Was Gary Webb a Hero?                                                                                                               Mason Hanse

This is a puzzling question to say the least. Was a man who released some of our government’s deepest, darkest secrets a hero? In some ways yes…. But in others; of course not! This man was an investigative reporter with often un-orthodox ways of reporting. So, many can see why he was awfully uneasy to trust when it came to questions about his sources. His main sources were criminals and a bunch of untrustworthy people. On the other hand, it isn’t like he was a complete idiot either. You just can’t make these things up. The government has been involved in conspiracies and cover ups before! What better way to describe this than the fact that it was going to earn those millions and millions of dollars. Money is the root of all evil and our government can attest to that. All of these wars on terrorism and drugs are based on the fact that it will give the government money. Gary Webb sought to show this to the world. In some ways, this is quite honorable. He wanted to equalize the government to the people and let the truth be told. I don’t believe he did it to be a true truth seeker although; I believe he did it just to get his name bigger and him in the national limelight. So the real question is; was this honorable cause or a selfish one. I believe it was the latter. Now comes the question, was it right of the CIA to do this? Of course not! To ruin a man’s reputation and threaten his family just because he is releasing truths about illegal government activity; to me that makes you no better than the governments that reigned over Cuba and Soviet Russia at that time. That comes the point that you are taking away this man’s right to speak and for his voice to be heard. One of our Founding Fathers said, “When the government becomes so powerful it become broken, it is time for a new government.” I am a firm believer in this statement. If a journalist can’t even speak out and voice his opinion without being berated and talked down upon by his fellow citizens; then I believe something is truly wrong. So, to answer this question, I believe Gary was both! Webb put his life on the line to release the truths about our corrupt government (Hero) but, he did it just to make his name better and to better himself (Zero).