Let A Thousand Watergates Bloom

I’m up with insomnia.  Happens every so often.

So here’s a thought-

Most of the recent revelations’ good AND bad regarding our government’s covert activities’ legal or not, good or bad, have come to us via “impure vessels.”

Bradley Manning isn’t anyone’s idea of a good Soldier.  This other guy has some issues too,  or so it seems. *  The conduits through which these men choose to act are themselves less than ideal.  Julian Assange is a con man who strung his most lucrative source along for months and then left him high and dry, not even willing to make good on his half-assed pledge to donate money for PART of Manning’s defense fund.  Greenwald is a prickly sanctimonious blow-hard frequently more dedicated to self-promotion than the accuracy of his work.

In other words, they are imperfect vessels.  And while it is right to look at their specific claims with a healthy dose of skepticism, let’s not lose sight of the fact that these men have brought up subjects that we should be discussing.  This shit is important, as my dad would say.

A lot of important things we take for granted came about because of imperfect vessels.  I’m pretty sure no one would give up the right to be informed of the charges against them, and their rights at arrest, even though Miranda was a violent psychopath.  I doubt Clarence Gideon would make many short lists for dinner invitations, but I’m damn glad for the protections that came from his case.

So let’s have those discussions, and not in Mitt Romney’s quiet rooms out in the open, loudly and honestly, the way Americans are supposed to do.  Manning, by his own admission, should be in jail.  So should this other guy, probably.  But like Gideon and Miranda, the rest of us do owe them a debt of sorts, and we would do well to remember that.

 

* I’m on my tablet here at 5:00 AM, so I’m not going to hunt down details.  They’re available in previous threads.  Go knock yourselves out.

on impure vessels and public discoursePost + Comments (227)