Improper Information destruction

Concealing truth | Shaping a narrative | Twisting history | Manipulating perspectives | Spinning information

-when information is destroyed improperly-

Shredding your paper and confidential material is a good thing.  Proactively shredding with a solid records management program in place protects honest people from the actions of dishonest people who would steal your identity.  However, sometimes, dishonest people utilize shredding services to conceal truth.  Sometimes people with “power” and “control” of information abuse this power to destroy information at their command.  By destroying information people can shape narratives, twist history, manipulate perspectives, and unethically spin information.

In fact, just this last Wednesday, it was discovered that the U.S. State Department was involved in this type of poor decision making. According to sources, an anonymous State Department staff member requested to delete several minutes video showing secret talks between the US and Iran in relation to the Iran nuclear deal–a move by our government that was intended to conceal truth from the public it serves. While the legality of the choice is still unclear, by destroying segments of the video our government was concealing truth, shaping a narrative, twisting history, manipulating perspectives, and spinning information.  

Someone in our government, with power to control information, decided to “shred” what many consider to have been shown.  

We live in 2016 when the world’s communication standards and communication expectations are moving at the speed of real-time availability and dissemination.  Civil unrest and riots can be incited by angered community members with possible ulterior motives as these individuals justify violence when learning that their government concealed truth from them.  At Shred Northwest we advocate for complete excellence in following public disclosure laws.  We understand that sometimes security requires secrecy, but we certainly don’t want people spinning the truth of reality via destroying information, and shredding digital or paper records to lead us like lemmings over the cliff of ignorance.

Organizations who do engage in this sort of “hiding culture” prefer to deal with the consequences of absent evidence rather than to let be revealed damning evidence.  At Shred Northwest we would have to assert that the worse crime is to conceal the truth.

We feel responsible to advocate against these practices of information manipulation via destruction of data and records. We hope that individuals and organizations in the Portland, Salem, and Vancouver areas will push the future of government and free enterprise into a more transparent future.

Please shred responsibly. But by all means, keep on shredding.