Saturday 6 July 2013

WHISTLEBLOWING ~ BEWARE THE BURDENS OF KNOWLEDGE


By Doug Lewis
July 2, 2013

Showing my age... The conditioning begins!

An old English schoolyard taunt reserved for tattletales.

Tell tale twit,
Your tongue should be slit
and all the dogs in our street
should have a little bit!

How often have you come across a news article where some obnoxious or even downright despicable activity has come to light and is shown to have been an activity for some period of time. How could such a travesty have gone on so long... surely someone should have been aware? In the back of our minds we are incredulous someone should have known and somehow put a stop to it.

The chances are the foul, dangerous or illegal practice was known to some degree by a passive observer who chose for some reason to turn a blind eye to the situation. Some would say that person was culpable through remaining silent, others may have empathy for that position, usually from bitter experience.

The track record for those who come forward and seek to right obvious wrongs is not good. The well intentioned are often subjected to harsh consequence and personal attack, careers are often ended. We need to ask and understand why, for surely intervening in a wrong situation should be lauded, not penalized.

They are torn between doing the right thing, or becoming culpable through silence and inactivity. For an individual with high moral fiber and a well developed sense of justice or principle the decision seems simple.

Brian Martin, an associate professor at the University of Wollongong, who’s interviewed hundreds of whistle blowers and has written extensively about the subject.


Whistle blowers are part of society's alarm and self-repair system, bringing attention to problems before they become far more damaging. Australian whistle blowers have spoken out about police corruption, paedophilia in the churches, corporate mismanagement, biased appointment procedures, environmentally harmful practices and a host of other issues. 

Although whistle blowers are extremely valuable to society, most of them suffer enormously for their efforts. Ostracism, harassment, slander, reprimands, referral to psychiatrists, demotion, dismissal and blacklisting are among the common methods used to attack whistle blowers. Bosses are the usual attackers with co-workers sometimes joining in.
Many whistle blowers are conscientious, high-performing employees who believe that the system works. That's why they speak out. They believe that by alerting others to a problem, it will be dealt with. Many do not think of themselves as whistle blowers at all ~ they believe they are just doing their job. So they are shaken to the core when the response to their public-spirited efforts is to vilify them as disloyal, to question their work performance, to withdraw emotional support and to mount attacks. As well as suffering financial losses and severe stress, whistle blowers are at increased risk of relationship breakdown and health problems.
Even worse than this, though, few whistle blowers seem to bring about any change in the problem they speak out about. The treatment of whistle blowers is a double disaster for society: capable and courageous individuals are attacked and sometimes destroyed, while the original problems are left to fester.
It is not difficult to understand why it is so difficult to call attention to corrupt or heinous practices.

Many people view the world as a place where humanity is inherently good and where evil is a nasty exception. 

But is it? 

Indications are, if one takes note of the daily stream of headlines inspired by violence, greed and corruption it is difficult to make a case for widespread ethical inclination, at least at leadership levels or by individuals with influence.

Many will say only the "bad" is reported skewing perception, that may be true but I do remind you victims are legion. It is not exceptional to be a victim of a crime, wrongdoing or other depravity. I doubt you are exempt. Perhaps rather than the system having corruption within it, the system itself is modeled on corruption, therefore the system is one of corruption. If this is not the case then how is it next near to impossible to survive "doing the right thing?"

If is not exceptional to be a victim of a crime or wrongdoing, then it is not exceptional when one encounters evil. The system then can be said to be a construct of evildoers.

From a self-preservation perspective one is prudent to assume there is no mechanism within a corrupt system to appeal to, even pursuing legal means of restitution often has unexpected and terrifying consequence for the victim, the system is obviously biased toward the perpetrators not the victim.

Victims may be legion, but are not well represented by the hierarchy which professes to care for them, the hierarchy seems inherently sympathetic to wrongdoers, not right doers.

On this observation I rest my case.

I report my take on this with great sadness, to live in an environment where truth is a liability speaks volumes about the state of our world and the specimens who control it.

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