WikiLeaks – the Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Julian Assange is on the way to rewrite the books of history. Opposing to others, who’s agenda is to write the future, his product, WikiLeaks is solely focusing on events that already have taken place, exposing what has been hidden from the general public. Society is in uproar, governments are sweating and documents are being revealed that make administrations look like a childish bunch of preschoolers. What WikiLeaks does, is it all good, bad, or downright ugly? Let’s have a look…Julian Assange’s beginning lead us back to when he was a physics and mathematics student in Melbourne. Simultaneously he worked as computer coder and hacker, slowly creating a name for himself inside the industry. In 2006, he started WikiLeaks with the mission: “To radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not.”
In his blog he wrote, “the more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. … Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance.”
Granted, the guy is obviously on a mission. The mission is quite blatantly, to free common society from the predigested bullshit that our administration, government as well as corporate, are dishing out on daily bases.
The days where thought processes were left to the individual, to form an educated opinion, have long been skewed by self interest agendas, and “secret” roadmaps to keep us, the general public, in the dark as much as possible.
Now, the question is; Why would our administration modify, edit, and lie to us?
The answer is actually quite simple: It’s easier. It makes their agendas a much more feasible goal, without public resistance.
On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing more than 251,000 American diplomatic cables, mostly unclassified but including many labelled “classified” or “secret”.
The United States launched a criminal investigation related to the leak of US government information by Assange and WikiLeaks on 29 November. Prosecutors are looking at charges of espionage.
Interestingly enough, WikiLeaks is nothing but a conduit to release documents, the actual violation of law would have to be conducted by someone with actual access to the documents. Most likely, this/these individual(s) are sitting with the ranks of military or the diplomatic offices, with sufficient access to privileged information.
It is not clear how WikiLeaks obtained the diplomatic documents, but the U.S. government’s prime suspect is an Army private, Bradley Manning, who is in custody on charges of leaking other classified documents to WikiLeaks.
Meaning, the US government is holding a soldier with the rank of PRIVATE in custody for investigation? Seriously? If a Private has access to the amount of documents that have been released by WikiLeaks, then the entire military needs a drastic reform and review of their internal mechanics. Unless of course, the Private is being held as a possible scape goat and the actual investigation is one of the nature of “how to best pin charges” on the guy.
In the meantime, the call is for Julian Assange to be arrested on charges of sexual misconduct, in the country of Sweden. Supposedly, he raped one Swedish woman and molested at least one other.
Frankly, I find the circumstances quite intriguing. It’s tit for tat warfare now. I’m quite certain that the charges are fabricated, and nothing but a smear campaign. But, let’s assume for a moment that they charges are actually accurate. Then we’ll have an issue:
An encrypted cache of uncensored documents that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has circulated across the Internet may ensure that a huge array of secrets will be revealed even if the website is shut down or Assange is arrested.
Tens of thousands of supporters have downloaded the “insurance” file, which has been available since July, and it includes files on BP and Guantanamo Bay, The Sunday Times reported.
Assange has warned that efforts to curtail his activities could trigger a deluge of national and commercial secrets.
“If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically,” he said in a live chat with readers of the Guardian newspaper this week.”
Obviously, what I’m wondering about is quit simple: Let’s dissect:
The Good:
WikiLeaks brings some balance to highly secretive, mainstream manipulating, corrupt, self interest satisfying administrations – government and corporate alike. It’s indeed good to have an organization that reveals the inner mechanics of how things are being skewed, falsified, edited and artificially generated, just to keep the flow of money alive. How else could we continue to wage a war that is destroying the USA, as we fight an unjust war abroad.
The recent publishing of diplomatic cables is actually quite entertaining. High ranking individuals are described in layman’s terms: Uncreative, unflexible, weak, rigid, muppet, etc. Not exactly the type of lingo one would expect from government officials, assigned to represent the USA in a foreign country.
The war in Afghanistan and Iraq: Several respondents on websites keep calling for the assassination of Assange. They claim that he’s endangering our soldiers lives by publishing documents about the current state of war.
