While hero Bradley Manning rots in solitary confinement, most are now aware that Wikileaks has courageously released 250,000+ secret diplomacy documents which provide candid and critical views of US foreign policy and opinions about world leaders. Of course, putting aside for a moment that Obama actually campaigned for and promised to restore trust in government and improve transparency, the US government has condemned the release with its typical propaganda script. Major revelations from Wikileaks continue to pour in. What do you think about the release? Assume for a moment that being ethical is a good thing - isn't exposing lies ethical? Assume also that some of the government propaganda is true and that the leak actually puts some of our diplomatic relations at risk - isn't that a good thing considering the damage (or even crimes) these diplomatic secrets are furthering against society? Why does diplomacy have to be secret?
FTA:
When discussing Wikileaks, there is only one talking point which you absolutely must commit to memory (if you need more than another, it might help to discuss the big picture). This is really the only argument you need. It also works perfectly well as a rebuttal to whatever arguments someone might come up with in order to try and criminalize Wikileaks:
Revealing crimes committed by the State or its agents (under the euphemism of "State secrets") does not hurt American interests, endanger American lives, nor is it treasonous or otherwise criminal. What hurts American interests, continually endangers Americans both at home and abroad, and is criminal to the highest degree, is committing those crimes in the first place.
...There are only two reasons why anyone would react with hostility when an organization like Wikileaks makes these secrets public: Either they are criminals afraid of being brought to justice, or they are in ignorant denial.
For your entire life you've been duped in to believing and supporting those crimes. You've been told that they weren't crimes, and with the truth hidden from view it was easy to believe...
It is important to mind the nature of these secrets: They are kept by and between criminals, with criminal intent, to hide the fact that crimes have been committed. Revealing the truth behind these crimes, of course, will further endanger some of their co-conspirators and some unknowing accomplices. Anyone who is knowingly involved in keeping evidence of those crimes a secret is an enemy to liberty...
Destroying Wikileaks will not reduce the danger to which Americans and American interests are exposed. Silencing the whistleblowers does not make the crimes disappear from anywhere except public knowledge, but like the tree falling in the forest when nobody is there to hear it, these crimes still happened. Burying your head in the sand will not make America safer, it will not make the world safer, it will not end tyranny or spawn liberty. Anywhere.
Wikileaks: The Only Talking Point You Need
DISCUSS!
Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Dec 1, 2010 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=392
