So the verdict is out for Pfc Manning and it’s not good, though there is one slim silver strand in a porous lining:
I haven’t been as diligent in following this case as I have been with the NSA surveillance, because Manning is in a much more precarious position than Snowden, simply because he signed up for the military and swore an oath that is much different from that of a private contractor. People have been ripping apart both men, and centering on their unpatriotic actions with very little indication that they understand that any system must be questioned if it is endangering the majority for the sake of status quo. For too long now, we have accepted that our governments know best, that our military is fighting for what’s right, and that our leaders actually understand the moral obligations that come with their positions. Now, we’ve found that none of this is true.
Whistleblowing is falling under the darkest of shadows because there are too many who stand to lose too much if the system were to change. Our system is no longer about how to ensure that society is secure, but is now about how to game the system the best to win the prize: grandeur, status, power, money, and whatever keeps these people on the pedestals that they designed for themselves. History shows over and over what happens when absolute power corrupts absolutely, and our global ruling class by and large are following in the steps of the gilded Caesar. Now, they are looking over their shoulders to ensure that they don’t fall under the same fate that he did. It usually happens when you perpetuate the unjust in your thoughts and deeds against the many.
And now we are faced with a continuing dilemma that is challenging us to understand the motivations of those who question systems which are inherently unjust. When a system is built so that its major participants will go against the wisdom of the ages in order to continue their golden lifestyles, then it’s time to do more than wait for the next election cycle to replace those we don’t trust. Decades of making a choice between the lesser of two evils has given us a world that is not fit for life. We see what our thoughtless actions create just by looking outside of our safe havens. We don’t want to accept climate change. We don’t want to accept martial law. We don’t want to accept that our thoughts are no longer our own. We don’t want to accept that evil is really triumphing over good, because we didn’t realize that evil has been cloaked in good for far too long. As more denials to our fate ring hollow against the stark truths that darken the light, we are now standing at the moment when we as a people have got to think about more than ourselves. Individualism gives us strength until it spills over into selfishness and destroys what we hold dear.
Today another man who stood for his principles is a victim of his circumstances. He knew that he would be punished for his actions, but he still did what he thought was best for the greater good. And today, our system let him down by accepting that civility, honor, and respect means more than what this country used to stand for. It’s hard to swallow what the US has become because none of us cared enough to change the trajectory towards the edge of a deep chasm. When a senator is disrespected by automaton lawyers for a governmental behemoth which has been revealed to be acting against mankind, which words do you trust? If you’re aware of the future, then hopefully you chose the one who has been fighting like Don Quixote or David. If you pick the giant, then many of us want to know why!
If you’ve immersed yourself in the global news of late, then you’ll probably be noticing that justice only happens periodically when someone brave stands up for the lives of individuals everywhere over what they consider to be civil order. Perhaps we’ve been living in civilization for so long that we no longer recognize what a proper act of decency looks like. It’s not about confronting the ugliness that mankind is capable of through more bloated laws, but forcing the questionable acts out in the open so that we can have a global discussion on what WE want our society to ACT like. And not how some antiquated and proper parliament or congressional member thinks society should behave.
Morals are all well and good, but when they endanger the lives of too many innocents, then morality has been tipped off the scale of justice. I for one am sick and tired of my governments telling me what I can read, write, or listen to. It’s not their jobs to do so. It’s all of our jobs to understand when you’ve gone too far in your actions and words, and hurt others around you, even if it was unintentional (those hurt the most because you thought the least). That’s what civility used to be about. Now it’s empty rhetoric tossed out through sermons by people who long forgot what their jobs really entail. That these people are in charge is our call to do our duties as a global citizens and reformat society.
CTRL-ALT-DEL the system so that we can rewrite the code of how man needs to live life. Once we understand what is wrong with our current system, we’ll know how to rebuild to try to avoid a re-occurrence. That’s when we’ll find our justice for all!
