Wikileaks' MasterCard "priceless" ad parody

Glyn sends us this YouTube video: "A spoof of the fact that major credit card and online payment companies have withheld over $15 Million in donations to WikiLeaks. The parody advert shows the effects of the financial blockade."

WikiLeaks' Brilliant Mastercard Commercial Parody (Thanks, Glyn!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Baldhead

To be clear, his house arrest is due to the rape allegations, at least in theory. The idea of there being no connection between Wikileaks and the unprecedented international man hunt and no bail decision for a rape investigation is absurd, however.
Milo

history |hist(É™)rÄ“|

noun (pl -ries)
1. a subject wherein the number of possible topologies of cause-and-effect is limited only by human ego and therefore infinite.
2. any unique topology within this infinite superset.

Keep up the good work, Julian!
Anonymous

The ad below the video is for a pre-paid Amex card. That’s chutzpah, Google.
Anonymous

What exactly, that wikileaks leaked, caused the Arab Spring? I think wikileaks has done good work for holding America accountable for our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the materials classified in those instances should never have been classified in the first place. It is crazy to say that wikileaks is responsible for the Arab Spring, and citing that people believe that it caused the Arab Spring is not compelling evidence. People believe all sorts of things that aren’t true.
Max

I like the sinister black T shirted background bloke at about 0:37-0:39.
“The feds are behind you”
Garst

Did anyone else feel obligated to down vote the video, solely because of the mixed message that sent?
PaulR

Democracy Now’s indefatigable Amy Goodman will be interviewing Julian Assange and Slavoj Å½iÅ¾ek (whom the The Telegraph dubbed ‘the world’s hippest philosopher’) , live July 2nd 11am EDT, which should work out to 15:00UTC.

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/6/28/watch_a_livestream_amy_goodmans_interview_with_wikileaks_editor_in_chief_julian_assange
- Cowicide
  
  Thanks for the info PaulR!!
Mantissa128

I am very emotional as I write this.

I feel like something has changed in the world, and my God I am so grateful. The world is in transition, awaking from a long nightmare of isolation. We are not powerless anymore. And that power comes from us – not as individuals, but all of us together, as one.

We all see each other now. We swept outward from our birthplace, around the world, and lost touch with each other. We forgot who we were, and when we encountered ourselves again we saw strangers. We fought. Cynical men took advantage, for themselves alone, at the expense of the people.

But no more. We are remembering. We see each other now, and we are talking. Those who would wield power over others but deny them their freedom have lost. The growing dawn strikes fear only in those that oppress in darkness.

Thank you. Thank you.
- Anonymous
  
  Beautifully constructed thought … my sentiments exactly.
PimpleAbortion

Now, if only more of us could take a moment to step back from our computers and walk outside together..
Jake0748

Brilliant. Has anyone seen this in the TV? (I don’t have one at present).

At first it bugged me… but now that I think about it, I like how he spun the globe in the “wrong” direction. :)
mordicai

Isn’t his house arrest a response to the serious rape allegations? I mean– I’m pro-Wikileaks, but throwing that in there really muddies the waters.
- zyodei
  
  For the record, the allegations against him are not of ‘serious rape.’
  
  The name for the crime is ‘surprise sex,’ which comes down to being a big jerk and removing the condom mid-sex.
  
  It’s pretty shitty conduct, and it reflects quite badly on Mr. Assange personally.
  
  By all accounts, Assange is not winning any ‘best lover in the world’ awards.
  
  But it’s an action that is not criminal in most countries; in Sweden it is only a misdemeanor.
  
  The crucial point to make is that if Wikileaks didn’t exist, Assange would not be under house arrest right now.
  - Cowicide
    
    It’s pretty shitty conduct, and it reflects quite badly on Mr. Assange personally.
    
    I’m not saying he’s innocent of those charges, but are you saying he isn’t?
    
    AFAIK, he’s not been found guilty of anything yet. Maybe this should go to court before we assume guilt or innocence?
    
    Just sayin…
- exile
  
  No, his house arrest is a response to a questionable, possibly illegal, extradition notice.
- turn_self_off
  
  Allegations that seems to have been drummed up more by a overzealous police officer then anything substantial.
OldRipbeak

Well done! I only wonder about the “$15 Million lost donations” figure. How do they know how much they’ve not gotten as a direct result of the blockade? It’s like proving losses from piracy.
gavintree

This video is utter hubris, and what does he need 15 million dollars for if those are his expenses. Are the $500,000 in associated costs of house arrest all pizza delivery?
ReedRoberts

#22 while I don’t necessarily believe that wikileaks had a huge amount to do with the Arab Spring they did release pertinent information in the State Department cables. Most notably they released cables saying that if shit hit the fan in Tunisia the US would not back Ben Ali. For any group that wants to over throw a government that’s some pretty important information to have. Would the Arab spring still have happened if the US had backed Ben Ali? Maybe, but it would have been significantly uglier.

Slightly more on topic I like the fact that he can’t spell “cellular” at about 10s.
Mister44

Don’t pull a muscle patting yourself on the back, Julian. I mean good-fucking-gawd, how much more narcissistic can one person get.

I am rather confident that 10, 20 years from now Julian’s contribution to the Arab Spring will be a footnote at best. Trying to take any credit when 99.99% of the work was done by other people protesting and dying is just a dick move.
- humanresource
  
  Well, if you won’t take Julian’s word for it, how about some polling?
  
  “nearly 60 percent of respondents believe Wikileaks played a part in the events in Tunisia and the demonstrations in other Arab countries.”
  http://www.thedohadebates.com/debates/debate.asp?d=90&mode=opinions
imhotep

Winning!
teleny

I’m speechless. This is simply awesome.