Don’t Worry About Wikileaks. Stop Reading. Keep Shopping.

by Will Potter on December 14, 2010

in Terrorism Court Cases

wikileaks_keep_shoppingThe Obama administration has convened a secretive grand jury to pursue criminal charges against Julian Assange of Wikileaks. Some talking heads and politicians have called for his assassination. Meanwhile, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on the “Espionage Act and the legal and constitutional issues raised by Wikileaks.”

Most Americans, it seems, are completely fine with this. According to an ABC and the Washington Post poll, about 70 percent of people say Wikileaks “harms the public interest, and 60 percent say Assange is a criminal.

The results are unsettling. I’m very concerned about the remaining 30-40 percent of you: it seems that you actually want to know what your government is doing. You seem to think that journalists who expose such things are doing their job, rather than committing a crime.

What’s going on, here?

Listen, folks: You don’t want to know about your government. Really, you don’t. It’s easier for everyone involved. Here are three reasons why:

  1. Ignorance is easier for you personally. It’s so unsettling to know what the government is doing. When Wikileaks exposes how U.S. contractors threw a party for Afghan security with trafficked boys, it just… well, it really puts a damper on your holiday plans! Don’t worry about it. You don’t want to know about things like this, because learning about them is the first step to caring about them, and who has time to care? There are only 11 shopping days till Christmas, for chrissakes. Besides, I’m sure there were very good reasons for exploiting those boys.
  2. Ignorance is easier for journalists. We don’t want this whole “exposing corruption” thing to become a trend. The press does a very good job of repeating government soundbites, and in this age of uncertainty we don’t need to mess up a good thing. If you are in need of a good website to visit online, might I suggest these cute kittens? OMG srsly sooooo cute!
  3. Ignorance is much, much easier for people in power. Folks, there’s a reason that people are in power. It’s because they’re smarter and better than us. We can’t try to comprehend the decisions they make in our name. Who are we to question what government is doing? If we want to be safe, we need to stop asking so many damn questions. You know what happens when you ask questions? The terrorists win.

As a nation, almost all of us are on the same page. But there are some stragglers. Please reach out to them (here are some talking points about Wikileaks).

We need to come together, with one voice. We need to rise up, America, and vigorously defend our own ignorance.

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