Whistleblowers are normal people who take abnormal risks to make other normal people's lives better. They are heroes and it's a shame that our governments try to chase them instead of helping them.
Exceot they're looking for the utmost protection of our society as a whole. Edward Snowden failed and people were terrified until they realized everyone spies. Governments, corporations, small businesses.
@@Lchristyhastings And for what? To be headline news for a week? The CIA, NSA, and various agencies are now bigger, more effective, more overreaching than ever.
Your friend is screwed. There is no reward for whistle-blowers; only punishment. No fairness. No justice. It's important that our society does not encourage honesty.
@Rana AKHTAR RASOOL I too have always tried to do good where I worked. I unionized one workplace. I helped my fellow workers get training, & have their jobs reclassified. I've always followed the camper's motto: leave a place better than you found it. But I've also witnessed those who try to do the right thing get destroyed. It's very disheartening, and it just gets worse.
I feel like in accounting, where you deal mostly with confidential client information, whistleblowing definitely taints your reputation. You will be perceived as a liability by future clients/employers even if they are mostly honest because you have a history of exposing confidential information (and yes, fraudulent operations do still count as confidential info if the company doesn't disclose it).
The vast majority of people go along to get along - as long as they are paid and someone praises them, they don’t think very deeply about the ethical dimensions of their actions. “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
Don't be a whistle-blower! Your life will be destroyed, and nothing will happen to the guilty. My friend was a whistle-blower at Harvard Medical School (where she worked for 30 years as a star employee). Those responsible were never punished, & still work in their fields. But my friend's life was utterly destroyed by Harvard. I'd love to blow the whistle on what these criminals did to this whistle-blower. But the media & government always sides with the institutions, so NOTHING will be done. It's nearly impossible to stop corruption within a corrupt system.
@@arxfatallis My friend did "burn down" the place. The NEPRC of Harvard no longer exists. But Harvard still exists. Those who broke the law were not punished. But the person who stopped them will never be able to work again. You shouldn't have your entire life destroyed just for being honest & doing the right thing. But, hey, that's merica these days.
@Alice Dreger. Thank You Alice ! A rare diamond you are, among us. I look up to people like you , that have the Gift of the Sacred Fires of Righteousness. History repeating. Tweaking. ( Hugs). You Rock Alice ! Power be yours. ...
PERFECT ALICE! I had tears coming out of my eyes listening to your speach. I absolutely think and have the same principles as you do. Extremely rare to meet people such as yourself, despite the level of education or position in life. And I know that there is a high price (punishment) to pay for being like this. I lost a lot of opportunities in life because of this attitude. But the most important is the character I see when I look at myself on the mirror. But even if the person doesn't hold the same principles, we know that many really want money. Therefore, we the fighters-for-justice, ought to incentive fund raising or alike entities, to gather money and offer to whistle-blowers from all fields, in all possible countries (especially those segments that affects the overall people), to came forward w/ proofs or strong evidences and speak out about corruption, robbery, rape, human-right-misdoers and alike w/c they are aware of. Like they used to do during the US "farwest" times: REWARD.... It would be a very effective way to have a hidden hand behind the heads of (or were to be) mis-doers everywhere.
OMG, Are you my twin? Thank you for your video. i've never actually heard anyone confess to this aloud, i.e. A about themselves. You did a great job of putting this concept into words. Good job.🙋
Even when you do the right thing some people will think your methods are the wrong way. Being called bad for doing good isn't a reason to stop, but it is a reason to be cautious.
Whistleblowers are Truly People who have and live by the Highest Moral & Ethical Standards of Humanity. They also live by a high level of Honesty which to them is the basis of Civilized existence of Humanity on our Planet.
The tallest nail gets hit the hardest. As far as coming forward in numbers, more people will get hurt. I've seen it myself. 6 of us went to HR, 2 got fired within 6 months, 1 was being setup to get fired and found a new job and one got transferred to a different manager/area. Ain't worth it.
I really like Alice’s perspectives on the effects of belief. I think it may possibly influence the thought process in intellectually negative ways beyond the obvious which may not be that much of a surprise here at BT. Although, I think it is true something can be learned from every human being no matter how thoughtless or foolish his/her capacity. Even if it were learned, something from his/her will to maintain this foolishness and the like of what summoned the weakness inwardly. Anyways, another cup of coffee is in demand.
I respect what you do and you most certainly are needed and this is why i feel it would actually be better if you could figure out how people work to make them want to do what you ask. The result would be they do what you say because they want to and as a result of that they will continue to act the way you asked because you made them want to instead of making them obligated to
This was all very fascinating until she began to slander the Midwest. I happen to live in the Midwest and I'm not sure where she gets the stereotype that we don't put ourselves at risk to help others.
