It’s important to look at the Pentagon Papers, forty years later, as a true symbol of what it really means to be a ‘dangerous’ citizen. In a educational society that is increasingly losing touch with the idea of educating and stimulating thoughtful, democratic citizens, Daniel Ellsberg can show our students of today what it means to be a ‘dangerous’ citizen in a way that is both positive and physically non-threatening.
Too often our students will be looking at revolution through violent means as the one and only way to stimulate change in a big way. The release of the Pentagon Papers shows how individuals can yield great power, and indeed be a great threat to any government, without causing physical harm to any.
Examining the Pentagon Papers forty years down the road can show all of us, including our students, that the playing field can indeed be leveled between the ‘people’ and the elite ‘decision makers’ of this country. It shows that there is a power to be defiant. There is a power and a definite necessity to make private knowledge public in a very large way.
It is the power to expose lies.
It is the power to save lives.
It is the power to give the people that sacrifice, that lay it all on the line, the ability to make better decisions for themselves.
It exposes those who seek to take advantage of good will.
It is the good will towards humanity that is so desperately needed today.
