Facts, Fiction & Wikileaks

What goes around comes around. One person claims a statement to be true when in fact there are no facts to base the statement on. Another person quotes a leak from Wikileaks as a fact when, in fact, the statement is taken totally out of context – the context may never be fully known! – but we still don’t know the context and thus do not know the truth.

Mr. Assange leaks millions of pages of purloined documents and electronic communiques and foists them on the world as truth. Again, whether they are or not depends on many factors; among them is context, authorship, expertise of that author, or whether the content is mainly opinion.

Facts people; facts matter but they must be properly set in historical context, anthropological resonance and personal credibility. History is written on these elements. And I remind all readers here that history takes decades and sometimes centuries to get right. The nuance is vital to understanding the happenings. The latter includes facts as well, thoughts that string threads of meaning moving through time.

Assange does not have that talent or asset behind him. He only has mastery over a switch that manages flow of data. Apart from context there is no understanding other than what the reader or propagandist wishes to make of it. But that is not truth. That is not fact. That does not make history.

Chelsea Manning was involved in some of this in a minor way. He/she was duped into sharing a passel of files to Wikileaks and Assange. Manning did not make anything of all of this, just a passer of codes and data. It is Assange who did the leaking and the foisting.

And it is Assange who needs to be repatriated to America so he can face his crimes in the criminal justice system. Manning was a minor player who paid a huge price for his role. Jailed. Court martialed. Stripped of benefits and compensation. Denuded of his honor and personhood. Forced to bare his gender identity and transgender journey in full public view and ridicule. And imprisoned for many years with a long prison term ahead to the year 2045. Horrendous treatment in the military and by the military. And the mistreatment continues. Much more penalty than anyone else in a similar situation.

And Assange? He lives in hiding to avoid criminal prosecution.

But the commutation of Manning’s sentence by President Obama has opened the door to Assange’s offer to return to the USA. Once here he will face his punishment, too. Finally.

For the Paul Ryan’s of the world – and all of the other disingenuous politicians of republican identity, President Obama still addressed the need for justice in this matter. With Manning’s commutation comes justice for Assange. At last we will have the opportunity to better understand all of the relevant facts concerning this travesty of confidence and secrecy of national intelligence material.

With Russia and other international ‘unfriendlies’ hungrily absorbing and greasing their propaganda machines in high speed, the Wikileaks phenomenon has created a massive intelligence problem. But it should be remembered that propaganda works in both directions – it smears both the target and the messenger. Both lose credibility in the eyes of the public.

Manning deserves to live the rest of her life in anonymity and peace. She has paid a high price for this. Assange on the other hand has much to compensate peace loving people everywhere. May justice be fair and swift in these later chapters of this travesty.

And may republicans finally get the message that it is their duty to preserve and protect America from all enemies – foreign and domestic – even if it is themselves.

As we go through confirmation hearings of all of Trumps nominees, may our eyes and ears be truly open to fact and truth. Both have been in dire doubt these past several years of distortion and campaign rhetoric. It is finally time to settle down and get back to work.

But will they? The politicians have not earned our respect for quite a while now; perhaps they will finally tire of the propaganda trail and get to work?

Let’s just watch and see what happens. Don’t hold your breath, though!!

January 24, 2017