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. .
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...e argued the importance of public denunciations towards the success of the terror system and the Gestapo. Gellately makes it clear that without the help of private citizens the Gestapo would not have had as strong and organized of a reputation as they had. Yet, it should not be ignored that the Gestapo was brutal in its negotiation techniques, and that reputation could induce fear into public cooperation. It may be true that the general public instilled more fear into themselves about the capabilities of the Gestapo through volunteering information, than the Gestapo itself, but that should not imply that the Gestapo was not a creator of fear in that era.
Even citizens who try to speak up against the government are punished and are shunned within their community. Drakulic explained how a journalist named Tanja wrote an “ article naive as it seems today, speaking ‘only’ about pinball machines revealed their functioning and hypocrisy of the communist state. She was mocked it and had to be punished for it.” ( 3 Drakulic) This journalist had no intentions of exposing her beliefs about the communist power in her article. But the company interpreted as her speaking against the government and she had to face consequences for what she has written in her article. People have begun to treat Tanja differently since here incident “ she was put ‘on ice’ - ignored, invisible, nonexistent, a non-journalist, a non- person. People in her work place didn't acknowledge her since she wrote that article about how the communist state function. Citizens under the communist power faced severe challenges in life as well as not being able to have a voice in
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.
In early June 2013, Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former defense contractor who had access to NSA database while working for an intelligence consulting company, leaked classified documents reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) is recording phone calls of millions of Americans along with gathering private data and spying foreign Internet activity. The Washington Post later broke the news disclosed PRISM, a program can collect data on Internet users. The leaked documents publicly stated a vast objection. Many people were shocked by the scale of the programs, even elected representatives were unaware of the surveillance range. A nationwide debate over privacy rights have been sparked. Although supporters claim that the NSA only does its best to protect the United States from terrorists as well as respecting Americans' rights and privacy, many civil rights advocates feel that the government failed to be clear about the limit of the surveillance programs, threatening Americans' civil...
Muñoz, Carlo Sink, Justin. "NSA chief claims spying foiled plots." Hill 13 June 2013: 1. Master FILE Premier. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
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?
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.
In the 1970’s, Ralph Nard coined the term whistleblower referring to when a referee blows a whistle to indicate an illegal or foul play. Oxford dictionaries define whistleblower as “a person who informs on a person or organization regarded as engaging in an unlawful or immoral activity.” This can be in either the government or corporations. The debate on whistleblowers continues to be pertinent in light of recent scandals. Many believe in the value of transparency, but disagree about the correct way to achieve it. This is why we created laws, such as the Whistleblower Act and the Espionage Act. The Whistleblower Act was put in place in order to protect “[A]ny disclosure of information” that a covered employee “reasonably believes” evidences “a violation of any law, rule, or ...
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
Retrieved from the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-why MATHEW, J. (2013, November 15). Edward Snowden Leaked up to 200,000 NSA Top Secret Documents. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/522484/20131115/edward-snowden-nsa-scandal-keith-alexander.htm MILLIGAN, S. (2013, August 1). Snowden: Both a Hero and a Traitor? Retrieved from usnews: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/susan-milligan/2013/08/01/edward-snowden-leaves-russias-moscow-airport-both-a-hero-and-a-traitor UPI International Intelligence.
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.
Why Edward Snowden Is a Hero? The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web.
It is likely to consider Edward Snowden as a whistle blower because he wanted the people to decide what the government can or can not do. According to the article, Man behind NSA Leaks Says He Did It to Safeguard Privacy, Liberty, Edward Snowden's believes that, “the public needs to decide whether these programs or policies are right or wrong.” (Barbara, Yan). M...
Edward Snowden is considered to be a whistle blower because he did an unethical doing and decided to make an ethical decision by making the American people aware of the wrongdoings of our government. Snowden raised his right hand and sworn to abide by the constitution and uphold the constitution. After working with these agencies Snowden saw that it was not right and unconstitutional, so he decided to copy the files and release it to the American people. In order for him to protect himself he had to flee to a different country before he could actually release the information.
Working in any environment, some people are subject to see things that may be illegal or unethical. In any situation like this, how do you determine the best decision, whether to keep quiet or speak out? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a whistle-blower is one who reveals something, converts or informs against another person’s transgression in the workplace. In 1989, the United States passed the Whistleblower Protection Act. This act protects federal employees in the workplace if they report any misconduct or wrongdoing. Whistle-blowing is becoming more universal, however is it really worth the whistle-blowers risk and integrity? I will attempt to analyze key facts regarding