Some of the responses to this are wildly emotional, I don’t believe for a second anything you’ve written here or could’ve possibly written in the past warrants wishing you to end your life.

On whether Chelsea Manning’s treatment by the US Government was defensible, I think the point that she did ‘betray’ secrets shouldn’t be overlooked so quickly. In our perpetually tense global political sphere, exposing classified documents, regardless of content, can cause damage to the image of unity and strength. Undermining the government shouldn’t be thought of, or treated as, a wholly virtuous and pure act.

I hope the sentence that Manning received took into consideration that these kinds of leaks and releases are a betrayal, the consequences should be prohibitive as possible. This, perhaps, would make any future leaks even more important and worthy of attention, given that the whistle blower is essentially becomes a martyr to expose possible or potential wrong doing.

The sad fact is, despite very plainly not being the seamless frontier of worthiness it once was, America is still far better as the global leader than any of the alternatives.