The Primary Value of WikiLeaks

By Peter Michaelson- opednews.com
Julian Assange is the “bad” boy in the family who jumps up and down waving his parents’ dirty laundry. He’s shaking up the dynamics of a dysfunctional family. Everyone’s in a tizzy.

By exposing the secrets of the ruling class, Assange and WikiLeaks can help us to grow up psychologically.

The relationship we have with the ruling class is patterned on the relationship children have with their parents. We maintain in our psyche the emotional memories of how we experienced our parents. Passivity is a primary feature of that relationship. As young children, we were dependent on our parents, and we understood that they had the power and were, in a sense, our rulers. As children, we’re biologically unable to rule ourselves. We need the rule of parents. In an ideal world, parents would always practice benevolent authority.

The rule of parents over their children is biologically necessary, just as the rule of political leaders is socially necessary. We’re not evolved enough yet to live in a complex society without a hierarchy of authority. This authority is entitled to withhold some information from the public in order to maintain an advantage over its enemies. On these grounds, the release of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks (not by WikiLeaks) probably calls for legal review.

Yes, we need authority at the political level, but that authority has to be held accountable. Children don’t have the ability to hold their parents accountable, but as adults–as citizens–we must hold our political authority accountable in order to maintain and grow a democracy. As adults, we’re able to see objectively into complex dysfunctional situations, providing we are clear enough in ourselves. Sometimes we first have to become stronger by overcoming our own passivity and self-doubt. Once we’re strong enough, we can contribute to reforms at the social or political level.

We can be hindered still by lingering passivity that goes back to our childhood. Read more