HERCULANEUM

WikiLeaks founder Assange the center of worldwide attention "Interpol -- a worldwide police organization -- placed Assange on its most wanted list, though not for the controversial work of his website. Instead, the agents of Interpol issued a warrant on charges of rape and sexual harassment against Assange in his adopted home of Sweden - charges he has vehemently denied."

What a coincidence.... Interpol suddenly wants him. And because he's been accused of it, it must be true. We really don't believe that people are innocent until proven guilty anymore... Not really. But, how convenient that he's being accused of something...

Swiss cut off bank account for WikiLeaks' Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested in UK (He TURNED HIMSELF IN - they didn't put that in the headline.)

They're going to shoot the messenger...

I suppose that's really nothing new. Hence the saying...

So, a friend recently asked me what I thought about this whole Wiki-leaks thing.

Well, at first I thought, woah... How necessary was this... This is going to cause a lot of problems. But then, the more I contemplated it, wouldn't there be nothing to worry about if everyone were just honest? I know it sounds simple and that that's the "ideal", but still... Why AREN'T we reaching for the "ideal"? Even if we don't reach it, we'd be closer for trying, no? Why have we settled for this is the way things are bullshit...? So maybe, if there were more "transparency" and accountability, maybe our world leaders would be forced to be more honest in their interactions with one another... and ourselves.

I believe that secrecy breeds corruption.

I'm so tired of the American view that we don't need to know everything. Why? WHY DON'T WE?? Are we not capable of handling information, and then processing that logically - through that old nasty trait - deductive reasoning?

Don't answer that.

But, we SHOULD be. And just because many don't, doesn't mean we shouldn't.

Or is it as Colonel Nathan R. Jessep (Jack Nicholson) said, "You can't handle the truth!"?

Can't we? Or won't we...

Ignorance IS bliss, after all. And knowing would make us a deliberate accomplice to deplorable behavior. But, willful ignorance doesn't make anyone less of an accessory.

We should expect MORE of ourselves and one another - as individuals AND a society.

I just think that we've gone along with "top secret" and "confidential" for so long that it encourages us (as a people) not to question much, if anything. And I don't think that can ever result in anything good. It's like we're children.

Or sheep being led to slaughter.

Or at least kept in a herd and fed until we're fat, slow and stupid.

We're easier to corral that way.

And really, when you think about it, the way we do things, is it working? Where has it gotten us? Is the world better off? Are we as world citizens, as Americans, as individuals... are we better off? And if you think so, how? HOW are we better off? I'm sincerely asking...

Oh, this secrecy is to protect our national interests...

And what might those "national interests" be? Oil? Resources from other countries? So, we can rape natural resources of OTHER nations to satisfy our insatiable hunger of consumption? And then, not only have we pillaged another culture's assets for our "needs", what we're using it for (energy) turns into mass sewage. Which we just ship back to those countries after we're done using it in the form of garbage and an environmental disaster.

OR, we all get to choke on it. Either way, everyone loses.

And we pay for those "national" interests with the lives of our children and the blood of innocent people.

As "modern" nations, we're sure in a hurry, but just exactly where is it that we're going so fast?

Or is this secrecy to protect our "freedom"? Is that it?

I understand the current need for covert operations to thwart off threats like the recent terrorist in Portland, Oregon. But again, like my previous post stated, maybe if we acted morally and ethically through our foreign interactions (state and corporate, which are becoming one and the same), we wouldn't have terrorists to begin with.

I'm not saying that there still won't be Hitlers or Stalins or Pol Pots out there to deal with. But, I am saying in our dealings and relationships, we shouldn't set the stage for an opportunity for such a villain to arise in the first place. Because if we're paying attention to history, the conditions were ripe for these murderous assholes to take their places.

So maybe in the case of Iran, maybe we SHOULDN'T have meddled in their affairs in 1953 and overthrown their DEMOCRATIC government because they were taking back control of THEIR OWN OIL FIELDS... away from Western control.

Or maybe in the case of Iraq, maybe if we were SUPPORTING Saddam Hussein and supplying his weapons, maybe we SHOULDN'T have been supplying the opposite side ILLEGALLY (Iran) as well. So, that they could conveniently keep fighting one another.

If we act in honesty, when it comes to leaks about our words or actions, maybe there would be less to worry about.

What our world leaders and our foreign diplomacy is lacking is simply integrity.

And without THAT, you have nothing.

"Integrity" - It's what we're taught, but don't practice. The practical is too impractical.

Look, I KNOW that this sounds naive. I KNOW that me boiling it down to traits like honesty and integrity seems childlike. But, I just want to encourage you to contemplate it. I want to encourage you TO BE childlike. Without "reality" to dilute things, children often see things for what they are... And of course, they remain, inquisitive. Because we're seldom rewarded for asking questions, I believe that we eventually stop asking. It's easier to "go with the flow" and travel with the herd. It's easier to do as we're told.

So, while we're walking below this surface of "reality", even when we're traveling below the conditioned air of "freedom", I strongly encourage you to

because you CAN.

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