Heroes or Villains?
This is the question when thinking about figures that have created controversy around them from actions that are often viewed either as extremely beneficial or really harmful and bad. Below are a few figures that embody this and I will talk about what I really think about them.
Anonymous: A hacking group responsible for some of the most infamous hacks and is a group that is seemingly unstoppable. Due to the way the group is composed without a leader or structure it is near impossible to know who all the members of Anonymous are. As they say, ""If you believe in Anonymous, and call yourself Anonymous, you are Anonymous.". Anonymous largely focuses on bringing hidden or censored information out into the eye of the public raising public awareness of issues about their leaders and other public figures. In my opinion this is good even if information isn't 100% accurate as it encourages the public to investigate some shady so Anonymous is a hero.
Snowden: A man who was involved deeply within the government's security organizations such as the NSA and CIA. He is known for leaking government documents and secrets to journalists who published articles on it exposing the US government for their shady dealings and actions. As elected representatives we the people need to hold our government officials accountable by not reelecting them in the future and the only way to do this is to know fully what they are doing. Snowden is a hero for exposing the dark secrets kept by the government and the lack of transparency in their actions.
Manning: Chelsea manning was an ex soldier who leaked diplomatic and military documents to WikiLeaks to warn the public of potential wars in the future by sharing information about previous wars. This was done with good intentions and US citizens shouldn't be kept in the dark about what our tax dollars and our officials are doing especially when it comes to diplomatic relations and wars in the past. As stated with other's previously mentioned I think this act was heroic and it is something that needs to be done because our officials aren't sharing these things with us.
Assange: Julian Assange founded Wikileaks as a platform for people to leak information about issues and problems around the world. Much like my view on others I think this is a good thing. Justice cannot be served without knowledge and knowledge cannot be obtained from behind curtains without people to leak and a platform to leak on. There is always the chance that fake leaks can be spread but this is resolved by investigation and verification of claims. So Assange is a hero for giving those looking to share information kept behind curtains to the public.
I think it is relatively clear that I think that leaking is broadly speaking somewhat of a good thing. However it would be best if our governments were transparent and honest with us with their intentions and actions as we enable them to have these positions of power.
