If you are going to be a whistleblower, you must be driven by the cause you are advocating and by the wrong you are trying to expose. You are an activist.
An activist is:
An activist is:
- an especially vigorous advocate of a cause or;
- a person who campaigns to bring about social or political change (attribution Wikipedia)
Some activists are well insulated from institutional reprisal. Take, for example, Media Matters and its role in attacking the non response of Murdoch Enterprises to the culture of sexism and sexual harassment at Fox News through their advertisers. Had it not been for this whistleblower organization, would Bill OReilley still be there? Would Sean Hannity still be running his ugly mouth?Would those advertisers, outed by Media Matters still be advertising?
Being an activist is not for the faint of heart-as I have pointed out before.
If you want to take a look at perhaps the top ten whistleblower movies go to
If you want to take a look at perhaps the top ten whistleblower movies go to
My favourites include:
1) The Insider
with Russell Crowe and Al Pacino. Its the story of how Jeffrey Wizard exposed the cigarette industry for the criminal purveyors of poison that it is. The lengths that the separate cigarette companies went to to shut him up will shock you.
2) Silkwood
set at a plutonium processing plant, where a worker is purposely contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations.
3) The Most Dangerous Man in America
The story of Daniel Ellsberg, a Pentagon insider, and his efforts to expose the fraud of the War in Vietnam and the complicity of successive US Presidents in perpetrating that fraud. Dynamite!
Both President Johnson and Secretary McNamara accused leakers as being un-American and seditious.
Sound familiar?
Sound like something going on today??
And yet, had Ellsberg not leaked Pentagon information to the media, it is unlikely that the US public would have realized that the War being prosecuted by their government was a consequence of corruption and dishonesty at the highest levels of government and the military.
youtube.com/watch?v=1G1SaatIp0w
Sound familiar?
Sound like something going on today??
And yet, had Ellsberg not leaked Pentagon information to the media, it is unlikely that the US public would have realized that the War being prosecuted by their government was a consequence of corruption and dishonesty at the highest levels of government and the military.
youtube.com/watch?v=1G1SaatIp0w
4) North Country
is a fictionalized account of the first major sexual harassment case in the US. Jensen v Eveleth Mines. This one would be mind boggling if we hadn't seen what is happening at Fox News, now. Oh yes, the US citizens elected a President who bragged about sexually assaulting women and ogling teenagers dressing.
5) Erin Brockovich
is the story of a former beauty queen with no education, 3 kids by 2 different men, no job and, evidently, no future who by sheer will power convinces a small real estate law practice to take on a big corporation which is systematically poisoning a town's water supply. A whistleblower does not necessarily need to be an insider, have expertise or be well placed politically. What a whistleblower needs is a belief in a cause, a belief in oneself and grit.
6) Semper Fi: Always Faithful
is a sleeper in this list. Its the story of a dedicated marine Corps Master Sergeant whose daughter dies of leukemia. His search for answers leads to the discovery that the Marines were covering up the largest water contamination incidents in US history. Talk about betrayal of epic proportions.
youtube.com/watch?v=3d532nOYjSs
Happy watching.
The next blog will deal with some books you might want to consider at your friendly library
is the story of a former beauty queen with no education, 3 kids by 2 different men, no job and, evidently, no future who by sheer will power convinces a small real estate law practice to take on a big corporation which is systematically poisoning a town's water supply. A whistleblower does not necessarily need to be an insider, have expertise or be well placed politically. What a whistleblower needs is a belief in a cause, a belief in oneself and grit.
6) Semper Fi: Always Faithful
is a sleeper in this list. Its the story of a dedicated marine Corps Master Sergeant whose daughter dies of leukemia. His search for answers leads to the discovery that the Marines were covering up the largest water contamination incidents in US history. Talk about betrayal of epic proportions.
youtube.com/watch?v=3d532nOYjSs
Happy watching.
The next blog will deal with some books you might want to consider at your friendly library
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