{"id":159,"date":"2010-12-03T23:36:21","date_gmt":"2010-12-04T03:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/philosophicalfragments\/?p=159"},"modified":"2010-12-03T23:36:21","modified_gmt":"2010-12-04T03:36:21","slug":"the-right-not-to-know-thoughts-on-the-wikileaks-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2010\/12\/03\/the-right-not-to-know-thoughts-on-the-wikileaks-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Right Not to Know – Thoughts on the Wikileaks Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I must confess that I\u2019ve enjoyed reading some of the revelations that have emerged from the Wikileaks controversy.\u00a0 There is a certain deliciousness in getting information you are not supposed to have, especially when it includes catty comments about political leaders known around the world.<\/p>\n

But the whole episode reeks to high heaven.\u00a0 There are several things that bother me about Julian Assange and what he did with WikiLeaks:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Julian Assange speaks as though he\u2019s doing the American people a great service by revealing to them the inner workings of their government.\u00a0 Yet the American people deserve not to know <\/em>some things.\u00a0 We often say that in a democracy, the people deserve to know the truth.\u00a0 But they also deserve a government that is capable of keeping secrets.\u00a0 They deserve a government that can have honest and forthright \u2013 and that means confidential \u2013 communication between its diplomats.\u00a0 There is no reason why the American people need to know that one of its diplomats declared that Dmitri Medvedev is the \u201cRobin\u201d to Vladimir Putin\u2019s \u201cBatman,\u201d or that another called Kim Jong-Il is \u201cflabby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assange acts as though a people should know everything <\/em>about their government, except for two things.\u00a0 First, and very conveniently for Wikileaks, the people do not need to know the identities of sources that reveal important information, and whose lives might be endangered by exposure.\u00a0 Second, and even more conveniently for Assange, the people have no right to know what would happen if Assange ever faced a justice system for the rape allegations against him.\u00a0 Otherwise, however, Assange seems to be of the opinion that the American people should know just about everything what transpires within their government.<\/p>\n

But obviously there is much the revelation of which would make our government less effective.\u00a0 It helps crime prevention if the police are able to develop their cases in secrecy.\u00a0 It helps counter-terrorism if terrorist organizations do not know the many methods that are used against them.\u00a0 If helps our national security if we are able to develop military technologies of which our enemies know little or nothing.\u00a0 It helps in international affairs \u2014 just like it helps in any context where you are trying to make a thousand deals with a thousand different parties \u2014 if you do not reveal to everyone the terms of every agreement you form.<\/p>\n

Some of the leaks reveal interesting things.\u00a0 The full consequences of the intelligence dump will not become clear for a long time, until it has been thoroughly searched and picked apart.\u00a0 But there is no purpose served, other than embarrassing the American government and throwing a wrench in its gears, by revealing confidential cables with unflattering words for foreign leaders.<\/p>\n

It does raise an interesting issue, though: what kind of information ought to be publicly available, and what kind ought not? <\/strong><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 I said that Julian Assange \u201cspeaks as though\u201d he\u2019s helping the American people.\u00a0 Honestly, however, I don\u2019t think he cares one whit about the American people.\u00a0 Part of what galls about the whole situation is that Assange clearly feels great disdain for America and acts out of enmity and resentment.\u00a0 Assange, in glittering condescension, has taken it upon himself to educate those silly, naive Americans about how their government really functions, as though we never imagined that our diplomats assess foreign leaders, sometimes unfavorably; that our government gathers intelligence; or even that our government and military sometimes make mistakes.\u00a0 But there are venues and mechanisms for bringing the proper information to light, and a foreigner with no expertise or authority in the matter illegally revealing information that was illegally obtained is not one of them.<\/p>\n

The other part that galls is that Assange seeks to gain fame and profit \u2013 and does <\/em>gain enormous amounts of each \u2013 by exposing American intelligence and confidential information.\u00a0 As the Time interview<\/a> reveals, Assange holds himself and the consequences of his actions in extraordinarily high regard.\u00a0 \u201cIt is our responsibility to bring matters to the public,\u201d says Assange.\u00a0 But who gave him that authority?\u00a0 Did the American people elect him for the task?<\/p>\n

Thoughts?\u00a0 What has been helpful about the Wikileaks revelations?\u00a0 What has been damaging?\u00a0 Ought Assange to be brought to justice?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I must confess that I\u2019ve enjoyed reading some of the revelations that have emerged from the Wikileaks controversy.\u00a0 There is a certain deliciousness in getting information you are not supposed to have, especially when it includes catty comments about political leaders known around the world. But the whole episode reeks to high heaven.\u00a0 There are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foreign-affairs","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Right Not to Know - Thoughts on the Wikileaks Controversy - Philosophical Fragments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I must confess that I've enjoyed reading some of the revelations that have emerged from the Wikileaks controversy.\u00a0 There is a certain deliciousness in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2010\/12\/03\/the-right-not-to-know-thoughts-on-the-wikileaks-controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Right Not to Know - 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