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发表于 2010-12-10 10:33:18
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VOX POPULI: WikiLeaks--some info valuable, some not
2010/12/03
Let me quote the following witticism of a sculptor that shows his confidence: "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."
It is attributed to Michelangelo (1475-1564). The Renaissance master must have heard a tiny voice trapped inside the marble asking to be freed.
Let us substitute angel with confidential information. It does not take a chisel to free information locked inside gigantic rocks in the form of governments and businesses.
A rock can fall apart with a blow from the inside and angels will fly away never to return.
Large quantities of U.S. diplomatic cables were leaked and exposed to the world by the website WikiLeaks. Angels are flying all over the world.
For example, WikiLeaks reported that a high-ranking South Korean government official predicted that North Korea would collapse in two to three years after the death of Kim Jong Il. Washington is furious.
Meanwhile, such analyses of individual leaders by U.S. diplomats as calling the French president an "emperor with no clothes" and describing the Italian prime minister as "feckless" are insignificant.
They only make both sides feel awkward. An observation by an individual diplomat is just a brush stroke of "composite art" called diplomacy and not more than a rough sketch at that.
The problem is reality that all sorts of information, both trivial and crucial, leaked in a random fashion and spread instantly.
The website won fame with its release of video footage of an attack by U.S. forces in Iraq.
I welcome the publication of materials that contribute to public justice, but not all confidential information is angels that need to be freed.
What emerged from the cracked rock--angels that point a finger at wrongdoing by those with power or demons that profit outlaws? If such leaks continue, we need to develop the ability to calmly discern information, including its authenticity, more than ever.
The true value of the media will be put to the test. Of course, I wish to renew my determination to keep on making an effort to chisel big rocks from the outside.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 2 |
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