Super Smitin' Saturday Smackdown!

It's time to kick off the New Year with a few changes.  The first is no more mister nice god.

There's just been too much leniency lately.  If I were God (just to remind you what blog you're reading) and I chanced a glance down upon the earth I so generously allowed you temporary use of as tenants (you only think you own it) I would not be pleased.  Although there's a lot of good to be seen, there's also too many obstacles you put in your own way and disturbing amount of misguided hero worship. 

This past year a lot of hypocrites got a lot of attention they didn't deserve.  Mind you, anybody can make a mistake or commit acts they aren't particularly proud of.  But to then turn around and make your name and your celebrity off of publicly fighting the very thing you yourself are privately guilty of is enough to drive any normally patient deity to dig up his box ‘o plagues for some leftover unused lightning bolts.

And the most smiteworthy hypocrite of the year?  Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Angling to be the patron saint of openness, Assange encourages people around the world with access to information they don’t own to pilfer (an effete word for steal, as in “Thou shalt not…”) it and send it to wikileaks where he will publish it to the world, ostensibly for all our benefit, and incidentally increasing his own fame and fortune.

One could claim the ends justify the means if the information exposed were critical to the public good, such as the Washington Post’s famous exposure of the Watergate break in.  That would serve justice.  However wikileaks released diplomatic cables with information such as the personal assessments US diplomats made of foreign leaders.  E.g. Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, is weak and vain, Putin, the Russian prime minister is an alpha dog, Sarkozy, the French president is thin-skinned and vain etc.  This information does not serve a public need so much as a voyeuristic thirst for sensationalism. 

To bring it home, think for a moment of the important people in your life; spouses, children, siblings, parents, friends, co-workers, and employers.  Nobody is perfect, ergo everybody has flaws.  Being so close, you know what those people’s flaws are and probably have opinions on them; things you would never say to their face.  Can you imagine the shitstorm it would cause in your life if somebody put all those private opinions on Facebook for all to see?   Not only would your people be hurt knowing what your opinion was, they’d have the added humiliation of knowing that now everybody else now knows too.  Try cleaning that mess up.  And why?  Because J-Ass broke into your private info (journal/diary/emails) and uploaded it for the world to see.

One could take the position, as Assange does, that Truth Will Out.  That exposing the truth is an absolute imperative, regardless of whom is hurt.  As positions go, he could hardly have elevated himself more; His high-minded position sits high in the saddle on a high horse, which is standing on the high road.  You have to crane your neck and use binoculars just to see him.

The purity of principle he holds up is a rarity in today’s world.  Many hail him as a hero.  And he might qualify as such if his allegience to the unvarnished truth were only true itself.  But it is a façade.  J-Ass’s convictions on the sanctity of truth and transparency do not include himself.

He stands accused of rape in Sweden.  It's far too early at this writing to judge his guilt or innocence.  The relevance here is that some police papers pertaining to the case have been leaked and J-Ass and his lawyers are livid.  Far from celebrating their empostered 'Truth Will Out', Mr Wikileaks got wikipiqued when it became his turn.  His team is demanding a police investigation of the leak.  The irony is so frothy it’s damn near wikileaking off your screen right now.  (Go get a paper towel and wipe it off before it stains)  Apparently full unabridged disclosure is only for other people.  The titan of truth became the sultan of secrets in less time than it takes to say ‘Wikifraud!’.  -All after putting so many people and government officials through so many ordeals in his heretofore uncompromising crusade for transparency.  It makes him the worlds biggest hypocrite, and inaugural target of If I Were God…’s Super Smitin’ Saturday Smackdown!

The truth doesn't always set you free, Julian. 

Sometime it gets you five to ten.



As always, If I Were God appreciates comments, ad-clicks and sharing of His articles.  He sees all; disappoint Him not.