ISSUE 69
题目:
Some people believe it is often necessary, even desirable, for political leaders to withhold information from the public. Others believe that the public has a right to be fully informed
要求:
Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.
正文:
Shouldgovernment leaders provide all information to the public? I my view, these twoposition proposed in the statement are all too extreme. I concede that, base onthe principle that any government should be honest to the mass, the public hasa right to know the information concerned with the interest of them. However,on balance, when it comes to some crucial information, such as state secret andmilitary confidence, government would have to withhold these information due tothe security of nation. To beginwith, nowadays, we are living in a justice society, any government have noright to preserve the information which is relative to the benefit of the mass,because we have to use these information to realize the real condition ofsociety. For example, every year, government must announce the informationabout the statistics of GDP which can range from every city to the wholenation, these data can help people to know the extent to which the country'sfinancial level have reached; government also have to provide the crime rate tothe public, which serves to inform people whether the social environment isstable. However,when it comes to some important information concerned with, for example, thestate secret and the military confidence, the government has to take aresponsibility keep these messages in secret, because these information, oncedivulged, might impair the security and the development of a Country. Ainvention of a advanced technology, for instance, which can significantlystrengthen the military power of a nation, must be withheld by the government,for the reason that government is in charge of protect the security anddeterrence of the Country. On theother hand, government must comprehensively ponder both of the advantages anddisadvantages brought by a announced information. Any imprudent judgments mightlead to a counterproductive aftermath. One supporting example comes to the"SARS" (virus) burst in China in 2003: when the first case of SARS wasfound in BeiJing, the Chinese government, in order to avoid arousing publicpanic, withhold the authentic information from the mass, as a result, Chinesepeople were inadvertent to take some effective measures to prevent thisdisease, unfortunately, thousands of people' life were deprived by the SARS. Whata pity tragedy, a tragedy should be prevented or at least alleviated if thegovernment had ever informed people the fact and told them to implement anypreventive measures. Insum, whether a information should be withheld or announced only depends on its significanceto the mass and possible consequence. Government plays an important role in theprocess, who must make judicious judgment, based on considering the aftermath, toprotect people’s benefit and the Country’s security and development.
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