I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Jesus attests to his own authenticity in the wake of him being questioned by those in authority. He blows his cover and comes into the lime light with these series of revelations which embarrass many and challenge the authority and power of some. The official version is challenged by an unofficial claim to truth. The unofficial man who makes this high claim comes from an ordinary family which has no claims to any immediate royal authenticity. Those in power are usually unsettled by claims of ordinary people, that they too have the power of the truth with them. This claim by Jesus was indeed unsettling. So unsettling that the leaders got together and plotted his death!
The WikiLeaks are being talked of as irresponsible, anti-national, misleading, and intended for character assassination of those in power. The embarrassment it has caused the U.S. is understandable. The freedom curtain has been exposed even as the U.S. has maintained all along that there is no curtain apart from the erstwhile iron curtain! The leaks also read like gossip stories on various countries. Truth is always bitter and even in this case this is what has come out. The bitter truth is too hot to handle. We are faced with the reality that the U.S. is everything opposite of what we have imagined and been tutored to accept.
Julian Assange is going to be hunted down. He is too hot to be walking free. Especially for those who are into the business of constructing truth and selling it! As usual he is being charged with crimes he hasn’t committed and faults which have nothing to do with the WikiLeaks. Whether he is a world hero in opposition to a national hero remains to be seen! What is fascinating is the role he is now living. The role of someone who has exposed the truth as it is. I don’t know whether the leaks are selective and only against a few, whereas others are taken out of the radar. And I don’t know whether he has an ulterior motive in all this.
What is rather interesting is that the WikiLeaks have destabilised the lies that we have considered the truth. We have got so used to the lies, that they were the truth for us. We have been woken from that slumber and are faced with the truth in all its broadness. The WikiLeaks have indeed brought out several issues. Does diplomacy mean that we lie to each other, will people of different countries come together in the culture of lies or the culture of truth, do we have to lie to be stable countries or will truth eventually stabilise any instability?
The church, like many governments would also not encourage any WikiLeaks like situation. Where does that leave Jesus in a Christmas season commemorating his birth? Should we side line him for the stability of our constructed lives or should we take him seriously and live in the beauty of instability, but peace of mind that we are offered? Can we be religious and sincere at the same time or is religion all about being politically correct and doctrinally sound? Should truth be guarded in a multi security prison or should it be free for us to see and decide?
4 comments:
Gigi Varghese (Facebook, Dec19, 2010)- nice thought acha. hw r u......
Thanks. I am fine. Should try and meet in Kerala if possible. How are you doing?
The work of Wikileaks is indeed an excellent intervention in an ominously deafening narrative of ‘official’ versions.
However, how far can Julian Assage be a prototype of Jesus is to be questioned. Assage is constantly putting forth the excuse of ‘being hunted down’ whilst addressing serious sexual assault charges. The accusation of Assange that the ‘official’ machinery has orchestrated this ‘charge’ stands on flimsy grounds since he, himself accepts that he had contact with the said women. The law must take its course and protect the rights of those women who may either have been coaxed to giving evidence against Assage or have been willfully wronged by him. Portraying himself as the new Jesus or the existentialist Joseph ‘K” is unacceptable.
Thanks for the comment. I don't think this post goes so far as to say that Julian Assange is a prototype of Jesus! No, it doesn't. What it does though is to say Assange has brought out a very interesting aspect for society to think about and be aware of. I also do point out that I am not sure whether there have been selective leaks and whether the truth as it is has been brought out. But I do agree that the law must take its course. Wikileaks or no wikileaks he is accountable for what he has done. But in the mean time we are left with the leaks. What should we make of them especially in a season like this? Thanks again for pointing out your views.
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