James brings upon of the greyer areas in life. What are the differences between a snitch and a whistleblower?
It’s another moral dilemma situation as far as I am concerned. You see in reality there is no real difference between a snitch and a whistleblower. Both are highlighting activity that is illegal or immoral to someone.
However in our morally ambiguous world there is a massive difference and one that makes all the difference.
I see a whisletblower as someone who exposes someone’s activities to the harsh light of public scrutiny to benefit society by highlighting an issue and it can come at great cost to the whistleblower himself.
A snitch on the other hand exposes someone to the authorities at no risk to the snitch and of no real benefit to society and, in some cases, could gain the snitch a reward.
To give a more practical example. I like the Jews in the attic test by Joe Huffman. It allows us to take one of our worst times in history and shows there was light even in the darkness. A whistleblower is one that raised the issue of what was happening and made the world aware by shining light on a dirty deed. Although the scale was such that few believed. We have difficulty believing that anyone could be that evil. A snitch informed on the people keeping the Jews hidden and made some money or satisfaction for an inherently dirty deed.
So to simplify. A whistleblower is a snitch who snitches on bad people and a snitch is a whistleblower who snitches on good people. Makes perfect sense.
To bring up to date we can see snitches being recruited everywhere by the government. They advertise for snitches in the media and encourage people to turn on their own. Divide and conquer. They call them PCSOs, traffic wardens, litter wardens etc. all doing a job which brings nothing but misery to the general public. Sure, it’s legal and a few whingy whiny people are pleased. The government is pleased with the revenue and the population is put in its place. A group of ordinarily powerless people are given power to get their own back on a society that laughed at them since they were in school and boy are they enjoying it. Currently, at little risk to themselves, they get their petty revenge. Enforcing the law of a socialist government. As you can see we find ourselves looking at laws and applying our own morals to them and deciding if we want to live by them. Maybe in public we agree to follow the law but in our own mind things are not black and white. The more the government and plod are mistrusted the more likely it is you won’t follow the law and although you may still follow the serious laws you end up ignoring all the rest, including those there for a good reason, but be carefully. There are more snitches in the UK than you could imagine. It’s a socialist pastime. Snitches are bad. There are a lot more snitches than whistleblowers by a massive factor.
So is it really just down to our morals or is it deeper than that? I always thought that true morals meant turning your children in to plod if they had done wrong. Maybe it is but I would have difficulty turning one of mine in to plod if they had broken the law. Maybe 20 years ago turning them in for something trivial would have resulted in a night in the cells and a frightener. Now it’s off to jail and a serious record for life for having a swiss army knife in their pocket. I see myself as a moral person but couldn’t do it. I’d even tell plod it was untrue if they came up about a neighbour’s kid with a knife. Toys I used myself when I was a kid all without killing or maiming that many people. I bet there are quite a few who would do the same. Does that mean our morals have declined?
I think our morals have not declined. I think that we just differentiate between what is important and what is not. This lack of conformance with the law is seen as a sign our society is becoming immoral. However, I think it’s a reflection on our contempt for the law and the lawmakers. Their problem of course is if they make that contempt so total that we do ignore more important laws. The pleasure or financial reward that the snitch and our lawmakers get will not be much good them.
Why do governments think they are the only one with databases and lists?
Declining Morals
James brings upon of the greyer areas in life. What are the differences between a snitch and a whistleblower?
It’s another moral dilemma situation as far as I am concerned. You see in reality there is no real difference between a snitch and a whistleblower. Both are highlighting activity that is illegal or immoral to someone.
However in our morally ambiguous world there is a massive difference and one that makes all the difference.
I see a whisletblower as someone who exposes someone’s activities to the harsh light of public scrutiny to benefit society by highlighting an issue and it can come at great cost to the whistleblower himself.
A snitch on the other hand exposes someone to the authorities at no risk to the snitch and of no real benefit to society and, in some cases, could gain the snitch a reward.
To give a more practical example. I like the Jews in the attic test by Joe Huffman. It allows us to take one of our worst times in history and shows there was light even in the darkness. A whistleblower is one that raised the issue of what was happening and made the world aware by shining light on a dirty deed. Although the scale was such that few believed. We have difficulty believing that anyone could be that evil. A snitch informed on the people keeping the Jews hidden and made some money or satisfaction for an inherently dirty deed.
So to simplify. A whistleblower is a snitch who snitches on bad people and a snitch is a whistleblower who snitches on good people. Makes perfect sense.
To bring up to date we can see snitches being recruited everywhere by the government. They advertise for snitches in the media and encourage people to turn on their own. Divide and conquer. They call them PCSOs, traffic wardens, litter wardens etc. all doing a job which brings nothing but misery to the general public. Sure, it’s legal and a few whingy whiny people are pleased. The government is pleased with the revenue and the population is put in its place. A group of ordinarily powerless people are given power to get their own back on a society that laughed at them since they were in school and boy are they enjoying it. Currently, at little risk to themselves, they get their petty revenge. Enforcing the law of a socialist government. As you can see we find ourselves looking at laws and applying our own morals to them and deciding if we want to live by them. Maybe in public we agree to follow the law but in our own mind things are not black and white. The more the government and plod are mistrusted the more likely it is you won’t follow the law and although you may still follow the serious laws you end up ignoring all the rest, including those there for a good reason, but be carefully. There are more snitches in the UK than you could imagine. It’s a socialist pastime. Snitches are bad. There are a lot more snitches than whistleblowers by a massive factor.
So is it really just down to our morals or is it deeper than that? I always thought that true morals meant turning your children in to plod if they had done wrong. Maybe it is but I would have difficulty turning one of mine in to plod if they had broken the law. Maybe 20 years ago turning them in for something trivial would have resulted in a night in the cells and a frightener. Now it’s off to jail and a serious record for life for having a swiss army knife in their pocket. I see myself as a moral person but couldn’t do it. I’d even tell plod it was untrue if they came up about a neighbour’s kid with a knife. Toys I used myself when I was a kid all without killing or maiming that many people. I bet there are quite a few who would do the same. Does that mean our morals have declined?
I think our morals have not declined. I think that we just differentiate between what is important and what is not. This lack of conformance with the law is seen as a sign our society is becoming immoral. However, I think it’s a reflection on our contempt for the law and the lawmakers. Their problem of course is if they make that contempt so total that we do ignore more important laws. The pleasure or financial reward that the snitch and our lawmakers get will not be much good them.
Why do governments think they are the only one with databases and lists?