This story continues to be more and more about Assange and less and less about principles. Assange goes out and makes great speeches about freedom and openness and all of that, but these ideas don't require him to carry them around. He's a little speck of dust somewhere.

I say the more we keep talking about Assange the less we're actually using our brains to figure out the fine details of what works and what doesn't work in democracies. For the media, this is becoming a story of drama and conflict. I'd ask them politely to please go peddle it somewhere else.

I have no opinion on whether Assange was set up or not, but I will say this: he is purposely using his publicity as a self-aggrandizing tool. He has been doing this since long before the charges were brought. The more we buy into this narrative of one-man causes, the more we harm our ability to make a better world. Instead we just head down the road of civil unrest and conflict. Assange is not my hero, even if there were no criminal charges. The things I believe are more important than one man, and I refuse to have my principles owned by somebody else besides me.