Imagine a world without leadership, without risk-takers. The buildup for security would create a facade of a dystopian society with false freedom. The need for people to speak up is vital for a diverse, functioning environment. Whistle blowers are just the people who will expose the flaws, give the knowledge, empower the people, and count on them to make collective decisions on how to deal with these issues.
Whistleblowers are intriguing. They grip the crowd’s attention through the risky and dangerous oddities they perform. They make sure people understand the real situation in which they are in. Ordinary citizens are drawn to whistleblowers because they are willing to put their life on the line for the “common good”, like people are enchanted by superheroes. This relationship between superheroes and reality displays the commonality of the general population thinking bold; risk-taking people are larger than life. This idea is profound within societies that have low expectations for the people and high government powers. The people are expected by the government to stay in line, never making their own decisions, without society’s approval. The government is expected to keep them in that order with federal, national, and state laws and regulations. But whistleblowers make a curve, defying societal norms, creating tension between government and people. With the mass media of today’s world, whistleblowers popularity inflates within seconds, causing a plethora of opinions. Eventually these opinions are put into movies, TV shows, and books. Some bring comparisons between our nation and what it could be and others bring realization of what it is, but it’s all though perception.
There are only two perceptions toward...
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....p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .
Watson, Tom. "'Traitor Or Hero?' Asking The Wrong Questions About Manning And Snowden." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 31 July 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. .
"Whistleblower behind Exposing NSA Surveillance Programs Reveals His Identity, Motivations and More." End the Lie. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. .
"Whistle-Blowers in Limbo, Neither Hero Nor Traitor." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 July 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. .
Corruption is a persistent problem that plagues the world and it knows no boundaries. Transparency International defines it as the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain” (2013). For the purposes of this thread, ‘corruption’ is defined as any individual, collective, or structural act or process that permits the use of public authority or position for private gain. This definition captures the broad and many ways individuals and institutions abuse power and the public trust. In regard to whistleblowing, much conflict stems from the context in which the whistleblower is viewed. We will examine the case of NYPD Narcotics Detective Frank Serpico who was regarded a snitch and a rat by fellow officers who were on the take and complete a what would you do dilemma.
First I will be telling you about the pressure of being a “whistleblower”. In Fahrenheit 451 the pressure of being a “whistleblower” is so real, everyone is told to rat out everyone who has a book in their household, if they find out they have a book in the home it is burned to the ground. This is related to our society because we are pressured to do what is right, and part of my belief system is to do what is right and to point out what is wrong. For example if someone were to gossip behind their back I would try to stand up and tell them it is wrong and tell the person what the others said
Kevin M. Gallagher. 2013. Freedom of the Press Foundation. Glenn Greenwald, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things'. Video file posted on YouTube on June 9, 2013.
Bouville (2008) describes whistleblowing as an act for an employee of revealing what he believes to be unethical or described as an illegal behaviour to a higher management (internal whistleblowing) or to an external authority or the public (external whistleblowing). Whistle-blowers are often seen as traitors to an organisation as they are considered to have violated the loyalty terms of that organisation while some are described as heroes that defend the values and ethics of humanity rather than loyalty to their company. In the medical community, it is the duty of a practitioner aware of patient care being threatened to make it known to those in charge and for those in charge to address the issues and act on it. The General Medical Council (GMC) stipulated this act of raising concern as a doctor’s duty in its Good medical practice guide. This paper will be based on the analysis of the experience of whistle blowers, reasons why they chose or chose not to take such actions and personal opinions on whistleblowing in the medical community.
Whistle blowing according to Boatright, “is the voluntary release of nonpublic information, as a protest, by a member or former member of an organization outside the normal channels of communication to an appropriate audience about illegal and /or immoral conduct in the organization or conduct in the organization that is opposed in some significant way to the public interest”. (2009).
Cassidy, John. "Why Edward Snowden Is a Hero." The New Yorker. N.p., 10 June 2013. Web. 15 Feb.
