Wikileaks – The Secret Life of A Superpower by the BBC (part 1). Watch Part 2 here.
http://youtu.be/nu98q1WmP_M
I saw this video forwarded this weekend by @zephoria (aka Danah Boyd), and she is absolutely correct that this is a tremendously fascinating two-part documentary BBC series about the big Wikileaks haul provided by Bradley Manning. We all know that he’s been convicted by the US military of being a traitor, and yet this story tells of a two-headed coin that clearly shows that international diplomacy really isn’t clean, patriotic, or even as democratic as we’ve been led to believe.
People who work in our governments, and the people who view them from the outside, live in two separate worlds that barely understand one another. Their motivations are beyond different. While both believe in loving their country, their actions diverge so drastically that it takes something like Wikileaks to allow us all to understand how our world really operates. Diplomacy is about the changing of hands of favors, sometimes unpalatable to all participants involved. And this is where the true nature of it diverges from the ideals of the common man and woman.
Our true ideals, as we read in poetry and novels, and in the movies that we watch, do not fall within the realm of diplomacy. Common ideas of propriety have little to do with our stations in life, and everything to do with the soul that drives our actions, thoughts, and words. Notice that I didn’t include heart in this, and that’s on purpose because the heart sometimes is tunnel-visioned and lacking in knowledge due to its movement based on emotion. There is a common way in which “good” is immortalized including: helping our fellow human in need, protecting the weak from harm, sharing things that allow us all to grow, and treating one another as we want to be treated. It’s beyond unsettling that diplomacy’s ideas of good and the people’s are so different.
This series highlights that even our politicians and government agencies fall prey to the corruption that comes with ultimate power. These are the times that try men’s souls. That phrase has never been more true as the people are shown the light in which our world turns, and we fight the multitude of emotions that are forcing us to make moves to right the world to where it should have been all along. We’re at the beginning of changes that can either make or break us. So far, the people are showing that their true nature still moves towards soulful good, even if their every action comes into question by our fellow participants of humanity.
Government is no longer the bearer of the torch of truth, that much we now know irrefutably, though they are still necessary to uphold the continuity of a balanced society. So what are we going to do about it? It’s going to take more than voting, and our governments know that we’re all starting to realize this. We all need to work together to create the just world that we all desire. And it will include restructuring our governments to become the models that we all expect them to be. We can thank the BBC and Wikileaks for helping us to see the world as it truly operates, if only through glimpses that are possible because of the actions of one man who disagreed with the actions of the leaders he’s sworn to follow. A traitor’s actions continue to be seen differently as history grows and changes. But, it’s what we do from their revelations that dictate the truth of their intentions and the resulting changes in our actions.
p.s. If you support what the BBC is doing, then go check out their site and help them to continue their incredible work. This series shows that they are a powerhouse that seeks to tell those stories that helps society seek and find the truths that will make us better.
