn’t that just normal, if innocent Daniel did? Anyways:
The Sydney Morning Herald report: “Daniel’s love of online coding is like his dad’s obsession with computer coding. (”I released a tiny bit of open-source code, and somebody is actually using it! :O This feels like a profound moment in my programming life,” Daniel tweeted on November 20) mirrors Julian’s 23 years of hacking and professed quest for truth.
In 1997 Julian helped invent ”rubbernose deniable encryption”, which has been described as a cryptographic system made for human rights workers wanting to protect sensitive data.
Daniels tweet is like any other young person his age, when tweets: ”FATHER declared me a sociopath, mother thinks I’m a monster and this romantic situation is oh-so-very-uncomfortable.” Lol!
I wonder which Hollywood studio will buy the movie rights to Daniel’s father and son story. Other websites claim that some people in the world think Daniel should be kidnapped to flush out his father, or physically beaten. Surreal stuff. This kid needs one of those Jolie-Pitt bodyguards perhaps to hover around him and make sure he’s as safe as a President. Scary stuff.
Crikey writes of Daniel’s knowledge of his dad. “He’s always been interested in political activism in general, but he’s also had a great interest in science and philosophy and the general pursuit of knowledge, and the idea that this knowledge should be available to the entire human race,” Daniel says. “WikiLeaks is the culmination of all these concepts.”
Daniel believes that previous reports of him being “estranged” from his father have sensationalised the issue, and have also misrepresented him in other ways. The most blatant of these was an August 27 article by the New York Post, entitled “My Wiki dad’s just awful with the ladies”.
What could these lads movie be called? Awful with the ladies? Or, Son, I’m off to take a leak? (The character Daniel, doesn’t see his dad again for four years). But as it’s Daniel’s story of innocence observing a renegade truth and freedom fighter, he should name this film–and I think he already has–Audacious Awesomeness–so let’s stick with those flash two key words then. G’day Daniel from Hollywood. Keep your chin up and powder dry, kid avoiding all of the bullies who want to see you and your dad killed. Shocking! ;)
The thing is, Australia is founded on renegade founding fathers–who were banished from the UK initially because they one, jumped a stone fence and stole a Lord’s chicken in freezing cold winter in a Lord’s woods to feed their hungry children and keep their nation alive when wealth wasn’t being shared humanely.
They got caught and it was either ‘the guillotine or go to Australia.’ Julian Assange is in a weird (Hollyweird American that is) way, a modern one of these guys, except he’s shedding light on cover ups within systems of the world, that involve ‘underdogs’ getting screwed over by people who could potentially (a trial needs to happen to be sure) be abusing power, human rights, the law and positions of governance all around the world. Yet, such people want special privileges more so than the human beings they could have harmed and then covered this up.
If you are remotely Australian at all, you will know that Assange (Julian, not Daniel) is the ‘renegade spirit of justice’ in this moment for all Australians. You can’t really look at the Assanges any other way–and deny this aspect of Australia’s key roots. To fight systems (that could in any way be remotely harmful to all people not just Australians), is as real to an Australian leader as genetic DNA coding to Australian culture and worldview of what is seen as ‘fair.’ Daniel’s potential movie, is also a story about this Assange Aspect of Australian spirit.
Everyone is talking about Daniel Assange in their local neighborhood pub in the hoods of Australia. Young Daniel is now synonymous with beer, fun, roguish bravery and a sense of freedom in a new world, against being bullied in the world by power systems claiming to be about average Joe Blogs people. Alright, I’m stopping this blog post now. I’ve had one (coffee) too many and need to take a leak.
[Above Words are mainly, Sarah Whyte's of the SMH with verbage by Crikey: Now with extra source, as well].
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 12.5.10~
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