Have to go serious cynical this morn, dear worst-reader. Here it goes. While watching the below linked interview on Democracy Now, about half-way through it, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of disingenuity. Amy Goodman was interviewing a so-called whistleblower named John Kiriakou and for the first time, after years of watching her, I actually thought that Amy was having the wool pulled over her eyes. In fact, the disingenuity was becoming so intense I wanted to reach out and try to save Amy. Say what you will about journalists these days. They are, for the most part, nothing but scum-corporatists. Yet, in my view, Amy holds a special position among the pack of broadcast squawks because she is probably one of the only remaining old school journalists with a legitimate venue. Her sincerity is rock solid, she oozes do-goodness, and if I had to bet on anyone never telling a lie, I’d bet on Amy. (Ok, I might bet on Bill Moyers, too.) And that’s saying a lot in the wake of Brian Williams–who represents the epitome of what corporate journalism is today. So if I had to criticise Amy I would do it this way: in her heart she is a young girl that refuses to wake up to the realities of this world and so she rides what’s left of the dying wave of beautiful naive integrity and I look forward to listening to her everyday. So it goes without saying, she would never knowingly misguide her audience–which cannot be said of CNN, faux newz, ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. And that makes me kinda sad because, allow me to repeat: Amy has had the wool pulled over her eyes. For the first time I think she’s given us a really, really bad interview because she is unable to see through the lie that is her interviewee.
Let’s begin with what I consider the most important part of the interview (bold text and links are from me).
AMY GOODMAN: What are your thoughts today on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden? What would you advise him?
JOHN KIRIAKOU: I think Ed Snowden is a national hero. I think Ed Snowden gave us information on government illegality that we otherwise would never have had. I regret that the federal government has revoked his passport and has caused him to be stuck in Russia, but I think that he did a very courageous thing. I’m not sure I would have released all of the information that he released, because, in some cases, I want NSA to be spying on foreign governments and foreign leaders. That’s what NSA does; that’s what they’re supposed to do. I want the U.S. government to have a leg up, for example, in trade negotiations or defense contracting or whatever it is. But in terms of the illegality that Ed Snowden revealed, I think he did a great national service.
AMY GOODMAN: In 2013, Edward Snowden commented on the Obama administration’s treatment of whistleblowers who preceded him. He said, quote, “Binney, Drake, Kiriakou, and Manning are all examples of how overly-harsh responses to public-interest whistle-blowing only escalate the scale, scope, and skill involved in future disclosures. Citizens with a conscience are not going to ignore wrong-doing simply because they’ll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it. Instead, these draconian responses simply build better whistleblowers. If the Obama administration responds with an even harsher hand against me, they can be assured that they’ll soon find themselves facing an equally harsh public response.” Again, those the words of Ed Snowden. Do you think Edward Snowden should come back to the United States, John Kiriakou?
JOHN KIRIAKOU: I do not, not under any circumstances. And I’ve said that both publicly and privately to him in a letter. I do not believe that he will get a fair trial in the United States, especially in the Eastern District of Virginia, where he’s being charged or where he has been charged. I think the deck is stacked against him, as it is against any whistleblower, and if the government has its way, Ed Snowden will never see the light of day.
I suggest watching the entire interview. And I’m sure most won’t get the feeling of disingenuity like I got. But the thing is this: I do not believe a word John Kiriakou is saying. Where Amy oozes truth and sincerity, the other guy oozes and oozes the exact vulgar and slimy opposite. Is that because he is, obviously, a corporatist? Is it because he worked for the CIA–where the word intelligence means the opposite of what it is supposed to mean? Ok. Ok. I’m probably over doing it here. But listening to this man talk just gives me the creeps. And that’s not all. The creeps this guy gives off is just like the creeps I get from another guy. That’s right. You guessed it, dear worst-reader. John Kiriakou is the same creep that Edward Snowden is. Or am I the only one that gets this feeling when ever people like this open their mouths? (Oh no, am I projecting?) But I suppose none of that matters because, (sarcasm on) Edward Snowden is a hero.
As I’ve tried to worst-write here and maybe here, the book will remain forever open regarding the sincerity of people like Edward Snowden. For starters, I’m still waiting for anything significant to come from his leaks. All I’ve heard from those leaks so far pertains only to the fact that the US Govt. spies. What has come from that spying is not revealed. And so. There were a few people in the right place at the right time, who also understand the workings of making money off of confusion, and they supplanted a new conspiracy in the minds of the masses that is already drunk on conspiracy. Seriously. Is it a surprise to you that the US Govt. is spying on other countries, people and the Interwebnets? Is that new? If you didn’t know already, here’s bit of novelty for you. The Interwebnets is mostly just an extension of telephony, i.e. mass communication that goes back to the telegraph and maybe even the pony-express. With that reality in mind, is it really a surprise that the US is spying? If, on the other hand, Snowden would have released a transcript of Angela Merkel calling Osama Bin Laden and talking to him about moving Al-Qaeda to Leipzig, then, maybe, I’d say that Snowden provided us some significant info. Instead. He reveals to us the NSA has a program called PRISM. He also reveals the NSA has captured every SMS sent in the past x number of years. Oh. And let’s not forget the big news he gave us. Did you know that the US government can read your phone records without a warrant?
But I digress.
Or maybe not.
As far as I can tell, there has been only one significant release of unauthorised information that has come out of this fake war on terror that we all are required to live in. That information was delivered to us by a guy who wants to be woman and s/he is serving 35 years in military prison, Chelsea Manning. As far as the other whistleblowers go (focusing on Snowden and Kiriakou), it seems that they are only part of the how and not the what regarding spying. And if that’s the case, if these people are less significant than the media has made them, who the fuck are they then? I’ll tell you who they are. These two men are nothing more than pissed off corporatists who, like the rest of the children in the sandbox where they play, are throwing a tantrum. These people–and this is what oozes out of Kiriakou in Amy Goodman’s interview (and the same oozes out of Snowden in interviews)–are the children raised by a privileged fail-upwards society. Their parents instilled in them an anti-social behaviour that borderlines on the psychotic–and there are multi-millions of them (most of which get all their information about the world thru the likes of faux news, i.e. these people are clueless to original thought). And let’s not forget that the society that has reared these men is two handed. On the one hand, you can see and hear their craziness in the whacky conspiracy-theory world propagated by the likes of Alex Jones. On the other hand, there’s the whacky world of libertarianism and Ayn Rand-ism–just listen to the sophomoric minds of politicians like Paul Ryan. Indeed, dear worst-reader. We live in a world of weak minds and even weaker intellects which are all so easily preyed upon.
Link: Democracy Now
Good luck.
Rant on.
-Tommi
worstwriter 