Personal Interest over General Interest (A Reflection Paper on Fifth Estate)

The Fifth Estate highlighted the political endeavour undertaken by few concerned
citizens in an attempt for socio-political reforms. The fifth estate as it is termed signifies
another area for online journalists and bloggers to play an important role for systemic
transformation. Corruption, bribery, and illegal activities are some of the few unknown and
unrevealed activities of the government and the business world. With the advancement
of technology, communication, and transportation, some of these unlawful activities were
revealed to the public through an online website known as WikiLeaks. The primary
objectives in the creation of the website were to reveal the truth and awaken the minds
and hearts of the majority in order to respond to the socio-political issues affecting
everybody’s life. The WikiLeaks serves as an avenue for political discourse, political
awareness, and political transformation. For quite some time, the website achieved its
goals. Indeed, it was able to promote the interest of the majority or the general people’s
interest. However, things have changed due to the personal conflicts of the people behind
the creation of this website.
The WikiLeaks was founded by Julian Assange, a computer hacker who actively
responds to the needs of the marginalized sectors. He was an active Australian citizen
who constantly sought for justice, equality, and truth. With an objective to reveal the
anomalies in the government and business world, he created the website for the public
to be aware and be involved in correcting the conduct of governance among governments
and non-governmental agencies. With him was Daniel Berg, a journalist who was also
passionate in online activism as a means to transform bad governance into good
governance. Having the same goals in mind, the two worked together in WikiLeaks and
published confidential and classified information online. It was agreed however that the
website, in all of its released information, shall guarantee the anonymity of the sources
for their security. Certainly, their ideas and efforts have started to change the world.
Gradually, several illegal activities were revealed to the public and appropriate actions
were made as well. Unfortunately, the website faces dissolution when Julian started to
put the lives of the whistle blowers at risk and the harm has already outweighed the
goodness the leaks created. The 250,000 US Diplomatic Cable was the last issue that
Julian wanted to reveal without reviewing the papers to protect sources. This clearly
shows that Julian wanted to satisfy his personal and selfish desires as he was in the verge
of fame and glory. He may be idealistic and platform-oriented at the beginning but his
selfish interest rose over the general interest. This behavior is supported by Aristotle
stating that, “Man by nature is self-interested.”
Personally, I commend the efforts of the people who have been involved in the
creation and maintenance of the website. All of us want change. We want transformation
in the government and non-government system. We seek to eliminate corruption and
other form of bad governance. However, all of these could not be achieved in just a blink
of an eye. The online media serves as a good means to start change; however, the
change must not be abrupt and should not be detrimental to people’s lives. Nevertheless,
this change requires sacrifice and responsibility. This further suggest that in our
participation for any political endeavour we have to always consider and prioritize the
interest of the people we serve and represent over our own personal interest.