Not Helping the Cause

I have other, more personal things to write about, but in recent days my mind keeps drifting back to current events.  The court martial of Pvt. Bradley Manning took a sudden veer into my world when his struggle with gender identity was revealed. (Note: I will use mostly male pronouns, matching his current presentation, voluntary or not.)

The whole business of WikiLeaks is something I have followed with moderate interest, mostly due to the oddness of Julian Assange, partly due to concerns about government secrecy and my own privacy.  In my view, both sides of the conflict are less than honorable in their dealings, the government for covering up bad deeds, Assange for revealing secrets without regard for consequences.

Regarding the crimes of which Manning is accused, I believe that most of the information he provided was completely innocuous, more embarrassing than harmful to the government.  Manning was a gullible, idealistic, confused dupe with more security clearance than someone of his rank should have, taken advantage of by slightly more stable people for political purposes.  Assange is a narcissist, and does not care who is sacrificed in his crusade.

Of course, the item that brought all this to the forefront of my attention was the revelation that Manning is struggling with gender identity issues.  A pic of him in wig and makeup has been submitted by his defense team, which apparently was sent to his commanding officer at some point before the legal troubles, in an ill-considered attempt to explain his issues.

So, Manning is using Gender Identity Disorder as a defense.  Look, I remember the fall of '07, and my own struggles.  My judgment of risk and reward was grossly skewed.  I simultaneously wanted to maintain my secret and sing it to the world, two ideas that cannot coexist, matter and antimatter.  Luckily, I was not entrusted with terabytes of secret material at the time.

I cannot deny that Manning's judgment was likely critically impaired by his condition. But, damn, it makes me, and my peers (you dear ladies), look bad.  I am reminded of John Mark Karr, who falsely (and weirdly) confessed to the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey.  Karr is reportedly living as a female now, and I hope it has made her happier and more stable.  But Karr, and now Manning, put on a stain on folks like us.  As we say at my work, one "Oh, crap!" cancels out ten "Attaboys."  The public will remember the sordid over the successful, setting back our acceptance once again.