3 ms·

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. These are definitely good reasons for someone to resign. They're also reasons that benefit the resigner personally. I think th

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. These are definitely good reasons for someone to resign. They're also reasons that benefit the resigner personally. I think that's a good thing, and people should take care of themselves, but it reinforces my suspicion that resigning in protest is self-serving, and not usually beneficial to the person's cause. Again, nothing wrong with being self-serving, unless the resigner tries to frame it some other way.

SkyMarshal 6y ago
It occurs to me there are two more reasons, non-self-serving this time, why someone might resign in protest: 1. When someone both prominent and respected resigns, it's a big attention-getter with the media and public. Shines a spotlight on the situation. 2. It also allows the one resigning to go public with criticisms and alarms that may not be possible otherwise, once they're a private independent citizen again. Especially for example in the case of the military or executive branch of the government, where it may be difficult or impossible to criticize the organization or someone in your chain of command while remaining a part of it. Imagine for example if Colin Powell had resigned from the Bush Administration, instead of making a presentation on Iraq WMD at the UN. That might have averted the Iraq war. Career military like Powell don't publicly criticize or contradict their commanders (Bush in this case), but resigning is a way to do exactly that without doing it explicitly.
- leafmeal 6y ago
  I agree with your first point. With the second one, I'm less convinced. Perhaps I'm being a pedantic here, but you can always refuse an order. There may be consequences (like being court martialed) which you can avoid by resigning, but then you're resigning to protect yourself. I wonder if refusing is ever a more effective option, but my suspicion is no...

SkyMarshal 6y ago

It occurs to me there are two more reasons, non-self-serving this time, why someone might resign in protest: 1. When someone both prominent and respected resigns, it's a big attention-getter with the media and public. Shines a spotlight on the situation. 2. It also allows the one resigning to go public with criticisms and alarms that may not be possible otherwise, once they're a private independent citizen again. Especially for example in the case of the military or executive branch of the government, where it may be difficult or impossible to criticize the organization or someone in your chain of command while remaining a part of it. Imagine for example if Colin Powell had resigned from the Bush Administration, instead of making a presentation on Iraq WMD at the UN. That might have averted the Iraq war. Career military like Powell don't publicly criticize or contradict their commanders (Bush in this case), but resigning is a way to do exactly that without doing it explicitly.

leafmeal 6y ago
I agree with your first point. With the second one, I'm less convinced. Perhaps I'm being a pedantic here, but you can always refuse an order. There may be consequences (like being court martialed) which you can avoid by resigning, but then you're resigning to protect yourself. I wonder if refusing is ever a more effective option, but my suspicion is no...