An earlier version of this piece stated
that Ms. Reality Winner sent NSA information to The Guardian. In fact, she sent this information to The Intercept.
Persecuted are the
Truth-tellers
If liberty
means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want
to hear.
-
George
Orwell
You are entitled to your opinion.
But you are not entitled to your own facts.
- Senator Daniel Moynihan
By J.M. Hamilton
(2-4-2018)
What does it say about a country that ostracizes and
persecutes those who tell the truth?
As important, if a country or society ignores or rejects
truth, what is its foundation built upon?
And how long can such a foundation hold?
Our society looks up to patriarchal figures – men of
financial accomplishment or w/ professional designations – and it nearly takes
an act of the Goddess above, before we will believe the allegations and the
corruption that all too often falls upon such men.
To be sure many men, and women, obtain some degree of success
in this world, w/out sacrificing morals or societal standards; but as of late,
it seems increasingly rare, particularly for the most powerful among us.
Day by day another man of accomplishment or stature seems to fall, often over allegations concerning their abuse of power, or a private or
public trust.
The last several months have been very revealing – not just
about the dry rot surrounding the US power structure – but, as important, about
how the United States crucifies, and often ignores, those who are brave enough
to come forward and tell the truth.
Let’s examine several recent examples:
Many people probably don’t know who Rachel Denhollander is, but she is one of the first women, if not the first, to
come forward against the serial pedophile, Doctor Larry Nassar. Mr. Nassar is all over the front pages
presently for molesting scores of young women athletes.
And how did society treat Ms. Denhollander for demonstrating this courage? We don’t
have to wonder, the NY Times
recently published her account. This is
what Ms. Denhollander endured and suffered, in her own words:
I
lost my church. I lost my closest friends as a result of advocating for
survivors who had been victimized by similar institutional failures in my own
community.
I
lost every shred of privacy.
When
a new friend searched my name online or added me as a friend on Facebook, the
most intimate details of my life became available long before we had even
exchanged phone numbers. I avoided the grocery stores on some days, to make
sure my children didn’t see my face on the newspaper or a magazine. I was asked
questions about things no one should know when I least wanted to talk.
And
the effort it took to move this case forward — especially as some called me an
“ambulance chaser” just “looking for a payday” — often felt crushing.
Yet
all of it served as a reminder: These were the very cultural dynamics that had
allowed Larry Nassar to remain in power.
Based upon societal
reactions one might think, for a moment, that Ms. Denhollander was the person
committing monstrous abuse on a massive scale, against minors. More unsettling still, Dr. Nassar was investigated many times prior to his recent conviction, and the authorities and
investigative bodies always gave the psychopath a pass (because who is one to
believe, a teenage, or young, girl, or a respected member of the medical community?).
Mses. Rose McGowan & Uma Thurman are better known, and their
narratives surround the notorious Hollywood mogul, Mr. Harvey Weinstein.
Mr. Weinstein
abused his position as a Hollywood producer to, allegedly, sexually assault –
and sometimes rape – actors by the dozens.
All throughout Hollywood the code of omerta
was maintained for decades; or conveniently, the assaulted women would no
longer get movie or television roles, or job offerings would suddenly drop off. Mr. Weinstein, of course, couldn’t have
possibly assaulted this many actors w/out a great deal of help, from attorneys,
investigative agencies (who dug up dirt on the victims for purposes of
blackmail), and assorted assistants.
A lot of people
were in on this lie, but nobody came forward.
Ms. McGowan recently shared w/ ABC, what she thought of the artificial
and superficial reaction the Hollywood elite had in response to Mr. Weinstein
and the #metoo movement.
“It felt like people
were dancing on our graves. People in fancy dresses, like, black of course,
posing and living it up on the red carpet,” McGowan told ABC News "Nightline"
co-anchor Juju Chang. “The black stupid clothes that the stupid men wore. It's
a lie, and I knew they were going to trot the activists out there for PR.”
And Ms. Thurman had this to say, for Maureen Dowd at the NY Times:
She
(Thurman) thought she could confront him and clear it up, but she took Herman
with her and asked Weinstein to meet her in the Savoy bar. The assistants had
their own special choreography to lure actresses into the spider’s web and they
pressured Thurman, putting Weinstein on the phone to again say it was a
misunderstanding and “we have so many projects together.” Finally she agreed to
go upstairs, while Herman waited on a settee outside the elevators.
