Wikileaks

"All's changed, changed utterly, a terrible beauty is born"

Good old William Butler, and his terribly beautiful ways. When the shit hit the diplomatic fan two weeks ago, everyone from your super smart Facebook friend turned news feed policy analyst to that Huffington Post blogger (you just know you could do better then) scrambled to their positions. TRUTH HAS ITS DAY IN THE SUN! JULIAN ASSANGE IS RAPIST SCUM! SILVIO BURLESCONI HAD SEX WITH A NUN! I made the last one up because it rhymes and is also highly probably, the old rogue.

This is new territory and when it broke, my heart skipped a beat as my long standing love for The Economist and Heat Magazine were finally reconciled. But mindful that I needed to come to Christmas dinner parties armed with more than my £4.99 Chilean Merlot, I began my great December journey into the land of received wisdom.

Is Wikileaks good? Yes. Is Wikileaks bad? Yes. Is more Information valuable? Yes. Is less more often invaluable? Yes. Does Julian Assange look like a rapist? Yes.

Why?

Well call me a crazy liberal but we have a right to know everything (within reason) that affects us. Within reason being sensitive information that immediately threaten lives or a delicate process that would be provably destabilised by a Daily Mail polemic. I'm aware that most things the DM does are destabilising, mainly to my faith in humanity. Apart from that,  the public should know. At the moment we don't. We have a vague to non existent understanding of where Politicans and countries truly stand on key issues that affect the outcome of our lives. Saudi Arabia would like to bomb Iran? Hang on a tic Vatican raging they had to get involved in the minor inconvenience of half a century of Irish clerical sex abuse? Well well well Mr. Infallible with your Crocodile Tears. It's like we're Jedward in ten years watching ourselves on Never Mind The Buzzcocks and finally figuring it all out. You're right dear, the politicians were laughing with us.

Assange: 9/10 cats think he's a rapist.

Closing the gap between what politicians mean and what they say is vital if we are to play our crucial (and largely unfulfilled) role as the ultimate check and balance. Representative democracy isn't about blindly outsourcing the outcome of our lives to the wise guys who know best and wish you didn't. It is the best among us, working in a two way partnership with an informed citizenry, to advance our interests in an interdependent world. That sounded like something from the CON-DEM program for government but the difference is mine took longer than four days to consider.

Can we handle the truth? It is true that en masse the public are more emotionally volatile and reactionary then the vastly more considered Sir Humphrey, but our hoo hah execution is almost always expressed via these same considered channels. There are moments when work needs to get done behind closed doors (The shuttle diplomacy extravaganza that was The Good Friday Agreement couldn't have survived hourly updates) but in most cases, the portrait in the attic should be aired.

Is that process vastly more complex now that you're inviting everyone into the room? Yes. But it's no more mad than the current mad house. Just as we see now, the usual mavens rally around the information, capturing its essence, dissecting its implications. The voices come on the scene to tell people how to think, delivering everything from the most nuanced analysis to the most pathetic nonsense Points of view and counter points of view are expressed and the spin doctors get their day in the sun. Like always and forever, the most convincing side prevails.

What changes is that our representatives have to justify more and can get away with less. What's different is that we're actually speaking on topic and not engaging in an after thought that's the societal equivalent of masturbation. Eww. It's not perfect as all truth has a heavy coat of varnish (with the Wikileaks brand smelling of particularly strong stuff). But now that we're now all drinking from the same water supply, we have an opportunity to see for ourselves by ourselves from ourselves like never before. Yes, I too would like a council of wise sages, full time philosophers, and part time poets to act as the intermediary in this brave new world, but until then we just need to have our guard up as the flood gates come down.

It's worth noting that leaks didn't always come with a wiki before them. In the not too recent old days, the drop box was the place where hard copy cables were left, and the shady underground car park, the meeting point with your contact. Now the drop box is digital, and the car park is a chat room. Completely anonymous, and right on your doorstep. In a globally connected world, anyone with appropriate access and a usb can expose a government or corporation in the space of a second. The only limit is it's virility. If it's good enough, it'll get out. In the old days you were dependent on the decision of the editor to reveal it to the light of day. A decision that could be influenced by concern for personal reputation, political influence, shareholder opinions, and advertising rates. Now it's a one time nobody who just may be posing for TIME person of the year in an orange jumpsuit.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Next stop, the banks.