by Lady Passion<\/p>\n
Recent near-daily T.V. news reports have revealed the extremes that the U.S. government is willing go to in order to demonize domestic whistle-blowers \u2014 those who act as oversight to benefit citizens by exposing an organization\u2019s wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
For example, ABC World News\u2019 June 13 segment Could Edward Snowden Defect to China? <\/a><\/i>employed nefarious tactics against a 29-year-old who publicized in the British newspaper The Guardian<\/i> America’s \u201csweeping surveillance system\u201d secretly monitoring our phone calls and internet communiqu\u00e9s. <\/i><\/p>\n The piece\u2019s title was intentionally misleading, as the story made plain that Snowden was already in<\/i> China, the use of the word \u201cdefect\u201d carefully chosen to taint the subject by association with Cold War-era red-menace alarm.<\/p>\n A government detractor used phraseology applied to convicted fugitives: \u201cHe made a run for it.\u201d Paving the way for charges to come, he ended ominously. \u201cHe’s not a whistle blower and maybe worse.\u201d<\/p>\n Investigative reporter Brian Ross continued the theme, painting Snowden like a pirate that could abscond \u201cwith a trove\u201d of sensitive American secrets.<\/p>\n Indeed, general dismissal alternated with a schizophrenic portrayal of Snowden to make his actions seem the silly inevitability of a chaotic life: His childhood vicinity to the Maryland N.S.A., his \u201csigns of brilliance,\u201d status as a high school \u201cdropout,\u201d attempt \u201cto become a model,\u201d and ultimate \u201ccalling in the world of spies and the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n One wondered what The Powers That Be were more angry about, his outing of citizen monitoring, or claim to possess proof that \u201cthe U. S. has been hacking into Chinese computer networks for years.\u201d (Come on \u2014 in this digital day, was either revelation supposed to be really surprising<\/i>?)<\/p>\n Sound bites from psychiatrist Dr. David Charney served to expand the Obama administration\u2019s stance that Snowden\u2019s action was a criminal breach of national security \u2014 the mouthpiece declaring that while Snowden was \u201cvery well spoken, very sharp,\u201d there was \u201ca self-absorbed, egotistical flavor to what he’s saying.\u201d<\/p>\n I could not<\/i> believe my ears. Forces were putting forth some nobody pundit to openly accuse a man who\u2019d sacrificed a lucrative N.S.A. job in Hawaii of being egotistical<\/i>?! <\/i>It all made sense, though, when I discovered a longer version of the ABC story<\/a>\u00a0that revealed that Charney \u201cfrequently works with CIA agents.\u201d<\/p>\n Ross concluded the piece on a threatening note with \u201cOfficials say one way or another<\/i>\u2026 CIA agents will<\/i> get their hands on those documents.\u201d No doubt joined at the hip with them, this implied getting Snowden, too. With hatchet jobs like these, no doubt many naive viewers have quickly absorbed the message: No need for trial or Geneva conventions \u2014 bad American deserves whatever he gets.<\/p>\n The report was chillingly Orwellian \u2014 the irony ignored that mere weeks shy of celebrating the 4th<\/sup> of July, the government seems intent on repudiating its own<\/i> origin in dissent.<\/p>\n Having denied the unarmed Osama bin Laden legal process and admitting to killing 347 people (including 4 Americans) by remote-controlled drone strikes, officials now act entitled to assassinate the<\/i> character<\/i> of citizens who dare expose unethical governmental practices to public scrutiny.<\/p>\n And since the U. S. deems itself either perpetually at war or actively engaged in fomenting regime change abroad, there\u2019s never a moment when someone who leaks information can\u2019t<\/i> be accused of violating issues of national security: Of course, we\u2019re never told what the laws are<\/i>, enabling those in power to call whatever they like a violation at a moment\u2019s notice to suit their purposes.<\/p>\n Tyrants have long found castigating whistle-blowers expedient. Indeed, N. C. governor Pat McCrory recently engaged in such insidious spin when he labeled protesting religious leaders \u201coutside agitators<\/a>\u201d \u2014 even though neither he nor his fellow Republican leaders of North Carolina’s House and Senate were born in the state they now rule.<\/p>\n Well, I take the castigation of patriots agonized by conscience personally because I\u2019ve been<\/i> a whistle-blower; I empathize<\/i> with folks caught between a job and justice.<\/p>\n A Registered Nurse for a quarter century, I was wrongfully fired for blowing the whistle about an incompetent doctor to a patient\u2019s relative. I sued the mega-corp (the largest of its kind in North America), and they paid me a settlement (see\u00a0<\/span>Deerman<\/i>\u00a0v.<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Beverly California Corporation<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>). In the process, I improved N.C. public healthcare law and set national precedent for any professional nurse to challenge widespread \u201chire-and-fire-at-will\u201d laws.<\/p>\n Which is why I feel compelled to go on the record that I believe Snowden\u2019s act to have been a selfless one deserving a ticker-tape parade and wide laudation \u2014 not the kind of baseless, shabby bashing that our government oft decries other countries for employing in order to marginalize resistance or opposition.<\/p>\n I also feel that Pagans need be quite discerning when it comes to identifying and rejecting blatant propaganda when they see and hear it, for we who live according to ethical imperatives not only can easily find ourselves prey to such tactics, but should consider such assaults on integrity offensive and anathema.<\/p>\n I therefore call upon one and all to resist such fascist trends:<\/p>\n 1). Stop<\/b>\u00a0unwarranted government intrusion on your <\/i>right to privacy; read Five ways to stop the NSA from spying on you<\/a>, <\/i>by Timothy B. Lee.<\/p>\n 2). Share <\/b>my post for the edification of folks you care about.<\/p>\n 3). Support<\/b> whistle-blowers; read <\/b><\/i>Maggie Severns\u2019 interview with an expert psychologist who’s not<\/i> a CIA mouthpiece, What Really Drives a Whistleblower Like Edward Snowden?<\/i><\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n 4). Learn<\/b> how to be a smart whistle-blower without being ID’d by the government or corporation you’re exposing; read Hear Ye, Future Deep Throats: This Is How to Leak to the Press<\/i><\/a>, by Nicholas Weaver.<\/p>\n 5).<\/b> Sign<\/b> the petition seeking to pardon Snowden posted on the White House website Sunday June 9, 2013, at: https:\/\/petitions.whitehouse.gov\/petition\/pardon-edward-snowden\/Dp03vGYD<\/a><\/span><\/span>. Government staff promise to review petitions that receive 100,000 signatures in a month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Lady Passion Recent near-daily T.V. news reports have revealed the extremes that the U.S. government is willing go to in order to demonize domestic whistle-blowers \u2014 those who act as oversight to benefit citizens by exposing an organization\u2019s wrongdoing. … Continue reading