Personally, though I applaud truth and transparency in principle, I am not always sure the revelations of WikiLeaks are useful in the long run. Yes, yes, I know that WikiLeaks contributed to the anger that sparked the Arab Spring. But it did not create that anger, it merely fanned the flames of a fire that was already burning. Many of the leaked documents that constitute " cablegate" amount to not much more than diplomatic gossip around the international water cooler.
Then, there is the fact that truth-telling can lead to a lot of collateral damage Brutal honesty is not always the best course of action and innocent people get caught in the cross-fire. Think of all those outed CIA agents. There is a time and a place for prevarication as well as transparency.
Plus there is something I can't put my finger on about Julian Assange that kind of creeps me out-- just a gut reaction. Call it women's intuition.
On the other hand, he is brilliant and ,on principle, I feel good about gadflys and rebellious geeks who bring down the pompous and powerful.
A Donation to WikiLeaks? not from me... but the WikiLeaks Mastercard spoof is definitely priceless.
2 comments:
I would donate to the cause..not the person.
But I want to know that people doing their jobs will not be injured..ala Valerie Plame..and that they won't be outed by anything Wikileaks publishes.
point well taken, but in this case the person IS the cause and you can't separate the two.
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