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Grasshopper soup: My WikiLeaks … does yours?

Bob Sweigert

TRUCKEE/TAHOE, Calif. and#8212; Oh, no! I hear Wikileaks! Itand#8217;s that loud, gurgling noise in the bottom of my wooden boat which is sinking like a rock. No itand#8217;s not. Wikileaks is just another one of those annoying physical symptoms of aging. But what on earth is wiki?

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, the highly controversial website that canand#8217;t keep a secret, insists he is only giving away top secrets in the best interest of mankind. He says he just wants to make the world a more civil place. Thatand#8217;s a noble goal, but he also made an already terribly divided world more dangerous, and any lasting Kumbaya moment unlikely. Even American civilians were saying, during World War II, and#8220;Loose lips sink ships.and#8221;

Global anger over WikiLeaks is staggering. If you want civility, Julian, work with people, not against them. Civility begins by first pointing the finger at your own wiki, not everybody elseand#8217;s.



A lot of people admire Julianand#8217;s wiki. Their lives are not at risk because of his leaks. He and his associates probably have plenty of their own top secrets. According to reliable sources, Julian had a troubled childhood. It had something to do with his mother and her musician boyfriend. He was on his own from 11 to 16, but who cares? Fair is fair. Will he show us his wiki in return for spilling everybody elseand#8217;s beans?

His early career as a journalist was promising, but in 1991 he plead guilty to 25 charges related to a single computer hacking incident in Canada.



Top secrets contain some of the most personal wiki of all about individual diplomats, politicians and government agents from all over this very dangerous world. My right to know does not always trump their right to privacy and security. Top secrets include wiki we have a right to know, but we donand#8217;t have a right to all wiki.

The internet is too much like a bunch of kids with no wiki who canand#8217;t spell or type, whine about reality, tell secrets and lies, and count friends as if quantity means more than quality. Global diplomacy is a dangerous game kids have no business playing.

Sometimes itand#8217;s a fun game, sometimes itand#8217;s not, like when they insult us by thinking or saying that we, the people, canand#8217;t always handle the truth. Of course we can. We watch reality TV and play violent, gross video games, donand#8217;t we?

I donand#8217;t want to hear another wiki leak. For the most part, my response to hearing secrets from a third party would most likely be, and#8220;Gee, ya think?and#8221; Not that I know everybodyand#8217;s secrets, they just wouldnand#8217;t surprise me. Iand#8217;m 60. I know it can be an ugly, dangerous world out there. I knew everything when I was a kid too.

The Hollywood style WikiLeaks creator, who lost his comb, also said, and#8220;Itand#8217;s very important to remember the law is not what, not simply what powerful people would want others to believe it is. The law is not what a general says it is. The law is not what Hilary Clinton says it isand#8221;. What Julian WikiLeaks really means is that the law is what he says it is. He even told Hilary Clinton and Obama to resign.

Maybe WikiLeaks is a beach in Hawaii, and Julian is the second coming of Hawaiiand#8217;s first king, Kamehameha, blessing the world with Aloha so we can eat pineapple, sleep on the beach, surf, and walk on hot coals while girls sing and do the hula. But heand#8217;s too skinny.

Maybe WikiLeaks, and the internet, are new religions. You can get a Doctor of Divinity degree on the Internet for free as long as you promise not to keep all the secrets of the universe.

Can you keep a secret? Donand#8217;t tell anybody, but the entire universe is leaking wiki through black holes. What are we going to do when we run out of wiki?

Bob Sweigert is a Sierra Sun columnist, published poet, former college instructor and ski instructor. He has a B.A. and an M.A.T. from Gonzaga University. He has lived at Lake Tahoe for 28 years.


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