[chippy]

Worth also highlighting that this "whole bunch of people" can still be found here on HN. Often they are still very frequent posters and very well known members of HN. Some, however have given "I didn't know" or "the situation changed" half-apologies since.

[toyg]

> Some, however have given "I didn't know" or "the situation changed" half-apologies since.

I hope some people will take this as their "Iraq" moment, where the mechanisms of consensus-building by propaganda are laid bare. This is how powerful interests work: they push people to take sides with selected (or no) information, and by the time the full picture emerges, it's too late.

[Consultant32452]

Have you noticed how no one who led us into the Iraq war, whether they be government, media, etc. has faced any consequence whatsoever? Even the few who have admitted a "mistake" talk about it as if it's a mistake like I forgot my wallet and not a mistake like I killed 100k+ people.

The major red pills in approximate order are

1) I'm being misled systematically

2) I've been misled since school

3) They are fully aware of what they are doing

4) Given the choice, they would prefer me dead over defiant

[AndrewBissell]

5) They prefer you dead anyway, so might as well go with defiant

[AndrewBissell]

Anyone who bought the line that Assange didn't need to fear extradition probably will transition seamlessly from "the idea that Assange will be extradited if he leaves the embassy is a baseless conspiracy theory" to "well, he's accused of breaking the law, so it will be a good thing to extradite him to face trial in the U.S."

[armitron]

I remember Thomas Ptacek (tptacek) being particularly vocal and unjustifiably venomous towards Assange. One could say he went out of his way (on HN and social media) to broadcast his egregious views on the matter. Has he apologised?

This is just one instance:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11043329

Also, pasted from a different comment in this thread:

https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/821766035401572352

[dane-pgp]

We all make mistakes, but his comments you link to do show a huge error in judgement. The intention of the US government to capture Assange has been well documented since 2010:

> "It's certainly my belief, based on what the attorney general said, that they have already got an arrest warrant for him and they are just waiting for the appropriate moment in the appropriate country," Toobin said. [0]

(I can't help but find it ironic that in a thread about trying to silence a whistleblower, your comment trying to hold someone accountable for their past mistakes is being voted down).

[0] http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/01/sweden.interp...