Means to Justify Ends: Assange's Folly

"If men of this century understood the value of common ground, they might forge heroic legacies rather than dastardly remembrances during their time on this good earth."

Years ago, as the young men of America donned uniforms and departed for the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima, they were backed by those of diverse colors, both in political beliefs and backgrounds. From the poor farm boy to some of the most elite congressmen, hundreds of thousands of troops bid farewell, encouraged by spectators in full support--and opposition, to the great war of the century. Even among the most pacifist of journalists there remained an understanding that shoddy or  not supportive reporting might cause irreparable danger to the mission, and to the lives of soldiers serving in the front. One might look to it as a universal mentality; that war was painful, yet its burdens and sacrifices had to be carried and made together.

Today, the world seems to have forgotten these olden concessions of passion. WikiLeaks, a website pledging transparency and openness, has unleashed a remarkable number of documents regarding details of the Middle Eastern wars, placing thousands of lives across the world in immediate jeopardy. According to the site's founder, Julian Assange, the documents represent the uncovering of crimes against humanity by governments involved in the conflict, yet he fails to understand the depth of the issue at stake. For men like Assange, life is all about the one moment of success and limelight--not the aftereffects on innocent lives. Like Phillip Agee, who released confidential information that led to the assassinations of countless undercover agents, Assange believes the means justifier the ends. Secrets spilled are all that matter--even if their consequences are earth-shattering.

But furthermore Assange's action highlight a sad reality of a world in which views and ideological stances have overpowered common sense and general worldwide unity. In the past years in America, it might be prudent to realize how far and widespread this condition is. Democrats did not simply disagree with President Bush; they truly wanted his administration to collapse and fail, with international courts indicting each member possible with war crimes and humiliating the country of which all parties share. Under Barack Obama's tenure, the dialog has hardly changed, with his detractors picking at anything possible to call for impeachment or eventual failure.

All else aside, it paints a sad yet enlightened picture of what the world has become, and what it will likely be forever: an arena where only the strong, regardless of their motives, shall continue to outlive and outperform those around them. Of course competition is not wrong, but if its ends are such travesties--as Mr. Assange's will cost countless lives, the final ultimatum is one in which morality has been murdered in cold blood.

Those brave men and women currently serving are the last hope of the world to overcome evil and defeat the ill-doers residing within it, yet they will only be capable of succeeding if their positions and defenses are not compromised for the sake of ideological reveling or projection into the spotlight. For too long in the past 50 years this has become the operating procedure of so many, and its results are to gruesome and countless to recount in full. Unless the world--people of different views and ideologies alike, are able to overcome this incessant desire to betray the good cause for the sake of personal fame, we will spiral into a degenerated pit of nothingness in which morality is gone.    


Jessica Yui

National Alliance Vice Chairman