The choice to act to root out wrongdoing or evil out of loyalty or a sense of duty is what whistle-blowing truly is. In the video \u201cCollateral Murder?\u201d published on the youtube channel Al Jazeera English. Talks about leaked raw combat footage in which a helicopter crew gun down perceived threats and cause innocent civilians to be harmed in the process. The crew seems to be over-eager to shoot at the targets and have a sense of excitement from killing, even congratulating each other on it. Is it right to call attention to problems that a company is making or causing? Is it a betrayal of loyalty? In this case analysis, I will show that Mannings acted out of loyalty to the US and that her actions were moral and just. Using the consequentialist tool for moral reasoning, I’ll argue that it was the right thing to do, given the circumstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manning had to act, it was the most moral thing to do, she saw that the US was going to cover up the shooting and the audio completely, along with other files and documents that were not discussed in the video. It was the moral thing to do but was it the right thing to do? Was it a betrayal of her loyalty to her employer? A betrayal of loyalty to her country? Vandekerckhove in his document Whistle Blowing and Rational<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Loyalty around page 227 talks about the problems of loyalty and blowing the whistle on wrongdoings. According to the research he has done, loyalty requires self-sacrifice and without expectation of reward. Manning was expected to know about the horrible things the US was doing and keep quiet about them. Manning was expected to follow the Consequentialism school of thinking by sacrificing their own morals and wanting to do the right thing in order to let the US go on unimpeded by its own supporters. To let these young men and women become so desensitized to killing and death that it becomes a game and the thrill like a drug to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Vandekerckhove’s document focuses on loyalty as if it were an employee in a company. Primarily focusing on how a company’s policies might persuade a member of staff to go along with unsavory business practices because it keeps the flow of work going. Vandekerckhove refers to this as rational loyalty, where a company might have a mission statement or a public motto that everyone can get behind. Only for it to be a front for a double dip into being entirely hypocritical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Mannings’s case, she was to make sure that these videos and documents didn’t see the light of day as they would cause disruptions for the war and stir up trouble for the homefront. The US military puts on a front with commercials, showing them rescuing people and saving the day and family values. But as the video shows when they themselves injured children while chasing that thrill of the kill, they won’t even take them to a military hospital, instead pushing them to the local hospitals. Not even caring as a man is collateral damage in a missile strike. As the video even said, \u201cNot even worthy of comment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consequentialism is the concept of the need of the many out weight the needs of the few. Manning made her choice when it came to this concept where she sacrificed her job, friends, loyalty to the army, and loyalty to the government. In this case, the needs of the American people, soldiers, and Israeli citizens were the meany and she was the few. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would agree with Mannings’s actions as despite following the rules of engagement, the helicopter crew was looking for any possible reason to open fire again and again. It was comparable to a drug addict wanting another hit of their vice. Very painful to watch and understand that their people were dying. The soldiers were getting excited and even congratulating each other on it from this perspective Manning did the right thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Julinna Oxley and D.E. Wittkower in their document Care and Loyalty in the Workplace talk about a different kind of loyalty. According to them \u201cLoyalty should thus be interpreted as a kind of partiality to those one cares for, justified on the basis that one cares for the other.\u201d Manning cared for her country and the people in it. She cared for those who have become desensitized to violent acts to the point of bragging. Oxley and Witt say that loyalty is a product of care and that the value you place on others shows how loyal you are to them. It makes me think of a pet like a dog, you show love and affection and care for the dog. It rewards you with loyalty, as it understands you are loyal by caring for it, it shows its loyal by showing care back with protection and companionship. That sums up what Oxley and Witt are saying. It’s not about a sense of pride or other emotions. Its loyalty through empathizing and being mutually beneficial to both parties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whistleblowing is calling out an immoral action taken by a group of individuals of which the blower is most likely part. By sacrificing themself and showing that they care enough about the oppressed or the wrongness of the actions taken, a whistleblower is a consequentialist by all definitions. Throwing themself and their cohort under the bus in order to bring attention to wrongdoing. Manning took herself down at the cost of everything and the lives of all those who died in the footage, along with the value of a human life that the shooters had lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oxley and Witt also talk about what care and loyalty mean to a worker in a corporate environment. A corporation is personified by what it publicly puts out as well as what kind of products they produce. So by employing caring about their work environment and working hard to keep that public image up they show loyalty to their company and show they want to see the company grow. \u201cWe expect that the degree to which employees are able to adopt the corporation as an object of care and loyalty will vary at least in part along with the variety and richness of interests that the corporation adopts and exhibits.\u201d – Oxley and Witt Pg. 232. By their definition, one could say that calling attention to wrongdoings by the corporation is a form of loyalty and care for others making it a moral action to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manning cared enough for her people and the people of the enemy to do that, for them. She cared enough about the values and the ideals of the US military that when they overstepped, overreached, and pushed the narrative to cover up and to kill she said no. I think those actions are just and right and deserve praise and reward. If those around me started to do questionable things and started to abuse and manipulate those around them I would absolutely call them out on their practices, It is the right thing to do because I care about them and would want them to own up to their mistakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whistle-blowing is an act of care for those who are not only being called out for corruption but for those who are being oppressed by the system that is corrupt. It is an act of care through the self-sacrifice of what one might believe in or the relationships around them. The needs of the many will outweigh the needs of a few. Manning calls out that the government got the impact she needed and those kids who were given no compensation were given it in response. