JBS> Would you feel the same way (that "whistleblowers need all the help
JBS> they can get") if his leak had been motivated by something that you
JBS> could see why someone else might find virtuous, but which you
JBS> personally find repugnant, with effects that he (and many many other
JBS> people) saw as good, but which you personally saw as disastrous?
DB> Tough for me to say because I can't come up with an appropriate
DB> example. I'm probably one of the most anti-authoritarian people in
DB> LOPSA, bar none, so I'm hard pressed to come up with something that
DB> could be of the "whistleblower" mentality but which I would be averse to.
Well, Snowden in particular was working for an authoritarian organization.
What if he'd been working for a libertarian organization (take your pick),
and had leaked information about their supporters, doing great benefit to
anti-libertarians (which many people are), and great harm to those
supporters? Give him as much benefit of the doubt as you can: Say he
sincerely believes that those supporters are doing incalculable damage,
and that many people would agree with him.
Is whistleblowing itself a good thing? Is what I'm getting at here.
(Maybe it is. My two cents is that it depends a lot on your perspective.
Is it more important to obey the law, keep the promises you've made to
your employer, follow your conscience, do the most good for other people,
etc? It's pretty hard for me to believe that there's one answer that's
right for everyone in all circumstances.)
-Josh ([email protected])
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