[...]   find it interesting, though not surprising, that most discussions in the media about WikiLeaks focus on the suitable form of punishment for its editor-in-chief Julian Assange, rather than the nature of the diplomatic correspondence he and his organization have shared with the public. None of the documents were top secret-as they were either labeled secret, confidential or classified- and arguably they should be a part of the public domain. Some people are calling for the arrest and prosecution of Assange for espionage, and the branding of WikiLeaks as a terrorist organization. Rather than condemn Assange, we should commend him for doing all of us a great service. Commenting on the good that can come from openness and transparency, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said that "sunlight is the best disinfectant."
[...]  

In 1906 — 65 years before the Pentagon Papers and over a century before WikiLeaks — 65 Upton Sinclair applied his own brand of disinfectant called The Jungle. His novel depicted the harsh conditions of the meat-packing industry, of diseased animals and dead rats finding their way to the dinner table. Ultimately, the visceral public reaction to The Jungle led to government reform of the food industry. More importantly, Sinclair shed light on the plight of poor and working people, on racism and immigration, on wage slavery, and the greed and corruption of people at the top. It was a book about an era when, like today, capitalism ran amok. Every generation might not get an Upton Sinclair to make things right, and some generations need one more than others. At a time when some in the media are far too eager to embed themselves in power rather than expose the powerful, the second decade of the twenty-first century desperately screams out for sunlight.

Uppåt

Sinclair Lewis and Upton Sinclair

Idoler från tjugo- och trettiotalen...

• Sinclair Lewis — nobelpristagaren

• Denne var endast 45 år gammal när han 1930 fick nobelpriset i litteratur.
  Född 1885, skrev Sinclair Lewis, några få år innan han gick bort, 1951, KINGSBLOOD ROYAL. (Random House. $3)
  Detta är en bok som borde läsas av alla med ett genealogiskt intresse.
  Boken, som i den svenska översättningen heter "Av kungligt blod", (P.A. Norstedt & Söners Förlag) är skriven som en skönlitterär uppgörelse med den grova rasism som förekom i USA för sjutti-åtti år sedan. Kanske bidrog just den här boken, av en nobelpristagare, något till att somligas slöjor lyftes och till att utvecklingen sen gick åt rätt håll.
  En dåtida recensent, Howar Fast, skrev under rubriken "The Broadaxe of Sinclair Lewis" bl.a. att that it is not the lumpen who create race hatred and race riot, but those who are known as the "best families".

  

• Upton Sinclair