An Important Distinction

Trey Smith

Over the last few years, whistle-blowers and whistle-blower enablers like Bradley Manning, Julian Assange and the New York Times’ James Risen (among others) have publicized corporate and governmental wrongdoing at great risk to their lives and careers. These were courageous acts of self-sacrifice on behalf of larger ideals.

At the same time, Obama administration aides have selectively leaked secret information exposing such wrongdoing (in this case, the president engaging in due-process-free executions) — but at little risk to their lives and careers (except perhaps for some momentary partisan blowback over their willingness to go to such lengths to protect their boss). These were craven acts of self-preservation aimed not at protecting ideals, but at burnishing the president’s political image. And while President Obama on Friday vehemently denied that his administration has been strategically leaking this information, the facts, to put it mildly, suggest otherwise.
~ from Whistle-Blowers Vs. Leakers by David Sirota ~

If you step back to think about this situation for just a moment, you come to realize just how perverse it is!

In the case of whistleblowers -- those who expose information the elites want kept hidden -- almost the entire focus is foisted upon the whistleblowers themselves. No matter how disturbing and damning the information they release happens to be, the political establishment and the mainstream media willfully ignore it -- like it's no big deal.

In the case of those who leak sensitive and/or classified information -- often with the expressed permission of their bosses -- this dynamic is turned upside down. Almost the entire focus is on the information leaked and not the identity of those who leaked it.

Under the current administration, if you are a whistleblower, you can expect the full weight of the government to come down on your neck. If you leak information as part of some grand political strategy, you are congratulated behind closed doors!

As Sirota points out, both the whistleblower and the leaker are committing illegal acts. The one who generally commits the illegality for noble purposes can expect harsh punishment, while the one who generally commits the illegality for less than noble reasons can reasonably expect little, if any, punishment at all.

This is ass backwards...but that's the way Washington operates these days.