Wikileaks “Controversy” isn’t About Saving Lives

The posturing bullshit right now about how the Wikileaks posts are jeopardizing the lives of US soldiers is more of the usual ranting for coverup grade secrecy that you get when terrible truths are revealed. The current terrible truth is that the Pakistani government has been supporting the Taliban it is reputed to fight while the US government supports the Pakistani government in a supposed fight against the Taliban. That’s the thing we can’t let come out. Part of it. That’s the thing that has everyone on the secrecy and fascism and statism side yelling that this jeopardizes American “trust”. By “trust” we mean assurance of secrecy itself – as if that itself were a virtue, regardless of what it serves. The entire conflict jeopardizes lives, but collaboration is inexcusable – sponsoring your opponent for a public show of war is inexcusable – the entire pretext for the “war on terror” is inexcusable – and covering it up isn’t about trust, it’s about blatant criminality. What’s funny is that both sides of the bipolar US political spectrum are being signaled that they’re supposed to focus on leaks themselves, rather than the content of the leaks and the outrageous implications for the sham that is the entire US political system. Frankly, once again, we’re here to call bullshit, and be the assholes that call a thing what it is. This is a fake war, with fake news (propaganda), and fake assumptions in play all around. What we’ll see next is the moderate “liberal” intelligentsia acknowledging the need to maintain ‘secrecy’ and plug leaks, because leaks like this threaten their need to maintain the illusion. The illusion that the superficial version of things is the real one – allowing us to be involved merely at the level of voting for or against, the occasional protest, or taking a  few philosophical potshots and feeling superior. We all want to pretend we’re discussing the issues, when in fact the hard thing is to admit that the issues are all false constructs, designed to feed our pride and keep us engaged at a convenient level of superficiality. We all want to think it’s enough to get up in the morning and be left or right. We want it to be about where we stand, rather than about comprehensive self-deception, for which we employ agents in the form of government and press. Bullshit. You’re in it and I’m in it. There, that’s the truth. So says this asshole.