Downstairs,
Herman was getting nervous. “It seemed to take forever,” the friend told me.
Finally, the elevator doors opened and Thurman walked out. “She was very
disheveled and so upset and had this blank look,” Herman recalled. “Her eyes
were crazy and she was totally out of control. I shoveled her into the taxi and
we went home to my house. She was really shaking.” Herman said that when the actress
was able to talk again, she revealed that Weinstein had threatened to derail
her career.
So we know how society responds to truth-tellers, but how
about state organs – with totalitarian tendencies – w/in the U.S. government?
Enter Reality Winner ... Ms. Winner, some may
remember, served her country in the U.S. Air Force and at the NSA as a contractor, before
sending NSA information to The Intercept. For her act of truth-telling, also known as
whistleblowing, Ms. Winner has been charged with violating the Espionage Act
for allegedly releasing national security information. In our opaque government, nearly
everything is marked “secret” or far too often designated a matter of national security.
And yet, the U.S. Congress just re-upped on mass surveillance, by extending again, Section 702 of the FISA Act (which
basically means the surveillance state can read your online activities w/out a
warrant).
But I digress. Kudos to Trevor Timm, who recently wrote a piece for The Intercept, aptly comparing the treatment a patriot, like Ms.
Winner, is receiving, versus Mr. Trump’s wealthy former campaign manager, Mr.
Manafort.
One
needs only glance at recent headlines — and the case of Donald Trump’s former
campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was charged with conspiracy and money laundering,
among other counts — to see how absurd it is to deny Winner bail.
Manafort, whose alleged criminal endeavors involved foreign government patrons,
has millions of dollars at his disposal and was the owner of three passports.
Not only did Manafort get bail, he was given permission to spend Christmas in the
Hamptons.
Winner,
on the other hand, is incarcerated indefinitely for, as officials have said,
allegedly mailing an NSA document about Russian election hacking to The
Intercept. (The Intercept had no knowledge of the source’s identity.) It’s
an injustice that is not only out of step with precedent, but also creating an
undue burden on her defense team. That’s why they’re taking these steps to
appeal the bail decision again.
Other galling examples of the boot heal of American society
and government stomping on the face of truth-tellers, include Chelsea Manning
& Edward Snowden. Their only, respective, crimes were revealing
how the military industrial complex abuses its power and the war machine
(against civilians and reporters), and how the surveillance state spies – not
just on foreigners – but Americans.
And what did we do to these two patriots? We locked up Ms. Manning and threw away the key (until POTUS Obama commuted her sentence).
Mr. Snowden is, of course, in exile.
To date, no one has ever proved that the documents released
by Ms. Manning or Mr. Snowden has in anyway harmed the U.S. (nor has anyone ever proven the efficacy of the NSA or unlimited warfare). And yet, their service to the American people was both incalculable & invaluable. In fact, if government was truly transparent
– “transparency” is very hot w/ the Republican Party, presently – we would
never had heard their names: Manning, Snowden, or Winner.
It is because our government is captured by the wealthy and
well-connected – and operating in the shadows and against the interests of ordinary Americans – that there is a need for truth-tellers, and that these
truth-telling women and men should be celebrated. It is because industry has been consolidated
to such a degree that moguls, like Mr. Weinstein, are able to act in an abusive
manner towards labor with reckless abandon.
This is what this nation does to those who dare tell the
truth. We lock them up, or make examples of them.
In short, we make their lives a living hell (which, surprise, discourages others from telling the truth).
In short, we make their lives a living hell (which, surprise, discourages others from telling the truth).
Think about that for a moment. By persecuting the truth-tellers, we enable
corruption, and we help maintain a corrupt power structure that plays by its
own unstated rules.
By attacking those who tell the truth, we protect a lie….
But not a single lie, many lies.
And a country based upon a foundation of lies, and
opaqueness, will not long endure.
Our complete lack of appreciation for the truth, and those
bold enough to tell the truth, is not a symptom of this nation’s problems… it
goes to the very heart of why the United States is in the situation we are in today: a bankrupt empire; with an overextended military & a surveillance state run
amok; and a thoroughly unaccountable Kleptocracy calling the shots.
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing
2018
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