Popular Science, something I enjoy reading when I’m looking for “Science Lite” – tastes ok, less taxing…
Anyway, they put up this thing about the WikiLeaks moron.
A sponge by the name of kjmiklautsch commented…
People scream for equality, rally for human rights, protest for world peace, but are okay with the Governments and Powers of the world to continue to hold secrets from their people and other countries. If people truly wanted world peace, or truly wanted equality, we need to stop seeing other countries as competetors, and sharing all information on a global scale. Yes, this plan isn’t perfect, and I understand that thousands or perhaps millions of people will be harmed and possibly killed, but its a [risk I’m willing to take]. There are malicious people in the world, and they thrive on secrets and fear, and without question would take any information that can harm a country or its people and do just that.
Well, ok, since you’re willing to sacrifice those people, it is OK then. No problem.
We spend so much time, effort and money in hiding things from other countries and trying to steal things from others; if all that energy was instead spent on furthering humanity as a whole instead of securing their seat as a world power, the would would be a better place.
Even though he is not handling the situation in the best way, Julian’s and Wikileaks actions are truly inspiring, and I can only hope that more people will finally open their eyes to the crimes of Governments, Corporations, banks, and other world powers, and in turn follow suit.
Inspiring? Someone committing espionage and then blackmailing entire governments is inspiring?
I happen to agree with the sentiment that you should not blindly trust your government – any government – but that is a far cry from the automatic assumption Leftards seem to make that all governments are evil. Or that all corporations and banks are evil. Or that anyone who makes more than a quarter million dollars a year is suddenly evil.
All information should be free. If one person knows something, no amount of power, be it political or financial or otherwise, makes that person more deserving to know it than I.
I feel deserving of knowing your bank account numbers, you numbnuts. Share them with me. You can trust me. It’ll be ok. Likewise, your tax information should be free, your medical records should be free, and your fingerprints, DNA, and employer records should be easily accessible online.
Why not? Surely this ridiculous effort being taken to secure your bank accounts, lock up your doctor’s office, lock up the corner pharmacy, and to lock your house up at night could be better spent furthering humanity.
That just sounds pretty stupid, doesn’t it? Your bank account would be looted, someone might break into your doctor’s office to steal your records, the pharmacy would be cleaned out, and you would come home one day to find nothing there.
Why the hell would you think that a government would be any different? Childish ideals have no place in a world rooted in reality.
I was gonna comment, but then I saw you’d said it better:
Childish ideals have no place in a world rooted in reality.
What’s funny is that they do not see the results of unintended consequences. If everything is out in the open, it includes them, too.
They never think they will be one of the millions who are harmed or killed. I really wonder sometimes if they learn anything at all in school about critical thinking or logic or action/consequences or any of that stuff some of us take for granted. /sigh
I note the incorrect assumption in the last line of your blog post: “Childish ideals have no place in a world rooted in reality.”
But we are now in a postmodernist society. There are no universal truths anymore. Frankly, reality doesn’t exist.
And you were also being ageist. What’s wrong with having childish ideals? Children have a lot to teach us, remember. After all, they are not full of suspicion, fear and hatred like the US Government!
Perhaps I should say that non-pragmatic ideals have no place in a world rooted in reality.
Universal truths do exist. Protect the innocent for they are the only thing of value we truly have. Give honor where it is due because that inspires more service. Strive to be better than your limitations would is fundamental because your limitations are projected upon the world.
Childish ideals are for children and as such when we grow to adults we put away those ideals in favor of bedrock truths – with those truths we allow our children to carry their own childish ideals for a while. Part of being human.
I don’t need to look outside of myself to find suspicion, fear, and hatred. Instead, I choose to watch my government, give it trust where it is warranted, and when the trust is broken we find ways to fix it. Pragmatic truth – government will always be broken and it will always need fixing because it is run by fallible beings. But it’s all we got, and it is the best anyone’s got, so I’ll continue to watch and wait.