Whistleblowing and you

Whistleblowing: Is it for you??

If you haven't guessed which organization in which province I have been writing about, well, you aren't following the clues. 

What province does this criminal enterprise inhabit?

What particular system does this civil service operation infest?

What program is referenced? 

Who manages it?
Who is complicit in ensuring that their culture of harassment survives while continuing to take the taxpayers' dollar?

So, why doesn't someone just blow the whistle on these crooks?

Well, first, what is a whistleblower?

Go to Wikipedia.
There is an excellent definition.
Its a person who exposes any kind of information and/or activity that is or might be deemed illegal, dishonest or not correct within an organization. 
There is a good TedTalks about the dynamics of whistleblowing by Cydney Mullen
ed.ted.com/on/0HxNvLFI

There is also a good book describing the nature of whistlebowers aptly entitled: 
The Nature of Whistleblowers. 
This book covers the questions:

• what kind of person risks a successful career to warn the public of a dangerous or illegal situation?
• what are the consequences to him/her?
• is there (likely) any protection within the organization or society for the w/blower??

If you want to know more about whistleblowers, why not check out Indigo bookstore at
chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca

and type in the search column

whistleblower

Lots of movies have been made about whistleblowers. The heroes seem to come in different hues: amoral and moral, naïve and cynical, dishonest and painfully honest, driven and uncompromising. But they all have one characteristic in common. They are tough. 

• The Thug. The whistleblower who realizes (or has proved) that the usual legal means of dealing with the organization, and corrupt leaders within it, are not going to stop the corruption. He (usually) then resorts to punishing the culprits himself, and he doesn't get caught. Michael Caine does especially well in this role, playing first the disbelieving dad, then the grieving dad and then the really pissed off dad with murder on his mind. He succeeds at this by moving gingerly from being a moral and conscientious citizen to a human with a flexible moral compass. You might want to check out The Whistleblower, book by John Hale.
• Gritty, tough, like Michael Caine
• The Martyr. This is the  whistleblower who gives it his (and her) all to bring down corruption and the leadership within the system. Unfortunately, the hero dies. The movie The Constant Gardener (book by John Le Carre) is a classic about the pharmaceutical industry. If you have shares in the industry, you will sell them. If you work for them, you will quit. If you take meds...well, you will certainly think again. 
• The Vigilante. To pull this off and survive, not only do you need to be well connected, you need to be on a mission to right a wrong. While the thug usually has some moral basis, it helps not to be so conflicted to succeed as a vigilante. Michael Clayton, the movie starring George Clooney as a cynical, unsuccessful human being , but successful lawyer/fixer, realizes that he must avenge his friend's murder. His friend, himself an excellent lawyer was murdered because he would not fraudulently represent a corporation whose product was killing people. Michael Clayton succeeds in exposing the corruption but in the process taking out his own firm, the corporation which is killing people, and the corporation's CEO. A real tour de force which plays well on the big screen but not so well on a resume. 
• Its about the Rules. Al Pacino, in the day when he was up and coming, played Serpico in a movie by that name. Serpico was a young aspiring NYC cop who stumbled onto graft and corruption in the NYC police department and managed to get himself shot in the face in a botched raid, for his trouble. He survived to sell his story to a movie producer. But he never was a cop again. You are glad that the bad dudes get nabbed but its hard to look at another police officer for a 'while. 
• The Reluctant Hero. John Grisham writes well about this sort of hero. The Firm with Tom Cruise is about a wide eyed law grad who gets an offer too good to be true from a southern law firm. There is a reason that the offer is too good. The firm is mobbed up and Tom has been sucked into their dealings but not so far in. The FBI guys manage to co-opt him. In the end,  Tom gets to keep his license, cop a deal with government money for his jail house brother AND escape with his law degree, moral code and  marriage in tact. Fanciful but fun. 
• The Activist. Activists are typically people who define a cause and go after it, exposing the corrupt and dishonest. Chris Hedges writes at length about these heroes in his book Death of the Liberal Class. If you are interested in following up on one of his heroes, you might want to watch The Most Dangerous Man in America. It is the story of Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers-an old story but one that does resonate now with examination of Trumpty Dumpty, his pitchman- General (the traitor?)Flynn and his complicit son-in-law, Jared (666) Kushner. There will be a movie about this one, assuming we survive as a species.

I have to admit that my favourite is the Michael Caine character. 

But more on this and others in my next blog.

Also to come:

How comfortable are you with your pension?

Happy with the way your plan (if you have one) is being governed??

That's right, your pension plan has a Board of Directors. Are they any good or does your plan resemble a giant Ponzi scheme? 

Just a question for you to ponder as you pull the sheets up to your chin at night and wait for your pension check to arrive-or not.

Until tomorrow.