The Hiller Instinct: Wikileaks

I'm not convinced. Some of the information is stunning, but turning classified documents into gossip isn't a turn for the better. 

Sure, it's fun to know that Libya's Moammar Gadhafi is usually accompanied by "a voluptuous blonde," but what we gain by hearing that a diplomat called North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il "a flabby old chap?" Not much, and certainly not as much as we've lost - which, for starters, is trust.

Can the United States keep a secret?  Don't you agree the answer now is "no?" Is our word worth less today than it was yesterday?  I'd say, "Yes."

The New York Times defended publishing the classified info, saying in part, "the documents serve an important public interest, illuminating the goals, successes, compromises and frustrations of American diplomacy in a way that other accounts cannot match."

VIEWER VOICES: What do you think about the WikiLeaks document release?

Believe me, if the all the Times' confidential correspondence were made public, the paper would be as unhappy as the State Department is today. 

But maybe we should thank Wikileaks, for telling it like it really is. And here's what all the leaks tell me: from now on, we should be skeptical of everything government says, because nothing is guaranteed to be true.

I'm Andy Hiller, and that's my instinct.

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