Remember the Grey
Knives out, the US Government has formerly demanded Wikileaks hand over all the documents they have been given, or have obtained. They do not spell out the consequences if Wikileaks do not comply.
The issue I would like to highlight is the interplay the US Government is making between legality and morality. There is a stick being held out, represented to be legal compliance, suggesting the documents are the property of the US Government. Next to this is a moral argument saying Wikileaks should “to do the right thing”.
I have no idea what international law says about US files on Swedish servers. What I do know is the legal issue and the moral issue are not the same thing. It is muddled thinking to say “we are legally in the right and therefore you are morally in the wrong”. There is a correct order to things, and the correct order is always to place morality above the law.
If we make the mistake of saying the law is the morality we get into a terrible mess. Murdering jews becomes morality upright one year and morally repugnant the next and the Stalin’s and Hitlers hijack a compliant world into their various brands of hell. When morality is above the law we give meaning to the statement this law is “good” or this law is “bad”. Because good and bad are moral statements.
All of this is not to say laws and morals never see eye to eye, quite the contrary. It is morally wrong to murder and there is a law to reflect that. But if a man steals bread to feed his starving child we may judge him to have broken the law, but to have done the right thing in the circumstances.
Of course, it’s the US Militaries job to reduce the issues to black and white. To eliminate grey, painting themselves as the good guys and Wikileaks as the dirty rotten traitors. But in truth, it’s not so simple.
Whistle blowing may be illegal, it usually is because the law is often written by governments who have a history of dirty little secrets to hide. Exposing lies and other dirty secrets is sometimes the morally right thing to do.
It was illegal for Jeffrey Wingand to say Tobacco companies researched and designed a product to get their customer addicted. But I’m glad he did.
It was illegal for Deep Throat to implicate the US government in the Watergate scandal. But citizens of the USA owe him a debt a gratitude for doing so.
When Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged for his part in a plot to assassinate Hitler it was because he stood convicted of treason. But if he had been successful hundreds of thousands of soldiers who died fighting would have owed him their lives.
So when they tell you it’s simple, don’t believe them.
When they assure you it’s black and white - remember your brain is called grey matter.
Comments
Post new comment