The U
William Pittman
9/17/14
Writing Comp 1
The Truth
We have been aware for years that the U.S. government isn’t very honest with its citizens. The question is though, should our government actually be completely honest with us? I believe they should be, but I also believe it’s too late for them to become honest. The train of honesty should have been rolling since our nation was first created. Their honesty would not only affect us as citizens, it would probably affect their relationships with other countries. This could lead to war. Now we are faced with the question, “who will provide citizens with the truth when our government won’t provide us with it?” The answer to this is “leakers”. Leakers are government officials who release private government documents and files to the public.
The act of leaking information always provides more benefits than harm. But, there is a chance the leaker can be arrested and sentenced to a large amount of time in prison if the information they leaked was extremely pertinent to the government. For example, a U.S. soldier by the name of Bradley Manning released videos of the United States bombing Iraqi and Afghanistan territories and killing civilians. Because of his actions, we now know that the U.S. government practically got away with murder, and we know they are running a corrupt organization. Nothing compares to the worth of the American people being provided with evidence to inform us of what type of government we are living under.
Adding on to the previous arguments, a person should disregard the interest of his political party, religious affiliation, or friendship if it is at the cost of telling the truth. I believe this under certain circumstances though. If the government is killing innocent people and a person is at risk of losing a friendship or two if he makes the killing of innocent people be known to the public, then it’s worth the risk. If the person is holding back the truth of something of small importance, the
9/17/14
Writing Comp 1
The Truth
We have been aware for years that the U.S. government isn’t very honest with its citizens. The question is though, should our government actually be completely honest with us? I believe they should be, but I also believe it’s too late for them to become honest. The train of honesty should have been rolling since our nation was first created. Their honesty would not only affect us as citizens, it would probably affect their relationships with other countries. This could lead to war. Now we are faced with the question, “who will provide citizens with the truth when our government won’t provide us with it?” The answer to this is “leakers”. Leakers are government officials who release private government documents and files to the public.
The act of leaking information always provides more benefits than harm. But, there is a chance the leaker can be arrested and sentenced to a large amount of time in prison if the information they leaked was extremely pertinent to the government. For example, a U.S. soldier by the name of Bradley Manning released videos of the United States bombing Iraqi and Afghanistan territories and killing civilians. Because of his actions, we now know that the U.S. government practically got away with murder, and we know they are running a corrupt organization. Nothing compares to the worth of the American people being provided with evidence to inform us of what type of government we are living under.
Adding on to the previous arguments, a person should disregard the interest of his political party, religious affiliation, or friendship if it is at the cost of telling the truth. I believe this under certain circumstances though. If the government is killing innocent people and a person is at risk of losing a friendship or two if he makes the killing of innocent people be known to the public, then it’s worth the risk. If the person is holding back the truth of something of small importance, the