WikiLeaks founder points at Pentagon over rape claims - Yahoo! News
As some friends and I were discussing, this assertion comes without generating much shock. I was not the only among us whose first thought when Assange was accused of rape in Sweden was “a guy pisses off the US intelligence and military community and is accused a couple of weeks later of rape…now there’s a shock.”
Of course the “problem” here is that they can’t just kill the guy. That would be dirty pool. But of course the damage is done here, to a certain extent. Although the accusations have been recanted privately and there is no longer any investigation nor charges pending, for at least the next few months when someone hears the word “Wikileaks” they will associate the concept of rape with it in their minds.
This is much like the “pedophile problem” that we face in our society today. In order to destroy a person, especially a man, all that needs be done is to accuse him of being a predator of children. Even if the accusation is later taken back and no charges are ever filed, once the accusation gets out into public the damage is done. The association is made in minds, and it can never be un-made, and it will – will – be dragged up again when it’s convenient for someone who wants to attack the person so accused to do so.
This of course reveals a gaping logic hole in our culture, in that we remember always the accusation but never the disposition. Perhaps if we, the people, start thinking more clearly and making certain that our elected governors know we are doing so, they’ll at least make the effort to be more creative.
In the mean time, what disturbs me most about this situation is that most of my fellow Americans seem to view as normal and acceptable the possibility that our intelligence community might try to frame someone on sex charges because he exercised his right to free speech in the name of public information and protection without their rubber-stamp of approval.
Wikileaks is a major source – possibly THE major source now that so much “journalism” has become nothing more than hot air – of straightforward fact dissemination with careful confirmation through research and corroboration. The principle of a free press must be upheld; without freedom of information, we have nothing.
There is much noise made about how these leaks are “putting lives at risk” and so forth, but I’ve yet to see any substantial assertion – let alone evidence – that they have done so. In the main, this appears to be an attempt to keep our governments – not just the US, but all of them – honest. If mistakes are made then we need to own up to them; if something evil is being done in our name then we have a right to be aware of it. This does not, in spite of the hand-waving assertions of those who tend to be far too deferential to anyone in a uniform, constitute treason.
I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on this.