People have done lost they minds over Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange. Glenn Greenwald wrote, Wikileaks Reveals More Than Just Government Secrets for Salon.com in which he observes,
” . . . there are few countries in the world with citizenries and especially media outlets more devoted to serving, protecting and venerating government authorities than the U.S.”
Indeed. It seems that since Wikileaks published the ever so dangerous and top-secret diplomatic cables, citizens, politicians and media boobs across the U.S. have been bending over backward to protect Washington’s rights to secrecy. Let’s ignore for a moment that the cables released by Wikileaks revealed nothing more than over-hyped gossip. Has the release of these cables really warranted the hysterical calls of Julian Assange’s arrest for treason, or worse, death? Just a quick side note . . . Julian Assange is an Australian citizen and could not, therefore, be arrested for treason. That is a privilege only offered to American citizens. For those calling for Julian Assange’s arrest for treason (ahem, Sarah Palin), the word you’re looking for is espionage.
If we take a breath and look at this calmly and rationally, we will see that Julian Assange and Wikileaks are merely the messengers, delivering material to the public that has been given to them. He did not dress up in black, scale the walls of the Pentagon, and break in to steal these documents. So, put your pitch forks down and stop trying to kill the messenger. There have been numerous examples throughout history of journalists supplying confidential information to the public and protecting their sources. Google ‘1971 Pentagon Papers’ for an example.
Now, I can understand politicians wanting to protect their opacity. Transparency is a threat to their very survival. But, why oh why are our “esteemed” media outlets crying out in outrage over Wikileaks? One would think they’d be the first in line to stand up and protect Wikileaks’ Freedom of Speech and Press. Right? Apparently, not so much. In journalistic circles, Wikileaks is the red-headed step child and is not worthy for these basic journalistic rights. Nan-nah. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer threw a spectacular tantrum on his show screeching that Washington didn’t prevent the document leaks and he DEMANDED that Washington “fix it”. Hrumph!
And then there is the highly regarded New York Times. They did not receive the leaked diplomatic cables directly from Wikileaks, but rather, from The Guardian. And like an obedient child, went straight to the Government for permission to publish. The end result was a censored version, watered down to the Government’s liking. Nice job NYT! Did you get a pat on the head and a lollipop too? And what kind of sense does that move make anyway? The Guardian and Wikileaks were both providing uncensored versions. Seems to me the only purpose for the NYT to go to Washington and ask permission was to be put on the Governments ‘nice’ Christmas list.
The most astonishing revelation in the aftermath of the Wikileaks diplomatic cables has nothing to do with the content of the disclosures. But rather, the irrational behavior by our citizens, politicians, and mainstream media outlets in response to the leaks. I would say that they are all acting like petulant children, but that’s not fair to children. Really, it’s as if they’ve all been collectively lobotomized. Here’s hoping Wikileaks will continue to fight the good fight. God knows, we’ll never get any truth or transparency without them.
Tags: CNN, Glenn Greenwald, Guardian, Julian Assange, New York Times, United States, Wikileaks, Wolf Blitzer
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