4 ms·

I had the same feeling that it doesn't quite add up. The use of the term `whistleblower` has been dubious from the start with little to no new information, she

I had the same feeling that it doesn't quite add up. The use of the term `whistleblower` has been dubious from the start with little to no new information, she just admitted to only deciding to come forward after facebook dissolved her team, and it appears that she's being advised by a political firm. "Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee who has for the past 10 months fed internal documents to a top Wall Street Journal reporter, and who revealed her identity in a primetime broadcast on Sunday, is working with the political consultant and former Obama administration deputy press secretary Bill Burton and his consulting firm, Bryson Gillette." https://freebeacon.com/politics/top-democratic-operative-bill-burton-advising-facebook-whistleblower/ https://freebeacon.com/politics/top-democratic-operative-bil... Further, the media and government are fully onboard. Contrast all of this with Snowden.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
And so ? If you are going to be a "whistleblower" about something like this, and you want to be effective, are you really going to try and plan out your actions alone?
- adolph 5y ago
  If the whistleblower is a directed by an organization that sees political advantage in attacking the whistle's subject, is that person still a whistleblower or just a whistle? I have no information about the whistleblower but I am open to the possibility that the motives are more complex than a simple case of altruism. Understanding the motivation of the whistleblower is significant to understanding the completeness and perspective of their information.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
    I put the term "whistleblower" in quotes because I think it has been the wrong term right from the beginning. I also don't think that "simple case of altruism" ever describes whistleblowing. To do something that will likely cost your job at least, and see you incarcerated at worst, requires a level of conviction about certain things that most people do not share. Even the whistleblowers that almost nobody questions any more (e.g. Daniel Ellsberg of the Pentagon Papers) had viewpoints that most people would have said "tainted" their behavior beyond mere altruism. They wanted the world to be different.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago

And so ? If you are going to be a "whistleblower" about something like this, and you want to be effective, are you really going to try and plan out your actions alone?

adolph 5y ago
If the whistleblower is a directed by an organization that sees political advantage in attacking the whistle's subject, is that person still a whistleblower or just a whistle? I have no information about the whistleblower but I am open to the possibility that the motives are more complex than a simple case of altruism. Understanding the motivation of the whistleblower is significant to understanding the completeness and perspective of their information.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  I put the term "whistleblower" in quotes because I think it has been the wrong term right from the beginning. I also don't think that "simple case of altruism" ever describes whistleblowing. To do something that will likely cost your job at least, and see you incarcerated at worst, requires a level of conviction about certain things that most people do not share. Even the whistleblowers that almost nobody questions any more (e.g. Daniel Ellsberg of the Pentagon Papers) had viewpoints that most people would have said "tainted" their behavior beyond mere altruism. They wanted the world to be different.