The Best Thing in 2010...

The best thing, that is, relative to peacefully fighting the Corporatocracy, or the Military-Industrial Complex, or the Oligarchy, or the Plutocracy... or whatever one wishes to call it. That "best thing" was the action by Wikileaks.

Many have disagreed already, and I suppose many more will. They think it was a "bad" thing. Their main argument seems to be: the leaks put lives at risk. The only specific life at risk that I've heard about so far is that of an Iranian person; but, there probably are others as well. There are a few possible retorts to that argument, as follows.

1. It is not the job of Wikileaks to secure the safety of a spy. That job falls to the spy and the Government. Apparently they didn't do a good job.

2. To use the Government's own argument, sometimes in accomplishing a greater good, there is "collateral damage". Was it a greater good? Yes. We the People have a right to know what the Corporatocracy is up to, and what its adherents think of other governments. We have a right to know if they are up to no good, and too often they are. Cases proving that number in the hundreds or perhaps thousands. A few examples: the instances of damage to "downwinders", relative to above-ground atomic testing years ago; the instances of damage to soldiers and others who were given LSD without their knowledge; the instances of damage resulting from Agent Orange during the Vietnam War; the instances of damage known as the Gulf War syndrome, almost certainly due to exposure to "depleted uranium" (that's govt-speak for nuclear waste) and untested vaccines; and, the Tonkin Gulf incident, which did not happen the way the Government reported it.

3. How is this significantly different from when the CIA's Valerie Plame was "outed", probably by Dick Cheney via Scooter Libby? I don't recall too many folks (especially "Conservatives") crying foul over that action.

4. If we accept the commonly held belief that our Government must be able to keep secrets from the People in order to operate effectively, then where do we draw the line...and how do we know that the agreed upon line is being properly observed by the govt? Seriously.

5. Similar to #2 above: our central government, as well as mega corporations, have shown over and over that they are not to be trusted. We need to know as much as we can get our hands on in order to keep our health and freedom.

Have a happy New Year.