The "Doomsday" File

Julian Assange, Number One of Wikileaks, has threatened to expose to the public a "doomasday" file that potentially contains everything from UFOs to the secret recipe of Coca-Cola (yes I am kidding!) This file apparently does have some actual stuff from BP, Bank of America, and the federal government. Assange wants to be free from not only U. S. arrest for dumping secrets, but also a sexual assault charge in Sweden.

It's hard to get a bead on Assange. Is he a guy that has a sincere belief that openness will help world conditions? Or is he a Bond villain style megalomaniac who is only seeking to destabilize and destroy?

To me it is more mundane. He craves attention. He cries out with every action "look at me!" hence the Bond villain style threat to destroy the world by releasing even more gossip between kings and diplomats, or maybe some callous statements by some executive in corporate America.

Fact is that the release of this information has had a very limited impact on most Americans. We know that information was compromised, but we're not shocked that Kentucky Fried Chicken and Coca Cola keep their secrets better than the feds. And while a lot of the released information was damaging, much of it also sounds like 7th grade gossip about who likes who and who is going to whose party. None of it has toppled a government.

And now the "Doomsday file." I am not sure if any file of any information that Assange has left could topple anyone. A few people get fired, a few PR firms make more money, life goes on. Most likely it is a bluff, an Al Capone's Vault in cyberspace. In any event, calling it the doomsday file makes it seem like the most important information on Earth. Unless it proves that we really are hiding UFOs or Lyndon Johnson and a time traveling Trilateral Commission shot JFK, then it will not live up to its billing.

It's much ado about Assange. And that is the way he wants it.