Imagine you are in a cave and have been strapped to the wall for years. You are a prisoner and your only knowledge of life is watching moving shadows. You try to make sense of these shadows, and your thoughts and opinions on them are your basis of reality. A companion seems to have gotten out of the cave and quickly runs back in. He tells you what the shadows are- there are people moving behind you outside of your realm! However, you cannot make sense of these ideas because these shadows are what you have known your whole life.

Now imagine you are in the 21st century. The government and the media have shown you stories that force you to question what is happening in the world. Your thoughts and opinions on these stories are based off of what you have seen in the news and have been told.

Then WikiLeaks, a group no one has heard of before, dumps hundreds of thousands of documents telling you what is really going on in the world and what has actually occurred in the past. What you saw and what you were told has not exactly matched what has been in these documents. However, this is what you have known for several years.

The WikiLeaks dump of hundreds of thousands of confidential documents this past year can be directly correlated to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. WikiLeaks has helped the world understand events such as the Iraqi War and Sadam Hussein’s execution and important conversations between high profile political leaders.

The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, was sent to jail with no bail Tuesday for “serious sexual offenses”. These offenses refer to Assange’s sexual relations with two Swedish women in August. Assange and his lawyer believe these relations were consensual and there is speculation as to why these relations are being referred to as “rape, molestation and coercion” once the women found out about each other. According to CNN, “The judge repeatedly said the case is ‘not about WikiLeaks,’ but about serious sexual offenses that allegedly occurred on three occasions with two women.”

This “smear campaign” as Assange refers to it is being used to take him down similar to Gloria Allred’s campaign against Meg Whitman with her illegal housekeeper whom was paid and allegedly treated unjustly. However, in Assange’s case, people are using any story to make him look bad rather than take down someone who probably should not be in office with such a secret. Political leaders will always react harshly when their secrets are being leaked as seen with Hillary Clinton “condemning” WikiLeaks.

Clinton has said that since the leaks, she has had to “re-establish trust and relationships” but that “U.S. outreach and diplomacy will continue.” As Secretary of State of the most powerful country in the world, she should not have had to “re-establish” anything because every political discussion beforehand with other countries should have involved open and honest communication. Cables describing their conversations should have been met with no surprise rather than a reaction to having someone read your diary.

 Transparency should be more of an importance in government especially in this ever increasing globalized world. “Locked up” communication is not helpful when working with countries nor is possible with the internet. While I do laud the Obama administration on the creation of the White House blog, there should be no fake representation on key issues and events.

Many have expressed concern that WikiLeaks will put people in danger. However, there is a difference in releasing the names of CIA personnel because of putting their family in danger and knowing "higher than acknowledged Iraqi civilian deaths and perfidy". Another example, a recent leak described places vital to the United States economic security like the Panama Canal. Politicians said this leak would make it easier for terrorist attacks. Besides the point that terrorist groups are already working hard to find places to attack and probably already know the key zones, other countries’ secrets are also subjugated to be leaked. What if we knew where the next terrorist attack would take place? North Korea’s military plan? Contact and location information of people involved in drug cartels, sex slavery and kidnapping?

WikiLeaks has proved that once it’s on the internet it’s on the record. People have every right to know the truth of what soldiers are doing to others and what politicians are really saying. If there are concerns with what the government is doing, the people should be able to communicate and question certain actions, events and conversations. Censoring information will not make the public trust the government more. WikiLeaks will mark the era of misguided information, especially with it having 500 mirror websites and “insurance” if anything were to happen to Assange.

Thank you Julian Assange, WikiLeaks staff and all those who have contributed to the website for bringing the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Reach Evelina Weary here.