4:13 Excuse you; the point of confession isn't to "apologize" to the priest, nor is the priest there to judge and fine you - it's all about a little thing called 'spiritual guidance', a secular analogy of which might be a session with a psychologist. Next time you call out a "shitty system", I suggest you don't give a shitty exposition of it
I have to agree with you. In practice priest usually play that role of spiritual therapist, not just selling absolvency of sins. I think she meant that being responsible to God means that you can ignore responsibility to other people as long as you fulfill your defined responsibilities to God. Confession is one of responsibilities to God. Sure, in practice being responsible to God often means being good to other people but in theory its still a shitty system.
@@greenanubis That's because you're implicitly associating the spiritual with the secular rule of law: you confess because you want to be a good person, while the law doesn't require you to be good, just to do X and not do Y. Oh, did the murderer confess her crime to the priest but not to the police officer? So what? Either way, the law will have the same trouble to get the culprit - but chances are, if someone confesses a crime outta true belief, that person is more likely to confess to the police anyway
@@greenanubis That would be via the interaction with the priest - after all, you don't interact with the Law, but with police officers, lawyers, etc., isn't it so? Besides, like I mentioned, the priest's role is just of a guide; you can deal with God in your own terms anytime - and, if you assume it an omni-entity, that means _all_ the time
Don't get me started on this metoo thing. A person's life can be thoroghly ruined with zero proof of wrongdoing simply because an unbalaced someone had regrets and made an accusation. That is truly all it takes to do irreparable damage to someone's life, livelihood, reputation, and even freedom. No doubt its important that those who truly deserve it be punished, but this movement is horrible. I have little doubt that for every truly bad person persecuted, 3 more are normal guys whose lives are unjustly shattered. Putting aside whether the victim is a woman who suffers due to the trauma of rape, or the man whose life is thrown in the toilet from a false accusation that results from this witch hunt, I would bet my bottom dollar that more people's lives are harmed now than ever before.
Even if you aren't philosophically opposed to a whistleblower, you tend to question their motivations. As an example, take that whistleblower from some years back who then ran off and hid in Russia. He apparently had a stable life with loved ones and he takes an actions that then compromises his whole life? Makes it so he will prob never get his life back nor see anyone he cared about again? At a minimum this guy is imbalanced to sabotage himself so thoroughly. You can't trust anyone who is so willing to fall on their sword for some pointless point of view or another. Normal people demonstrate a greater connection with reality and a reasonable degree of self interest.
His situation is and was complicated. He wanted to be a good person and expose something he felt was wrong. But he did so by giving away an obscene amount of classified data far above and beyond what he needed to do. He didn't think about it much at all based on his execution.
Michael Covello Many people fight for their ideas, even if it Will lead to their demise. It's called sacrifice, and justified or not, it can change things for the better just like it can change nothing.
@@malding8643 I know they do. Using a word like "sacrifice" of course makes it sound noble. This is simply not the case however. They are imbalanced. In fact they *want* to make this sacrifice, or in some other way, not doing so would cause greater grief to themselves. It is a selfish act, even if they couldn't admit as much to themselves. I know a great deal of folks with purpose...some right wing, some left. Some religious, others aethiest, etc. All with points of view, most with facts arranged to make their truth seem like *the* truth, and almost every one of them bullshitting themselves as much as they're unknowingly trying to bullshit others. The reality with these folks is that their strong points of view are actually just incidental. The true purpose is to have a thing to attach oneself to that gives that person a sense of purpose. These are damaged people who are incapable of finding meaning in life unless their fist is in the air. Rare is it that these people make positive change. Typically they just create more unforeseen problems if they change anything at all with their destructive self interest under the auspices of "sacrifice."
Because the content tends to be humanitarian, of which the majority are left leaning. Atheism is scientifically correct and factual as opposed to myths about magic jesus and the sky daddy, so of course they are going to present fact over myth. I agree with tomshrauwen that the influx of spiritualism has been incredibly obnoxious.
We want diversity? Is that the same as "teach the controversy"? Look, we've heard enough from bible thumpers, we already know they're wrong. I don't need to go another winter hearing about everyone complaining about the phrase "happy holidays". We get it, you think murica is a Christian nation and want to enlist Christian values. Well that's dumb, and we've heard it a thousand times. Good bye.
