How did we reach the point where it was accepted that the government would keep secrets from us and, as a society, we should vilify anybody who exposed the shady things they saw because they felt so strongly about it being wrong? How did we come to the point where we consider a ‘traitor’ to be someone who tries to protect us from the underhand practises our elected representatives are getting up to on the sly?
These people, the ‘whistleblowers’, should be applauded, should be raised up as the kind of people we want our children to look up to! They know the dangers they face when they decide that they just can’t keep quiet about the things they’re seeing, they know that their lives will change irrevocably but come forward anyway, prepared to give up everything, in order to keep us informed of the realities of our world.
When did our own governments become the devil?
I remember seeing a documentary where Edward Snowden said to journalists, and I’m paraphrasing as I don’t have it in front of me so I can’t quote directly but the gist was, “Paint the target firmly on my back, nail me to the cross so the people that helped me gather this information aren’t in danger.”
These are brave people, heroes.
And look at how they are treated. Publicly denounced, loudly and often, as traitors to their country by the bought and paid for media puppets.
Matt Dehart’s poor parents must be heartbroken that their son is being tortured by the government of the country he grew up in for daring to speak the truth. Their pride beams through in this Cryptosphere.com article, as it should, they raised a brave, honest boy. They must be devastated to know what he has been through while waiting for trial. His speaking out hasn’t only had a huge effect on his life though, his parents are having to live in Canada, and they can’t get jobs as they, too, are considered traitors. But, when asked if they still managed to feel pride in their son after all the trouble his honesty has brought to their lives, they had this to say:
“Even more so. His resilience and faith in the face of incredible pressure is inspiring to both Leann and I. Thankfully we are able to spend some time on the phone talking to him each day. He tries to lift our spirits and those around him in his basement cell in
Kentucky. We are proud that he is not willing to bow to pressure to plea to false charges.
Pretrial detention in the US is designed to break down a citizen’s will so that he/she will accept whatever the government offers as a plea bargain. It is coercive and dehumanizing by design. The US Constitution specifically forbids cruel and unusual punishment. The current system in the US unfortunately is not unusual since it is country-wide, but it is still cruel. And, compared to all but a few countries like N. Korea, the US prison industrial system is indeed unusually cruel. Europeans would be outraged at any similar system within their own countries – Thank God.”
This is not how democracy is supposed to work. Whistleblowers are treated in such a disgusting manner, risking their lives to speak out, facing worse prison sentences than murderers and rapists and being banned from using a computer.
This is nonsense. We should be backing them all the way. If we’re all standing up and speaking out, if society as a whole shouts out the message that all this secrecy and lies coming from our governments is unacceptable, then they can’t lock us all up, they can’t torture everybody.
We have to start forcing them to make changes now, before it’s too late.
If you’d like to read more about hacktivism and ordinary people fighting back, then checkout these links:
This is another in the ongoing series on Enforced Transparency by Raymond Johansen and Kitty Hundal, featured here on the Cryptosphere as well as their own site, HacktivistCulture, with related articles on the Fifth Column News, and HackRead. This article focuses on an interview with the parents of accused hacker, former Anon, and former US soldier Matt DeHart.
WHISTLEBLOWING IS TRANSPARENCY
This article, the fourth in the series, is one of the pillars of the concept of Enforced Transparency. Currently the news is filled with reports about the Trident whistleblower, William McNeilly, from the UK. We will talk about that – and focus on the sheer braveryof whistleblowers and the hardships these heroes endure. We will talk to the parents of accused hacktivist Matt DeHart to try to understand how this issue affects not only the one enforcing transparency, but…
Matt Dehart via Anony_Mia on Twitter 
WHISTLEBLOWING IS TRANSPARENCY
Cathy Annis 