Here's an interesting assessment of the Wikileaks phenomenon and its prime mover, Julian Assange, that makes a lot of sense.

Alex Moore argues that Assange's countercultural mission is having a hard time finding a home in a world without counterculture.

He points up the differences between the way in which Daniel Ellsberg's leak of Vietnam war secrets, known as the Pentagon Papers, was greeted in 1971 and the response to Assange's recent web postings of secret information on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the 1970s - when hippies were alive and kicking - there was "a generation that valued integrity and the principle of truth." People were concerned about the substance of the leaks, the discovery that the US president had lied to the people.

By contrast, even though the Wikileaks revelations tell of killings and torture in Iraq that are more shocking than those exposed by the Pentagon Papers, "all anyone seems to talk about is what a jerk the guy [Assange] is."

Ellsberg may have told the New York Times, "I've been waiting 40 years for someone to disclose information on a scale that might really make a difference", but, writes Moore, "the world has changed."

In Ellsberg's time, Assange's revelations would have incited mass protests and indignant calls for accountability. The government was the target. Now, we seem to be unsurprised by the substance of the leaks and instead of protesting about that, we appear to accept that Assange is a fair target.

Moore writes: "Assange's leaks do not inspire marches on Washington or palpable protests of any kind. President Barack Obama, for all his campaign rhetoric of transparency and integrity, hasn't praised Assange as a champion of truth...

"Even foreign governments whose agendas aren't complicated by hiding military secrets are hesitant to take him in.

"Assange may have been born at the wrong time. It's as if he's force-feeding truth to a world that has no stomach for it."

Source: death+taxes