Ziwen Meng
Mr. McFaul
English 1C
15 May 2020
Thoughtful Whistleblower
In the long history of mankind, there are countless whistleblowers who sacrificed a lot to tell people the truth, even if they may get punished by the government. Whistleblowers are not doing that for no reason, each of them has their own purpose. Most whistleblowers want people to know the truth and pay attention to injustice so they can make the right decision that will improve society and people’s lives. Moreover, there are also many critical thinkers in our lives, they always have different ideas with others and reflect constantly about their ideas. And those critical thinkers have many similar with whistleblowers since whistleblowers are not affected by others and also reflect a lot. Therefore, whistleblowing is an active representative of critical thinkers.
Edward Snowden, Silver Meikar, Blake Percival are all famous whistleblower in American history. Silver Meikar had reported an injustice transaction between different parties which Co-politician, Kalev Lillo, and Reform Party’s secretary-general, Kristen Michal had both joined this transaction. After he published his report article, “Lillo and Michal were presented with criminal charges. After a long and heated discussion in media, charges were dropped, as it was not possible to gather enough evidence” (Wikipedia Silver Meikar). Even though the accused did not receive the punishment, Silver Meikar still make the government and people start to pay attention to this injustice transaction. For that, he lost his job after a few weeks. Like Silver Meikar, Blake Percival had also reported some injustice actions in his working place. “Blake Percival was the Director of Fieldwork Services, Western Pennsylvania,(WPA), for USIS. He became a whistleblower in July 2011, when he filed a qui tam suit saying he was fired from USIS, for not ordering his subordinates to submit cases to the U.S. Government for payment, that had not been completed” (Wikipedia Blake Percival). This information shows that Percival did not accept or join any injustice actions and choose to report it to the government. We can see that Percival is a person with a strong sense of justice, and he wants people to pay more attention to this injustice action. Moreover, Edward Snowden is also like Silver Meikar and Blake Percival. “His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments, and prompted a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy” (Wiki Edward Snowden). Here shows that Snowden wants people to question the U.S government and decide to accept the monitor from the government or not. He tells people the truth and lets people do judge whether government’s actions are right or injustice. As above, Silver Meikar, Blake Percival, and Edward Snowden are all whistleblowers who really want people to judge injustice and make society better. In addition, they also have traits of critical thinkers.
Silver Meikar’s experience clearly shows that whistleblowing is an active representative of critical thinkers. Silver Meikar has totally different thinking than others. For example, “On October 24, 2012, Meikar was expelled from the party. Consequently, Kristen Michal stepped down as the minister of justice” (Wikipedia Silver Meikar). Normally, people will not against parties’ high management since they may get fire. However, Silver Meikar does not care about that. Even if the report will take his job away he still chooses to be a whistleblower and told people the truth. In fact, he successfully stops Michal to do injustice transactions between different parties. Moreover, Silver Meikar also had reflected himself a lot. “In May 2012 Meikar published an article, admitting that he had donated cash to Estonian Reform Party in 2009 and 2010, coming from unknown sources and given him by co-politician Kalev Lillo, according to a proposition made by Kristen Michal, Reform Party’s secretary general” (Wikipedia Silver Meikar). Silver admits that he also joined this injustice transaction, but we choose to report this transaction after. If Silver did not reflect himself, he will accept the transaction and continue to work for Michal but not report it. Overall, Silver has all critical thinker’s traits and he is a whistleblower, so whistleblowing is an active representative critical thinker.
Blake Percival is also a whistleblower and critical thinker like Silver Meikar. Blake Percival refused to act like other employees. “ On January 22, 2014 the DOJ filed their formal complaint against USIS. In their filing the DOJ stated that USIS committed fraud on at least 665,000 background investigations.” (Wikipedia Blake Percival). Here shows that before Percival reporting USIS, there were many people accept to cheat on the government and accept USIS to submit uncompleted background investigations for the government’s payment. However, Blake Percival has totally different thinking and action with those employees and he decides to suit USIS. Besides, Blake Percival also had reflected his action a lot. For example, “He had worked for USIS from January 2001 to June 2011. In his suit he stated he had been fired after he refused to order his employees to continue an elaborate fraud known as dumping” (Wikipedia Blake Percival). These sentences show that even though Percival worked in USIS for many years, he still always reflect his orders and actions all the time. He did not just listen to the order and help USIS to cheat the government, and he had reflected a lot and decide to do the right things even if it will let him get fire. Therefore, Blake Percival eligible to be called a critical thinker and also a whistleblower.