@@xxWayoftheSunxx "Atheist is scientifically correct", which sadly I can't say of your grammar - and isn't true, sorry; science is merely about description of Nature, not a means to give value to its components. If you wish to hold to atheistic beliefs, I'm fine with that (even though I believe it to be a stupid position), but I can't tolerate a bunch of assholes prostituting science so they can support their agendas. And no, not all theists are like that Bob Whatsisface; if you want some thought-provoking material, try out, e.g., the _Tao Te Ching_ (I'm not a Taoist, BTW, but I happen to have this little thing called "literacy")
Whistleblowers are normal people who take abnormal risks to make other normal people's lives better. They are heroes and it's a shame that our governments try to chase them instead of helping them.
i think you mean it's shame that We let our governments try to chase them instead of helping them.
@@leegenny8712 I don't think we "let" our government do this. Our government has not been "our government" for a very long time.
Exceot they're looking for the utmost protection of our society as a whole. Edward Snowden failed and people were terrified until they realized everyone spies. Governments, corporations, small businesses.
@@jareda.1353 How did Snowden fail? He told us many truths about our government. And our government wants to kill him for it.
@@Lchristyhastings And for what? To be headline news for a week? The CIA, NSA, and various agencies are now bigger, more effective, more overreaching than ever.
A guy in my neighborhood blew the whistle on an accounting fraud and now no one will hire him.
Your friend is screwed. There is no reward for whistle-blowers; only punishment. No fairness. No justice. It's important that our society does not encourage honesty.
@Rana AKHTAR RASOOL No. There is no fairness or justice. Just powerful people screwing over anyone honest.
@Rana AKHTAR RASOOL
I too have always tried to do good where I worked. I unionized one workplace. I helped my fellow workers get training, & have their jobs reclassified.
I've always followed the camper's motto: leave a place better than you found it.
But I've also witnessed those who try to do the right thing get destroyed. It's very disheartening, and it just gets worse.
Don't rock the boat!
I feel like in accounting, where you deal mostly with confidential client information, whistleblowing definitely taints your reputation. You will be perceived as a liability by future clients/employers even if they are mostly honest because you have a history of exposing confidential information (and yes, fraudulent operations do still count as confidential info if the company doesn't disclose it).
The vast majority of people go along to get along - as long as they are paid and someone praises them, they don’t think very deeply about the ethical dimensions of their actions. “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
This is exactly right.
Don't be a whistle-blower! Your life will be destroyed, and nothing will happen to the guilty.
My friend was a whistle-blower at Harvard Medical School (where she worked for 30 years as a star employee).
Those responsible were never punished, & still work in their fields. But my friend's life was utterly destroyed by Harvard.
I'd love to blow the whistle on what these criminals did to this whistle-blower. But the media & government always sides with the institutions, so NOTHING will be done.
It's nearly impossible to stop corruption within a corrupt system.
Coward
@@BossModeGod Who is the coward?
Then you burn down the system.
Literally.
It's simple. As one great man once said: Death is the solution to all problems. No man, no problem.
@@arxfatallis My friend did "burn down" the place. The NEPRC of Harvard no longer exists. But Harvard still exists. Those who broke the law were not punished. But the person who stopped them will never be able to work again.
You shouldn't have your entire life destroyed just for being honest & doing the right thing. But, hey, that's merica these days.
@Rana AKHTAR RASOOL I agree. It's just horrible to witness.
Morality like art means drawing a line someplace. Oscar Wilde.
Remmy Marcial
_____
*Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.*
Harvest day must be pretty crappy
Beautiful💖💖
@Alice Dreger. Thank You Alice ! A rare diamond you are, among us. I look up to people like you , that have the Gift of the Sacred Fires of Righteousness.
History repeating. Tweaking. ( Hugs). You Rock Alice ! Power be yours.
...
It's sad that people calling out the bad people get punished
3:22 - "At the end of the day what you need is to know is, Did you treat other people well?"
Truth gets you hated and flattery gets you liked
PERFECT ALICE! I had tears coming out of my eyes listening to your speach. I absolutely think and have the same principles as you do. Extremely rare to meet people such as yourself, despite the level of education or position in life. And I know that there is a high price (punishment) to pay for being like this. I lost a lot of opportunities in life because of this attitude. But the most important is the character I see when I look at myself on the mirror.
But even if the person doesn't hold the same principles, we know that many really want money. Therefore, we the fighters-for-justice, ought to incentive fund raising or alike entities, to gather money and offer to whistle-blowers from all fields, in all possible countries (especially those segments that affects the overall people), to came forward w/ proofs or strong evidences and speak out about corruption, robbery, rape, human-right-misdoers and alike w/c they are aware of. Like they used to do during the US "farwest" times: REWARD.... It would be a very effective way to have a hidden hand behind the heads of (or were to be) mis-doers everywhere.