Whistle-blowing can be defined many different ways. For example, from page 384 in the book, whistle-blowing is the voluntary release of nonpublic information, as a moral protest, by a member or former member of an organization outside the normal channels of communication to an appropriate audience about illegal and/or immoral conduct in the organization or conduct in the organization that is opposed in some significant way to the public interest. For a simpler explanation of the term whistle-blowing, Merriam-Webster defines the term as, an employee who brings wrongdoing by an employer or other employees to the attention of a government or law enforcement agency and who is commonly vested by statute with rights and remedies for retaliation.
The article’s purpose is to clarify the thin line between patriotism and treason in a whistleblowing action. Depending on the information available for the public to digest, many people could have different opinions on the whistleblower (s) and their intentions. The author discusses a case of Tim Priest, who disagreed with his management’s new policies and the way they were applied in practice, thus publicly announcing the hidden truths about the department. Priest worked for the police department as a detective sergeant. Questions of his intentions about disclosing the authority’s dishonest actions were raised amidst the investigation.
Yan, Barbara Starr and Holly, CNNs Matt Smith, and Holly Yan. "Man behind NSA Leaks Says He Did It to Safeguard Privacy, Liberty." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
Korte, Gregory. “FBI Director: Snowden Not a ‘hero Whistle-blower”’ Www.13wmaz.com. 13WMAZ, 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 May. 2014.
Smith, Patricia. Edward Snowden: Traitor or Hero. New York Times Upfront. Scholastic Inc., 24 Feb 2014. Web. 3 Apr 2014.
Now, the debate rages on: Is Edward Snowden an American hero or an American villain. The United States government wants to bring treason and espionage against him for leaking some of the most confidential government secrets, but, what most people didn’t know before this whole debacle was that the government was uncontrollably spying on its people using any type of phone, tablet, or computer, Now the government’s response to the outrage of the people would be that they are protecting them from possible terrorists, but some may still ask the question of: Is the government violating my privacy? After gathering all the information, it is up to you to decide: Is Edward Snowden an American hero for exposing to the people of the U.S. the government’s dirty spying secrets or is he an American traitor guilty of espionage and treason?
UPI International Intelligence. (2013, november 13). U.S. spy allegations cause 'regrettable tensions'. Retrieved from ic.galegroup: http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&dviSelectedPage=&limiter=&u=chan44144e&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (N.S.A) subcontractor turned whistle-blower is nothing short of a hero. His controversial decision to release information detailing the highly illegal ‘data mining’ practices of the N.S.A have caused shockwaves throughout the world and have raised important questions concerning how much the government actually monitors its people without their consent or knowledge. Comparable to Mark Felt in the Watergate scandals, Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers, Edward Snowden joins the rank of infamous whistleblowers who gave up their jobs, livelihood, and forever will live under scrutiny of the public all in the service to the American people. Edward Snowden released information detailing the extent of the N.S.A breaches of American privacy and in doing so, became ostracized by the media and barred from freely reentering America, his home country.
Morality is the biggest and best reason for this act because people generally want to do the good moral thing. If a person should have to blow the whistle on a company they should know that for every action there is a reaction, and the reaction of whistle blowing might lead to getting fired. One of the most controversial types of whistle blowing is that of impersonal. If a company is making products that are unsafe because they are trying to save a few dollars, an employee could see this as immoral and tell the public about it. The whistle blower would do this based on Kant's theory. It would be following the moral law to do so. If a company is cutting corners and hurting others, it would be morally unacceptable not to blow the whistle on this company. To knowingly let innocent people get hurt because of something that you could have stopped is morally wrong. A lot of people would blow the whistle on a company that is making unsafe products, but not all. A number of people would not inform the public of the company's wrongdoings. They would not do it out of fear that they might loose there job or even be blacklisted from the industry altogether. If they are not fired they will most likely be outcasts at their job and looked over at promotion time.