Edward Snowden is the most famous whistleblower between Silver Meikar and Blake Percival, and he also has the traits of the critical thinker. First, he chooses to show all the government’s monitor plans to people not like other employees in the CIA. “Without the information to start a public debate. We lost, you know… The people being able to question our government and hold it accountable. That is the principle that the United States of America was founded on. So if we want to protect our national security, we should be protecting that principle” (Snowden). Snowden’s words show that he has his own opinion, and he wants to help people get the right to question their government’s actions. He divulges secrets not just for himself but for all citizens in the world. Furthermore, Snowden has also reflected himself a lot then he decided to be a whistleblower. “Snowden says he gradually became disillusioned with the programs with which he was involved and that he tried to raise his ethical concerns through internal channels but was ignored” (Wikipedia Edward Snowden). These words express that Snowden had reflected himself many times when he worked in the CIA. Since he always inflects his job, he finally decides to be a whistleblower and give up all his job, love, and achievement. According to Edward Snowden’s, Silver Meikar’s, and Blake Percival’s experiences, we can clearly understand why whistleblowing is an active representative of critical thinkers. Besides, there are also many articles support this idea.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-reliance” relates to whistleblowing. First, “Self-reliance” talks about injustice in our life, “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs” (Emerson 194). These sentences show that society always accepts the ideas that most people agree with and ignore some new ideas that most people do not realize. The author feels that it is really injustice since everyone should have a chance to create and achieve their own ideas. Therefore, Emerson brings attention to it. “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind” (Emerson 194). Here, Emerson wants people to against this injustice and question the ideas that accept by society. He also wishes people to pay more attention to not let others’ ideas erase their own thoughts. Therefore, “Self-reliance” relates to whistleblowing a lot; besides, it also relates to critical thinkers.
“Self-reliance” also meets the definition of critical thinkers. Emerson argues that people should have their own ideas that different than others. “Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession” (Emerson 205). Emerson points out that people should always follow their own ideas but not others’. Since our own ideas are always the best and our intelligence will be wasted if we only believe in others’ ideas. Moreover, Emerson also expresses that people should always reflect on themselves. “Well, most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to someone of these communities of opinion. This conformity makes them not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars. Their every truth is not quite true” (Emerson 195). In these sentences, Emerson criticizes people who never reflect themselves and always believes in others. He says that people who does not reflect themselves can not get the true truth, what they believe is just full of lies. As above, “Self-reliance” meets the definition of both whistleblowing and critical thinkers, so it seems reasonable to suggest that based on “Self-reliance,” whistleblowing is an active representative of critical thinkers.
For sure, whistleblowing is an active representative of critical thinkers. However, people should also note that not all critical thinkers or whistleblowers will affect our society better, they may also have some crazy points that will make society more chaotic. People should have the ability to judge whether it is right to follow a critical thinker or not. If people irrationally support a whistleblower or a critical thinker, it may seriously develop into another Nazi. However, it is hard to distinguish a good critical thinker and a bad critical thinker since every critical thinkers’ ideas are not perfect and have some malpractice in there. Therefore, how to define a good critical thinker becomes an unsolvable issue for humans until now.
Works Cited
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self-Reliance.” Learning to Think, fifth edition, edited by J. Koonman, Day & Nite Publishing, 2019, pp. 192-207.
Snowden. Directed by Oliver Stone, performances by Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Jaymes Butler, Open Road Films, 2016.
Wikipedia contributors. “Blake Percival.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 23 Sep. 2019. Web. 15 May. 2020.
Wikipedia contributors. “Edward Snowden.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 12 May. 2020. Web. 15 May. 2020.
Wikipedia contributors. “Silver Meikar.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 Sep. 2019. Web. 15 May. 2020.