Whistleblowers: A necessity for true freedom

https://whistleblowingethics.blogspot.com/2013/08/julian-assange-right-or-wrong.html

Julian Assange is not the first whistleblower or journalist being punished by the government, and he will not be the last case that will be seen. When the government is as powerful as it is, they could withhold information from the public, and some people believe that as citizens we should be informed about all details of our government.

People like Julian Assange believe in the right of knowledge and free speech, and he is being punished for believing in this notion. He has been wrongly punished by being sent to prison and will continue to see repercussions of this harmless deed for the rest of his life.

A whistleblower is a person who informs society about an illegal or illicit activity that someone or an organization has done. This person is usually working at that organization and then gives their information to a journalist who would tell our community about this wrongdoing. This is a very critical and necessary job because it allows for the public to have a full understanding of their government and what they are voting for. 

When the government tries to hide important information from the public it does not allow the citizens to make a fully educated decision in what they are supporting or voting for. All government activities and information should be public if the information is true and does not cause any serious harm from releasing it. 

Julian Assange believed in openness and freedom for all people which is why he created Wikileaks. It was a website that was meant to give the public the ability to know all the information that the government or other powers were trying to hide. This kind of website is vital to keep not only the community educated but also keep in check all the high powers and the government. When the government is left to their own demise without informing the public it could easily lead to a dystopian society with a “Big Brother” type of government. 

The fact that people are being punished for sharing truthful information about the government is very worrisome especially when the data only harms the power. When a person is punished by the government solely because they revealed harmful details about it seems already dystopian. The idea that if something is so powerful that they can not only hide the harm or negative information about them but punish the people who try to find this truth is extremely alarming and should be questioned. The government should not be able to restrict data about its wrong doings as long as if the information would not cause direct danger to anyone. If we as citizens are allowed to vote, then we should have access to all information that could alter our thoughts involving the government. A person who has important information about the government that does not harm anyone and that they believe is true should be able to share this with the public without repercussions. 

Julian Assange believed in this idea of right of knowledge shown by his work to create Wikileaks. Through Bradley Manning, Wikileaks released multiple documents revealing war crimes done by our own side. If another country’s war crimes against our government was released it would not have been approach in the way this was. I question that our government would see nothing wrong with what Wikileaks did if it discovered important information that would help our government compared to harming. It is terrifying that our government has the ability to hide from us whatever they deem not necessary for public view. 

There have been and will be countless people like Julian Assange who were punished solely for educating society about the wrongdoings of our main powers. I hope that the government does not find a way to eradicate whistleblowers because without these people our society would be left in the dark and would most likely devolve us back to more dependence. We as a society have worked to overall educate ourselves to a point where we are able to understand the details of our government and political issues, and allowing the government to withhold impactful information from us is restricting us from growing and learning as a society.     

The Supreme Court

I have very little previous experience or knowledge of the Supreme Court and what they do before watching this video. I have learned about the basics of the Government overtime throughout my history classes, yet this was one of the first direct videos that I have watched that focused on the Supreme Court. I found this video moderately interesting and it was not only a good review but a great new learning experience.

 The Supreme Court works to interpret and amend the Constitution, and I believe this is an extremely important job due to the age of the document. Over time society and ethics change and our rules need to change with them, and the Supreme Court makes this possible. The Supreme Court takes the Constitution and interprets it so that we can relate to it today and keep our history. The Supreme Court tries to keep our rules progressive and relevant while trying to keep our history. It is important to keep our history, but there are many situations where our morals and ethics no longer agree with the past.

Some details of the Supreme Court I was unaware of such as that a term can be around sixteen years or longer. This was alarming to me because I feel that this is too long of a time for someone to have that type of power, and that their work ethics or their opinions may change drastically in that amount of time. Society is changing at an exceptional rate and I believe that we need individuals who are fresher and more representative of the people. This can be done by making shorter terms to allow newer opinions and ideas to be brought into the Government.

 It also raised questions when they said that it takes about three to five years to get used to working at such a stressful job. When he said that you need a few years to forget that you are working there so that you can get work accomplished. This was extremely worrisome because those few years that they are apparently not prepared for the work they still have that power even though they do not know yet how to use it correctly. A few years is not a small amount of time and having someone that is seemingly unqualified for said job for a couple years can do a great deal of damage. When a job has so much power and responsibility having someone, who does not know what they are doing can be extremely dangerous even in increment of three years. I also learned about the history of John Marshall, and the amending of the Constitution to allow for the freedom of slaves. The history of the Supreme Court and the Constitution is vital to understanding how it got to what it is today.

The fact that the justices all disagree with fundamental issues but try their best to cooperate with each other was pleasant to see. I would think that they would all be arguing or talking over each other, so I appreciated the friendliness and cooperation. The amount of work that each justice does is also impressive but worrisome because some things could get overlooked if the person is overworked. I enjoyed that the justices must be public and open with their opinions and actions because they should be due their job is based on the people’s issues. I learned a great amount about the history and the present functioning of the Supreme Court through this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWRoXYRsaeo&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca8qSuWxcG8&feature=youtu.be