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wikileaks
Just curious if anyone else is keeping up with the shenanigans with the Wikileaks stuff. What do you guys think of it?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sean Weathers on -
so far i havent had a problem with any of the information they have put on the site. assange seems like a paranoid anti-government kinda dude, but i think we need that in a world where everything we touch seems to be censored. in my opinion, if our government is afraid of information leaking that deals with how we conduct ourselves around the world, then maybe their policy is wrong; i mean why should the government be afraid/ashamed of their actions. also, most of the info is taken from people who hold public offices, so why should it be a matter of privacy? i remember like a year or two ago people were getting bent out of shape when assange put a video up where a US soldier was killed in iraq, and many were saying it was disrespectful and it was forcibly taken off...i thought it was a good way to show the reality of our war and that if our citizens can't even handle seeing the war, then why are our soldiers even fighting? assange does a good job showing how censorship is becoming detrimental to our society.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on -
Sean, I was about to reply, but I think you've nailed it (and more succinctly than I would have). I think the government's constant use of "threats to national security" as a means to keeping the population complacent is ridiculous and dangerous. So, hear, hear!
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Permalink Reply by Anthony Licari on -
I'm not an ultra conservative by any means but some things need to be kept in mind. It's easy to sit back with all your creature comforts and say that information should be provided to anyone.
However, that's not how any organization works especially political organizations. So the United States comes out and says "Yeah we're working hard with such and such government to provide a better future for both of us." but what's said between state officials is "Make sure you emphasize Y so they don't increase tariffs throughout X region. Such and such has religious interests so play to that." Which makes us look like self interested assholes. But here's the thing, everyone is self interested. The same conversations are going on between the opposing state departments about how to pander to the United States.
The idea that federal governments should be transparent when we still live in a sovereign state driven world is absolutely ridiculous. That's asking for international incident at worst and strained relationships at best.
The question is then, what's the benefit of being transparent as the negatives have been pointed out? Maybe the citizens will be so outraged that we'll stop going to war or maybe so outraged that we'll change elected officials? Has anything caused us to change course the past 7 years? Does society on a whole even care enough? Over the past three decades our society has shifted from a patriotic, industrial and nationalistic society to a consumerist/materialist/individualistic society and to be entirely honest I think more people would care if their cell phone were destroyed than anything related to this story.
So the benefit? Sure, we might see the benefit of transparency but I think it would only be beneficial if society as a whole were able to get behind that idea and because I don't see that happening this "leak" is a massive detriment to the progression of international relations and globalization.
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Permalink Reply by jaminicole on -
I wanted to say all this but I'm way too tired. Thanks for saving me the trouble, yo.
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Permalink Reply by leilani on -
well-said! that's pretty much how i feel - i think the whole "transparency" thing is rather overblown. i mean, complete transparency in individuals isn't even a great idea (e.g. can u imagine how much knowing everything your partnr thought or wrote might disrupt a relationship?) but on a broad scale, it's simply quite dangerous
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Permalink Reply by Tim Barnes on -
Well said. As far as the individual is concerned- don't shoot the messenger. I think the thing that got up my nose the most was Sarah Palin describing him as unAmerican, when he is fact Australian, like myself. The Swedish criminal law system is very interesting to say the least.
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Permalink Reply by Harley Jane on -
I'm glad someone else started this. I really wanted to bring this up a few days ago but to be honest I don't know how I'd cope with some people's opinions. I can just imagine me having so many HULK SMASH!!! moments because of this topic.
For what it's worth, I support Wikileaks, have downloaded the insurance file, and think the 'shoot the messenger' mentality is beyond foul.
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Permalink Reply by cooper on -
I wrote a piece on it on my blog earlier this evening, but in general I was for it before I was against it, and now I'm for it but with codicil.
I've read some early essays of Assuange from 2006, and one from 2007, posted via a couple of blogs I read. Interesting actually.
There is a link to the story where I got those links (over at 3 Quarks daily) on my sidebar if anyone is interested.
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Casey on -
I think that there are things that do need to be kept quiet for the sake of national security. We do live in a world where not telling the entire truth is, unfortunately, sometimes necessary. However, it is also sometimes necessary for information to be leaked without the informant having to fear repercussions. Corruption does not thrive where there is transparency.
So I do appreciate the service WikiLeaks provides and I do think that it has, on the whole, done more good than bad. I was definitely helped by the Scientology documents that got leaked there. They helped me cut through all the dubious sources on the Internet and look at the religion through its own eyes, so to speak. Without that source I'm not sure I could have quit my job and cut my (albeit indirect) ties with the Church of Scientology as confidently as I did.
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Permalink Reply by Tim Barnes on
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Being a Lawyer in Australia, I couldn't help but write a blogpost on the Sex Claims to do with Assange. I wrote it in a humorous and colloquial way rather than in an intellectual idiom. I called it, When Sweden + Sex = Prison.
http://barnardbarnes.blogspot.com/2010/12/when-sweden-sex-prison.html
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