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Whistleblowers can be described as employees who expose the activities of a government, private, or public organization. This information given out by whistleblowers is, in most cases, illegal, fraud, misuse of taxpayer funds, unsafe or illicit. This information can be given either internally or externally by the whistleblowers. It is estimated that eighty-three percent of whistleblowers report their cases internally either to their supervisors, neutral colleagues, or senior staff with the thought that these misconducts can be undress internally. Other whistleblowers give our information to external parties such as the media, government officials, or law enforcers. According to Toon, “Many of whistle blowers end up getting retaliations from the people they report against although it is illegal.” Many of the whistleblowers end up being terminated from work or immediate retaliation in organizations and working environments, such as more workload being bullied at work. Some of them reported cases by whistleblowers ending up being successful where illegal conduct is stopped. In many countries, whistleblowers have acquired hero status. In American, some of this hero whistleblower includes Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden. Their Whistleblowing has been recognized by the country (Toobin). Other cases of Whistleblowing turn out to be malicious and self-interest of the whistleblower. There is a need to look into each case of Whistleblowing before generalizing it as heroic or a betrayal action.
Whistleblowers are motivated by loyalty. In most cases, they expose what other people in their position cannot expose. They go the extra mile to so what many years to and stand out in the crowds. An example of this whistleblower was Chelsea Manning. She exposed information and videos relating to the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. These videos exposed abuses of human rights and corruption. Manning went through horrific moments during her imprisonment. She was forced to stat in all-male prison as a transgender woman and was denied hormone therapy during her gender transition. She was forced to sleep naked when on suicide watch. She spends over one year in solitary confinement, where the UN allegedly tortured her. In prison, she often went on a hunger strike and attempted several suicides. Her plight was kept in public by digital and civil liberty groups such as Fight for the Future and American Civil Liberties Union. This led to her commutation, which she later secured. She did not have to go through all this regard for her actions or sentencing. Through her patriotic action, we got to know the truth about the UN abuse of human rights. it is through Whistleblowing that we see the extent to which the Vietnam war was fought, HSBC banking fraud, and many other cases which could still be unknown to the public. This shows how whistleblowers are loyal to countries and organizations by exposing bad things regardless of what will happen to them.
Whistleblowers are heroes because they speak the truth to power. In a democracy, the majority of the citizens possess limited power. Whistleblowers are theoretically considered to speak the truth to power. This is because they hold government and businesses accountable for their work and actions. Some of the facts told by whistleblowers opened out the minds of citizens and countries on essential issues. This is clearly seen when Jeffery Wigand exposed the cover-up of the tobacco industries. This fearless expose of Jeffery showed how these industries cover up their knowledge of how tobacco, especially cigarettes, is linked to lung cancer. This led to more strict regulations being put in place to govern the tobacco industries. It also led to awards of punitive damages to around fifty states as well as a reduction of cigarette deaths. This truth and information were fundamental to the public. Jeffery stood out and told the truth, which helps in saving lives and even the economy of countries. This is a heroic gesture and act. Another whistleblower who stood up to expose the truth was Daniel Ellsberg. He forced the United States government to shed light on its cover operations in Vietnam in 1971. He brought out a very important public conversation about the US use of forces. In most cases, governments and organizations’ whistleblowers behave more ethically, bringing out the matter’s truth. This makes them heroes even though many may not be recognized.
Whistleblowers encourage people to watch over each other. It is estimated that around eighty-five percent of workers see wrongdoings in work and fail to report or take action. Few people who go against the holds and stand out to report these wrongdoings are committed to their organizations and are uncommonly loyal. Whistleblowers point wrongdoings, which can affect their personal life or work with a conviction that things have to be set right for the good of the company or organization or the public interest. They risk their life, work, and personal status to fight for the right of all. Whistleblowers encourage about eighty-five percent of the population to refuse government corruption and to speak up. Whistleblowing gives courage to people to voice any mischief or wrongdoing by state workers or government. It restores the gone trust and hope in people of their ability to voice out and change thinking. Some of the whistleblower cases come out and shed light on how the public should react to any misconduct or bad thing happening in society without fear.
On the other hand, whistleblowers can have a murky motive behind good actions. Whistleblowers have many motives, and in some cases, they are not always altruistic. Some of the whistleblowers have personal or political motives. They decide to shed light on some wrongdoings with the aim of future or instant benefits either directly or indirectly. Many decide to do investigation for the government as opposed to pushing for reforms within organizations. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange mainly focused on payback and personal gain in his Whistleblowing (Krambia). He used his lead platform to further his political views and influence politically. This defines Whistleblowing’s view since WikiLeaks was focused on making new more than it was on reporting news.
Despite Whistleblowing being helpful in many cases in some cases, it has been found to undermine national security. This is clearly seen when Edward Snowden disclosed the National Security Agency’s posting procedures and confidential information (Fotaki). When he was employed as a National Security Agency Contractor, he was entitled to protect and safeguard the nation’s interests. He betrayed the agency and his personal promise of not sharing secrets. He also compromised the agency’s ability to work well and do its investigations since he made its operations procedure vulnerable. Many states and no state actors started to double their measures and prevent breaches after this incidence. Furthermore, Terror groups benefited from his Whistleblowing and started to alter their communication method to neutralize their tactics of gathering intelligence. This compromised an entire government body showing how Whistleblowing can have a negative impact on a government.
In some cases, whistleblowing increase cases of vigilantism despite the good motives and intention whistleblowers can have. Taking whistleblowers as heroes cover the fact that these are people who take certain office powers and appropriate them to themselves. In many of their actions, they interfere with democracy as opposed to what they should be doing, championing democracy. This can be explained by Assange’s actions, which led interfered with the 2016 United States elections. He knowingly endangered many government operations and informants when he refused to hid their identity in the report he leaked to the public. Many critics say that he did not mind the well-being of other officers and informants of government. He was determined to move on with his set course of action without considering the state and other people.
Despite whistleblowers being heroes, many are treated as traitors. This is because people and organizations find it hard to trust them. They are feared and accused of snitching, making them be neglected. Those who get recognition as a hero, many whistleblowers, are ignored. People find it hard to trust them.
In conclusion, whistleblowers can be considered heroes, although there is a need to look into Whistleblowing’s case. The concept of Whistleblowing as a heroic action cannot be generalized. This is because of the many factors which are different in every case. There is then a need to look into each case of whittle blowing and determine every whistleblower’s motive. Despite there being many heroic whistleblowing actions, there are some malicious and self-centered whistleblowers. This then means that it is not correct to generalize and take whistleblowers to be heroes or traitors. Therefore, Whistleblowing is commonly classified and the group as either heroic action or betrayal after analysis. In other cases, Whistleblowing is both heroes and traitors according to who is looking at the care. Many whistleblowers who expose wrongdoings of an organization are traitors to the organization. However, they are heroes to the public since they help their nations. From a general perspective, these people are heroes and do what others find it hard to do. They should be recognized and protected from harassment. However, Whistleblowing should not just be an attention-seeking moment or one meant to gain.
Work Cited
Fotaki, Marianna. “Whistleblowers counteracting institutional corruption in public administration.” Handbook on Corruption, Ethics and Integrity in Public Administration. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020.
Krambia-Kapardis, Maria. “An exploratory empirical study of whistleblowing and whistleblowers.” Journal of Financial Crime (2020).
Toobin, Jeffrey. “Edward Snowden is no hero.” The New Yorker 10 (2013).