Whistleblowers: The Real American Heroes

For my Politics Seminar this semester I'm doing a research paper on modern activism in America, essentially examining whether or not activism is dead in America. The screening of War on Whistleblowers really brought this paper to the front of my mind.

During the Vietnam era the release of Daniel Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers added fuel to the already burning fire of activism and protests against the war. But do whistle-blowers today have the same affect on protests and political mobilization of the masses? Where has the activism gone on college campuses?

Perhaps the framing of whistleblowers as unpatriotic/betrayers of our country has severely affected the mindset of the American people. According to TheEconomicCollapse.com, the average American citizen tends to consume 153 hours of television a month. Most of these average Americans consume and believe what the mainstream media presents to them. Assuming no further investigation is done in relation to the news outside of what the mainstream media is presenting, most Americans would be more concerned with capturing and jailing whistleblowers oppose to listening to what their leaks said and how it affects their every day life.

In simpler terms: the mainstream media squashes the American spirit of rebellion by framing whistleblowers in a negative light. This undoubtedly plays a major role in activism. Whistleblowers should be commended. They should be acknowledged as bold heroes not framed as criminals that need to flee the country. Releasing important information that is directly pertinent to the lives of American citizens is not treason it is patriotic. Perhaps if we flipped this perception of whistleblowers as evil or bad or wrong then the American people would start listening to what these whistleblowers have to say and consequently get upset enough to do something about it.