Frankly; WikiLeaks is not endangering any more lives than the current war endangers already. What are the Taliban going to do? Conjure more fighters, more weaponry, more roadside suicide bombers, because the just read the recently published documents and feel that the jihad is even more just now? Give me a break. They’ve already thrown everything at us that they have, and they will continue to do so. WikiLeaks or not, WE are their enemy, not a website. People who accuse WikiLeaks of additional killings, by fueling hate against the US & allied forces, need to rethink how many years we’ve been over there now, how many years we’ve committed to this war and how many lives already been lost prior to publishing of the documents.
Furthermore; governments are being put in place by the ones who can afford to contribute to the campaign funds. The ones who make the most concessions during election period, are the ones attracting the most funding. The ones with the biggest funded accounts are capable of booking better marketing campaigns and subsequently, more air time. Unfortunately, the masses are influenced by psychologically thought out advertising. Industrial and behavioral psychology at its best, is at work when you watch campaign commercials. The more they can get across, the more they’ll get into your mind and American mainstream votes accordingly. (Side note: If anyone really thinks that McCain and Palin were valid contenders to a well spoken, well funded African American – please think again. That election was as rigged as psychologically, humanly possible The American Advertising Industry gives out an annual award for best advertising: In 2008 the “Obama Campaign” was the recipient)
What’s good about WikiLeaks challenging our government by revealing their own documents? They’re unmasked. Raw. True. Without agenda, and without a secondary thought of satisfying a self interest group.
The Bad:
The bad is inherently about how Julian Assange and his team of WikiLeaks admins are going to use their newly found power. It’s going to be near impossible to bring the guy down, whether justified or not, when you consider the following: “An encrypted cache of uncensored documents that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has circulated across the Internet may ensure that a huge array of secrets will be revealed even if the website is shut down or Assange is arrested.
Tens of thousands of supporters have downloaded the “insurance” file, which has been available since July, and it includes files on BP and Guantanamo Bay, The Sunday Times reported.
Assange has warned that efforts to curtail his activities could trigger a deluge of national and commercial secrets. If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically,” he said in a live chat with readers of the Guardian newspaper this week.”
The key element in the above statement is: “Arrested”. Let’s assume that they charges that Sweden has brought forward are legit. The he’d deserve prosecution to the full extent of the (Swedish) law. Unfortunately, Assange holds an incredible “get out of jail free” card in his hands. Who really knows what’s included in the encrypted documents that are circulating? Rumor is that even specialists couldn’t break the encryption. All the more, the rumor is reinforced by Assange’s reputation of being a former hacker himself.
The ethical challenge is two fold. One, WikiLeaks is taking governments and corporations into their cross-hairs, sniping them where they should be sniped. At the same time, the looming sword of unknown documents above their heads provides a never before seen level of power for Assange.
I suppose the jury is out on the voting, as it solely depends on how Assange would use his trump card in the event of getting arrested and/or prosecuted. Will he make his “get out of jail card” a personal one, or would he only use it if threatened, attempted to get assassinated by a foreign force? It’s an ethical question, that remains to be answered.
The Ugly:
The most challenging question of all is: When and where will it stop. When is enough, truly enough? Is there truly a limit to revelations? And lastly, should there be a limit to revelations.
If we, the common people, are being lied to by the ones we voted into office, is it truly for the greater good, because we are not capable of independent thought? Or is this very independent thought one that must be contained and managed at all cost? Is our administration, once voted into office(s) superior and has, practically overnight, assumed a higher power that permits them to suppress, falsify and edit truths, just to keep us “in a perfect world”? Lest we know, the world we’re living in is far from perfect…
The ugly is two fold: It’s a tug of war and there’s really no winner at present times: We’ve already been lied to and the presence of WikiLeaks just continues to undermine the authenticity of governments and corporate leadership.
On the flip side; the revelation of decades of lies, shows us what and who we’re dealing with and reminds us that our constitutional amendments are continuously being ridiculed. We have long been robbed of the authenticity of critical thought and suppressed into conformism. The way the system works is based on mainstream, reality shows and mental wasteland.
So the question remains unanswered: What’s truly more ugly? The wake up call, or the continued lies of the ones we voted into power.While one part of the country may decide to live in perpetual, artificially created perfect world scenarios, the other half may decide to return to the truth, nothing but the TRUTH, so help me God.
Let me end this snipe with the following, America:
“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, but an instrument for the people to restrain the government” – Patrick Henry
Sniper
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