Wikileaks and Gossip Grrrls

Does it strike anyone else that the coverage of diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks is much more about their content than the two prior caches covering the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan?  U.S. reporting on those centered on how eggregious the leaks were, how mendacious Assange was to hide behind the mantle of journalism (and, by the way, he may be a rapist), and how maladjusted prime-suspect leaker, Bradley Manning is.  Not a whole bunch on what the docs told us about what American forces are doing in those countries or what the bits and pieces add up to.  In fact, pretty good avoidance of anything like that.

Now, we're getting all the juicy chatter, gossip and snarkiness among  statesmen, which (forgive me, fellow free speechites) -- I'm not at all sure we need to know.  Yes, bureaucrats classify way too much stuff by reflex or laziness or desire to avoid embarrassment and, yes, much of what the government keeps secret doesn't need to be.  I haven't read this WikiLeaks dump in detail (don't you wonder who has?), but it's a safe bet that some of the information there should see the light of day, if only as a disinfectant.  (Further evidence of rot in the Afghanistan government comes readily to mind.) Secrecy allows governments to cover their asses, which in turn, allows for corruption.  I'm not convinced, as Charlie Sennott argues on Global Post, that exposing the cables will lead to less transparency, at least not in the long run. 

But I buy the argument that diplomacy is a work in progress and that confidentiality needs to be honored to some degree for negotiations to go forward. Besides, what are we really finding out here?  That some diplomat thinks Sarkozy is an arrogant prick?  Amusing, but not particularly enlightening, And is it really news that we piss Canadians off?

It is juicy and amusing and easy to digest and get indignant about.  Like, as opposed to stuff we need to get informed and indignant about.  So my complaint is that this new collection of leaks has given us the excuse to change the subject -- and change it from a subject that we need to talk about more (and, incidentally, that we could actually do something about).

I used to know a theatre costume designer who claimed that when she wrote her autobiography, she'd call it, "If the Song Doesn't Work, Change the Dress."  I vote for a change of key, not of wardrobe.