OMG, Are you my twin? Thank you for your video. i've never actually heard anyone confess to this aloud, i.e. A
about themselves. You did a great job of putting this concept into words. Good job.🙋
Even when you do the right thing some people will think your methods are the wrong way.
Being called bad for doing good isn't a reason to stop, but it is a reason to be cautious.
Never attribute to malice that which can easily be explained as stupidity.
You are not alone. Change for yourself, Not for others. The TRUTH will always be the TRUTH.
"at the end of the day the only person I go to sleep with is myself"
foreveralone
Whistleblowers are Truly People who have and live by the Highest Moral & Ethical Standards of Humanity. They also live by a high level of Honesty which to them is the basis of Civilized existence of Humanity on our Planet.
Now thats a face that has spent a vast majority of its time smiling.
The tallest nail gets hit the hardest. As far as coming forward in numbers, more people will get hurt. I've seen it myself. 6 of us went to HR, 2 got fired within 6 months, 1 was being setup to get fired and found a new job and one got transferred to a different manager/area. Ain't worth it.
I agree with the content.
Saurav Pathak I agree that you agree
I really like Alice’s perspectives on the effects of belief. I think it may possibly influence the thought process in intellectually negative ways beyond the obvious which may not be that much of a surprise here at BT. Although, I think it is true something can be learned from every human being no matter how thoughtless or foolish his/her capacity. Even if it were learned, something from his/her will to maintain this foolishness and the like of what summoned the weakness inwardly. Anyways, another cup of coffee is in demand.
I respect what you do and you most certainly are needed and this is why i feel it would actually be better if you could figure out how people work to make them want to do what you ask.
The result would be they do what you say because they want to and as a result of that they will continue to act the way you asked because you made them want to instead of making them obligated to
I'm trevor distance and I approve this message
Very interesting, seems like the bystander effect is at play a lot in this type of situation.
"She's right, you know.
That building *is* beautiful.
And you, Sir, are a horse's
ass!"
- Female New Yorker, as quoted by Rachel Naomi Remen
It is a reality that support will always go to the highest bidder. And it seems that to keep their job or next promotion will outbid the truth
Alice "at the end of the day" Dreger here with Big Think
From the crooked tree of humanity, no straight branch can grow.
Haha... I thought this video was about why people who whistle with their mouth are lonely, not a whistle a referee uses to stop a game...
Whoa. That makes quite the provoking case.
*The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.*
And it ends with one step, if you're big enough
Wonderful video!
What the heck does confession have to do with whistleblowing?
tfw you hear the sentence "There is only one person I have to sleep with and that is myself" as an asexual 😄
#relatable
Nice one!
This was all very fascinating until she began to slander the Midwest. I happen to live in the Midwest and I'm not sure where she gets the stereotype that we don't put ourselves at risk to help others.
She is so brave
Thank you.
Hello Alice. Nice talk. R (UMN)
Whistleblowing can also be used as a cowardly weapon tho.
4:13 Excuse you; the point of confession isn't to "apologize" to the priest, nor is the priest there to judge and fine you - it's all about a little thing called 'spiritual guidance', a secular analogy of which might be a session with a psychologist. Next time you call out a "shitty system", I suggest you don't give a shitty exposition of it
I have to agree with you. In practice priest usually play that role of spiritual therapist, not just selling absolvency of sins. I think she meant that being responsible to God means that you can ignore responsibility to other people as long as you fulfill your defined responsibilities to God. Confession is one of responsibilities to God. Sure, in practice being responsible to God often means being good to other people but in theory its still a shitty system.
@@greenanubis That's because you're implicitly associating the spiritual with the secular rule of law: you confess because you want to be a good person, while the law doesn't require you to be good, just to do X and not do Y. Oh, did the murderer confess her crime to the priest but not to the police officer? So what? Either way, the law will have the same trouble to get the culprit - but chances are, if someone confesses a crime outta true belief, that person is more likely to confess to the police anyway
+Iago Silva Ok, you mentioned confessing to priest and confessing to law. When does god enter the picture?
@@greenanubis That would be via the interaction with the priest - after all, you don't interact with the Law, but with police officers, lawyers, etc., isn't it so? Besides, like I mentioned, the priest's role is just of a guide; you can deal with God in your own terms anytime - and, if you assume it an omni-entity, that means _all_ the time
+Iago Silva So priest is just a guide? Arent you then actually responsible to god?
