While there are things that you could know, should know, but somehow manage to not know, you are experiencing a phenomenon called “willful blindness.” You are willfully blind when you don’t open a credit card bill or diligently ignore that your friend has a drinking problem when he or she is passed out in a parking lot.
This same willful blindness is demonstrated by the military with their treatment of U.S. Army private Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks. In all cases of willful blindness, the blame game starts with the “Bad Apple,” and this blame game doesn’t end with a Chris Rock portion. It claims Manning did a terrible thing with no provocation or warning signs at all, but upon further examination, it turns out there actually were warning signs.
Citing mental instability, a mental health expert recommended Manning not be deployed, but the expert was ignored. Once in Iraq, Manning assaulted an officer and was labeled too unstable to have a weapon. Nobody helped Manning, but instead turned the other way. According to CBS, an Army investigation found the failure to properly discipline Manning might have contributed to one of the most high-profile classified network breaches in decades.
Manning described his working conditions as, “People working 14 hours a day… every single day… no weekend… no recreation… people stopped caring after three weeks.” This has the potential to explain why Manning acted as he did, but moreso why those around him ceased to pay attention to his security and thus let this one slip. So, the military has as much justification of saying they didn’t know Manning would do what he did as Barry Bonds did when he said he didn’t know he was using steroids.
So now let’s look at the “justice system” Manning went through after being accused. Since Manning is in the military he goes through its system instead of the public justice system. Manning was put in solitary confinement in July of last year and will remain there until his trial on an undetermined date. While in solitary confinement, Manning spends 23 out of 24 hours alone in his cell every day. Even inside his cell he is restricted. He’s barred from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce these limitations. Also, Manning has been denied even the most basic rights of imprisonment like a pillow and a blanket.
All of this happens despite empirical evidence suggesting solitary confinement is an extreme form of torture. In a March 2009, article from The New Yorker, surgeon and journalist Atul Gawande assembled expert opinions to demonstrate that, “all human beings experience isolation as torture, and by itself, prolonged solitary confinement routinely destroys a person’s mind and drives them into insanity.” All of these findings are based on victims who initially are emotionally stable, so one can only imagine the toll solitary confinement has taken on Manning who was initially pronounced unstable.
The military’s justification for solitary confinement is it’s reserved for the most violent, dangerous inmates. This is interesting because Manning wasn’t convicted of a violent crime, unless downloading classified files is now violent.
The military was obviously embarrassed with the security breach, but they need to stop torturing this human being and be thankful that he didn’t do anything worse with this information.
