By this time, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” has informed you of the massive dump (yes, everyone is calling this a dump and I love it) of classified cables from foreign terrorists published by WikiLeaks.
The juiciest bit of knowledge from these files is the comments made about international political figures. The profiles are truly embarrassing and could result in a few leaders sitting at the loser table during UN talks — things like Kim Jong-il emcees an amateur drag queen hour every Sunday night or Nicolas Sarkozy pesters his wife Carla Bruni to let him rap on one of her albums.
This whole ordeal is stinking with controversy. When I am confronted with issues as complicated and serious as this, I try to put it in terms that I can wrap my social media-addicted brain around.
You know when that kid who works at Chipotle that you don’t really care for, but also gives you free chips, writes on your wall that you two “better hang out soon OR ELSE!!!! Haha,” and you think to yourself, this nincompoop could never be the Robin to my Batman?
Do you write a comment that says, “Hey buttmunch, I would rather lap up sewage water than consume a beverage with you”?
No, you say, “hehe totally! Miss you gurl!” and then text your best friend about it.
WikiLeaks takes that text and then posts it on the nincompoop’s wall, forever destroying your direct line to free chips for life.
This, more or less, is how the U.S. government views WikiLeaks — some toolbag who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “secret,” and will definitely not be invited to the next party.
The other way to look at is that WikiLeaks is a heroic and brave whistle blower, alerting the public of the misbehavior of the government.
Sort of like when you accidentally leave your Facebook account logged in when you step away from your computer for a minute.
Naturally, someone passes by and changes your status to say something like “Caitlin Alison Turner is farting up the whole library and is sexually attracted to animals.”
You return to see this and the 20 or so “likes” and about seven comments that just say “hahahahaha,” and your feelings get a little hurt. You go to the stacks for a secret cry and call your mom, who just gets confused, and then you cry some more.
Who would do this? WikiLeaks knows, and it is going to tell the world about this savage attack against your rights — so that this villain will be held responsible.
Either way you look at it, it’s important to remember this topic will come up in some of your classes and you will need to have an opinion so that the professor knows your latest paper wasn’t 100 percent your roommate’s ideas.
— Caitlin Turner, letters senior
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philosophymajor 1 year, 5 months ago
So bad it hurts to read.
philosophymajor 1 year, 5 months ago
Please put some thought into your writing in subsequent columns