"The most potent works, observes the oppressed and haunted Winston Smith in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, … are the ones that tell you what you already know" (Christopher Hitchens, Thomas Jefferson: Author of America, p. 24). This astute observation resonated when I read the Wired story, "Who Is the Wikimedia Leak?" One might imagine from this that some W. Mark Felt type was lurking in the darkest alleyways of the Internet, waiting for the intrepid Owen Woodward to shuffle his flower pots. As is often the case, this imaginary portrayal trumps the lackluster reality: "There is no Deep Throat—only Google."
And while people may be shocked at the number of Googlers looking into the Erik story, what I find really disturbing is the Wikimedia Foundation's response: a wall of silence, with some poorly aimed potshots by arch-communicator Jay Walsh: "You could say this is a credit to the project supporters overall [that the topic has not come up]." Yes, indeedy! How wonderful that the Wikimedia community does not ask the burning—but potentially embarrassing—questions. As Orwell put it, " Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
I find it ironic that this view is being promoted by an organization that prides itself on "transparency" and even "radical transparency." Perhaps the transformation from Newspeak to Wikispeak simply requires the insertion of one or two lines to the Orwellian mantra: War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. Transparency is Opacity. Radical Transparency is Really, Really, Super-dooper, Top Secret Stuff.
Perhaps it's time for us to reread 1984. Here are some quotes to get you started.
5 comments:
"Wikigate 1984"? Are we playing bullshit bingo now?
Actually, I think it is a great analogy. And I would add to the list of mantras from within "the community" ... "if we ignore it, then it doesn't really exist". Drink that kool-aid and ignore what is happening to you in the world around you.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
-Joseph Goebbels.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels#Misattributed
Oh, the irony!
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