There is a very important concept in the film, "noble cause corruption", I will translate it as "distorted justice". This is basically a kind of ethical exceptionalism, which assumes that whether a certain behavior is ethical or not depends not only on the behavior itself, but also on the actors. In other words, the perpetrator believes that he is the party representing justice and is therefore qualified to take illegal means to fight injustice.
If this happens to oneself, it is an illusion; if it is to persuade others, it is a moral bondage. The reason is simple, that is human insufficiency.
It is very unfortunate that in this case, both sides of the confrontation conform to this ethical exception: the U.S. official believes that its actions are necessary to maintain global order, so they are unscrupulous (actually, what Manning disclosed can only be regarded as normal military And the secrets of intelligence activities, the “unscrupulous” mentioned here refers to situations like the Prism Gate); WikiLeaks believes that it is necessary to raise the consideration of government credibility to a higher standard in the digital age, so it is unscrupulous. This fundamental ethical dilemma needs to be discussed in a wider range, and this kind of discussion is definitely not harmful to us. If the film fails to fully develop this discussion, at least it is a good inspiration.
Of course, WikiLeaks is also a kind of media, and the media is always the result of being exploited, but the media aimed at enhancing the government’s credibility is still worth encouraging as long as it does not infringe on the private sector.
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