01-18-2018, 09:17 AM
Try to imagine someone with the drive and talent, the sense of mission, of someone like Julian Assange, but with a stronger personal morality.
Over the past week or so, I've been reflecting on my time in Europe and in uniform. Because of my involvement in the NATO Chapel program at AFCENT HQ, I came into close fellowship with a handful of people who had the highest security clearances. No, they never divulged anything they weren't supposed to, but they did unburden their souls of how painful it was to face the jarring disconnect between what they knew and what everyone else was led to believe. One man in particular struggled with his emotions; the deeper he got into that stuff, the more it drove him nuts. He had a conscience, and didn't do well with the necessity of induced schizophrenia that comes with national security. You have to understand that "national security" always means horrible and nasty evil our government does to people. Only those with a real talent for sanity could bear the burden with any degree of peace.
I will also tell you that an awful lot of those spook types went to chapel and it meant almost nothing more than a part of their cover. I'm not saying the felt no need to draw near to God, but that their lives showed precious little result for such efforts. Instead, these folks were known for some of the most repulsive moral perversions you could imagine, and some you could not imagine. My work in criminal justice reporting showed a very high correlation between vice and security clearances.
Apparently it doesn't require a government program for spook stuff to correlate with immorality. Assange is hardly more moral than most of the people he attempts to expose. His greatest weakness is his fame, and how poorly he handles it. One of the fundamental elements in spook agency operations is keeping track of and controlling agents through their vices, in part to prevent enemies from using those weaknesses. Assange's particular choice of mission, and his collection of talents, do not require arrogance, but they do require a powerful self-confidence. My impression is that his sense of purpose and resolve isn't all that strong, that he would pursue something else were it not for the respect he gets from some quarters. The ability to attract funding and support doesn't hurt, either. I think he'll go to his grave vulnerable on the issue of getting attention.
And I don't have the talent of one of his fingers when it comes to computer and information security. I also lack his need for attention. It doesn't take much attention before I've had my fill and I need to get off by myself. On the other hand, I have no trouble giving attention and supporting someone else as the front man. I rather enjoy deflecting attention to others, so it's not that I like solitude some much as avoiding attention. Indeed, I'm praying I can still find work as someone's assistant; I could work with someone like Assange and enjoy avoiding the limelight. I know how it is with front men and I can accept their foibles, especially if I believe in the mission. I'm not for shredding privacy by any means, but there is a powerful moral necessity of exposing a lot of government secrets to the light of day.
To be honest, I'm pretty sure there are people like Assange with better morals, and they aren't as famous precisely because of their morals. There's too much stuff being leaked without attribution for that to be untrue. And I would gladly volunteer for such work without pay in some supporting role. But in case you didn't notice, I've been doing that kind of exposure with religion instead of government. Instead of whistle-blowing bad government, I've been trying to uncover bad religion. There's an awful lot of secrets. I don't see much point in naming names all the time, but it has its place. I've been more interested in exposing the underlying framework, in that church is no different from a government agency with a defined jurisdiction. They still function pretty much the same, and I find it self-evident that church and secular government aren't supposed to be mirror images in terms of fundamental structure.
So I've done my best to leak all the stuff that got buried way back prior to the Early Church compromise with Constantine. But you should know that I would gladly help expose anything that people with questionable morals and intentions have tried to hide.
Over the past week or so, I've been reflecting on my time in Europe and in uniform. Because of my involvement in the NATO Chapel program at AFCENT HQ, I came into close fellowship with a handful of people who had the highest security clearances. No, they never divulged anything they weren't supposed to, but they did unburden their souls of how painful it was to face the jarring disconnect between what they knew and what everyone else was led to believe. One man in particular struggled with his emotions; the deeper he got into that stuff, the more it drove him nuts. He had a conscience, and didn't do well with the necessity of induced schizophrenia that comes with national security. You have to understand that "national security" always means horrible and nasty evil our government does to people. Only those with a real talent for sanity could bear the burden with any degree of peace.
I will also tell you that an awful lot of those spook types went to chapel and it meant almost nothing more than a part of their cover. I'm not saying the felt no need to draw near to God, but that their lives showed precious little result for such efforts. Instead, these folks were known for some of the most repulsive moral perversions you could imagine, and some you could not imagine. My work in criminal justice reporting showed a very high correlation between vice and security clearances.
Apparently it doesn't require a government program for spook stuff to correlate with immorality. Assange is hardly more moral than most of the people he attempts to expose. His greatest weakness is his fame, and how poorly he handles it. One of the fundamental elements in spook agency operations is keeping track of and controlling agents through their vices, in part to prevent enemies from using those weaknesses. Assange's particular choice of mission, and his collection of talents, do not require arrogance, but they do require a powerful self-confidence. My impression is that his sense of purpose and resolve isn't all that strong, that he would pursue something else were it not for the respect he gets from some quarters. The ability to attract funding and support doesn't hurt, either. I think he'll go to his grave vulnerable on the issue of getting attention.
And I don't have the talent of one of his fingers when it comes to computer and information security. I also lack his need for attention. It doesn't take much attention before I've had my fill and I need to get off by myself. On the other hand, I have no trouble giving attention and supporting someone else as the front man. I rather enjoy deflecting attention to others, so it's not that I like solitude some much as avoiding attention. Indeed, I'm praying I can still find work as someone's assistant; I could work with someone like Assange and enjoy avoiding the limelight. I know how it is with front men and I can accept their foibles, especially if I believe in the mission. I'm not for shredding privacy by any means, but there is a powerful moral necessity of exposing a lot of government secrets to the light of day.
To be honest, I'm pretty sure there are people like Assange with better morals, and they aren't as famous precisely because of their morals. There's too much stuff being leaked without attribution for that to be untrue. And I would gladly volunteer for such work without pay in some supporting role. But in case you didn't notice, I've been doing that kind of exposure with religion instead of government. Instead of whistle-blowing bad government, I've been trying to uncover bad religion. There's an awful lot of secrets. I don't see much point in naming names all the time, but it has its place. I've been more interested in exposing the underlying framework, in that church is no different from a government agency with a defined jurisdiction. They still function pretty much the same, and I find it self-evident that church and secular government aren't supposed to be mirror images in terms of fundamental structure.
So I've done my best to leak all the stuff that got buried way back prior to the Early Church compromise with Constantine. But you should know that I would gladly help expose anything that people with questionable morals and intentions have tried to hide.