WWYD? What Would You Do?
Oh there isn't 100 "thumbs down..." must not be dealing with the racist aspect of America...
JESUS. Too real
I'd just like to point out that that thumbnail is pretty creepy looking to Doctor Who fans.
Don't get me started on this metoo thing. A person's life can be thoroghly ruined with zero proof of wrongdoing simply because an unbalaced someone had regrets and made an accusation. That is truly all it takes to do irreparable damage to someone's life, livelihood, reputation, and even freedom.
No doubt its important that those who truly deserve it be punished, but this movement is horrible. I have little doubt that for every truly bad person persecuted, 3 more are normal guys whose lives are unjustly shattered. Putting aside whether the victim is a woman who suffers due to the trauma of rape, or the man whose life is thrown in the toilet from a false accusation that results from this witch hunt, I would bet my bottom dollar that more people's lives are harmed now than ever before.
The world needs more Alice Dregers and less Donald Trumps.
Donald Trump. Logan Paul Hitler Donald Trump white people. Straight males.
"Sex Researcher"... (?)
Even if you aren't philosophically opposed to a whistleblower, you tend to question their motivations. As an example, take that whistleblower from some years back who then ran off and hid in Russia. He apparently had a stable life with loved ones and he takes an actions that then compromises his whole life? Makes it so he will prob never get his life back nor see anyone he cared about again? At a minimum this guy is imbalanced to sabotage himself so thoroughly. You can't trust anyone who is so willing to fall on their sword for some pointless point of view or another. Normal people demonstrate a greater connection with reality and a reasonable degree of self interest.
His situation is and was complicated. He wanted to be a good person and expose something he felt was wrong.
But he did so by giving away an obscene amount of classified data far above and beyond what he needed to do.
He didn't think about it much at all based on his execution.
Michael Covello Many people fight for their ideas, even if it Will lead to their demise. It's called sacrifice, and justified or not, it can change things for the better just like it can change nothing.
Is that supposed to be Snowden?
@@malding8643 I know they do. Using a word like "sacrifice" of course makes it sound noble. This is simply not the case however. They are imbalanced. In fact they *want* to make this sacrifice, or in some other way, not doing so would cause greater grief to themselves. It is a selfish act, even if they couldn't admit as much to themselves.
I know a great deal of folks with purpose...some right wing, some left. Some religious, others aethiest, etc. All with points of view, most with facts arranged to make their truth seem like *the* truth, and almost every one of them bullshitting themselves as much as they're unknowingly trying to bullshit others.
The reality with these folks is that their strong points of view are actually just incidental. The true purpose is to have a thing to attach oneself to that gives that person a sense of purpose. These are damaged people who are incapable of finding meaning in life unless their fist is in the air.
Rare is it that these people make positive change. Typically they just create more unforeseen problems if they change anything at all with their destructive self interest under the auspices of "sacrifice."
@@thstroyur That's the name.
Why are so many of your speakers left leaning and atheist? Please give us diversity!
there's been an influx of spiritualism on big think lately. unfortunately....
it's good news isn't?
Because the content tends to be humanitarian, of which the majority are left leaning. Atheism is scientifically correct and factual as opposed to myths about magic jesus and the sky daddy, so of course they are going to present fact over myth. I agree with tomshrauwen that the influx of spiritualism has been incredibly obnoxious.
We want diversity?
Is that the same as "teach the controversy"?
Look, we've heard enough from bible thumpers, we already know they're wrong. I don't need to go another winter hearing about everyone complaining about the phrase "happy holidays". We get it, you think murica is a Christian nation and want to enlist Christian values. Well that's dumb, and we've heard it a thousand times. Good bye.
@@xxWayoftheSunxx "Atheist is scientifically correct", which sadly I can't say of your grammar - and isn't true, sorry; science is merely about description of Nature, not a means to give value to its components. If you wish to hold to atheistic beliefs, I'm fine with that (even though I believe it to be a stupid position), but I can't tolerate a bunch of assholes prostituting science so they can support their agendas. And no, not all theists are like that Bob Whatsisface; if you want some thought-provoking material, try out, e.g., the _Tao Te Ching_ (I'm not a Taoist, BTW, but I happen to have this little thing called "literacy")
Snitches get stitches.
Judge others and you shall be judged.
Don't judge others and you will be judged anyway. Leave the indifference to the dead and don't be ashamed of your own values
Snitches get stitches.
Daniel Penrod
The guy who made the "Stop Snitching" shirts
had daughters and turned his life around.