Confessions of a 20 Something: Why Wikileaks is Wickity-Wack

December 8, 2010 • By Ana Guthrie

There's an interesting story that Nicaraguans and other Central Americans like to tell. It involves the chronicle of William Walker, a white American who declared himself president of the Republic of Nicaragua in 1856. Walker thirsted to establish slave colonies throughout Latin America. Nicaraguans-although far from cohesive at the time-weren't having it. No way. In fact, Nicaraguans were fighting among themselves, that is, until the warring factions in cahoots with their neighboring comrades booted Walker out of power.

Today, almost every Central American knows the story of that "Gringo William Walker's" brief but failed subterfuge. Although Central America isn't exactly harmonious, the seven countries - for the most part - stand in unison on one thing: no outsider is going to disrespect their homelands. William Walker's fate is etched in history books. Hondurans boast that they were the ones to capture and execute Walker. Indeed, April 11 is a Costa Rican national holiday in memory of Walker's defeat. Moreover, Juan Santamaria, a war hero who helped take down Williams' brigade, is honored as the Costa Rican national hero. Nicaraguans note that period as a time when citizens put their differences aside in defense of their beloved.

America is far from perfect; it can learn something from that story-when disrespected we must unite, especially in the midst of debacles like that involving Wikileaks, the website that publishes top-secret government material belonging to the U.S., Britain and other countries. Now, I'm not calling for us to tar and feather nor execute the Wikileaks' founders or spokespersons. Notwithstanding, Wikileaks needs to be firmly dealt with. Some parties are doing just that; corporations like Paypal, who is not allowing donors to use its portal to donate to Wikileaks, as well as Mastercard, who will not honor Wikileaks transactions, are taking a stand.

You see, Wikileaks is rude, at minimum, and anarchist, at optimum.

FACT: The names and addresses of war

FACT: Al-Qaida has admitted to rummaging through Wikileaks to find Afghan and Iraqi informants, who they promise to deal with strongly.

FACT: Julian Assange, currently the face of Wikileaks, is neither American nor an American sympathizer, yet he is hailed by many in the U.S. as a national hero.

FACT: Last week, Wikileaks released an unprecedented 76,000 articles of classified U.S. war information.

The U.S. is not the only country whose national security is at risk because of the Wikileaks, which admits that its sole purpose is to expose top-secret government documents made available by various media and anonymous sources. Yet, America is suffering the most from Wikileak's damaging exposures.

TRUTH: In no other country would Wikileaks be permitted, celebrated and cloaked as "Free Speech."

TRUTH: There has come a time for America to differentiate between journalistic, "watch-dog" news versus renegade propaganda.

TRUTH: America must end the identity crisis. In other words, she must settle within herself that being critical of the U.S. is far different than hating the U.S. Moreover, America must stop confusing misinformation for critical thinking

recklessness as adventure

espionage as dignity

treachery as bravery

and even vulgarity as art.

Wikileaks is far more catastrophic than crying "Fire!" in a crowded theater. I don't think blatantly risking the lives of our men and women in uniform by exposing top-secret war tactics is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they incorporated Free Speech into America's fabric. Julian Assange and Wikileaks are clear and present dangers to the U.S.

Ana Guthrie is a super cool chick with a heart for God and love for youth culture. She doubles as a not-so-naughty librarian and instructor at Florida Memorial University in Miami, Florida.

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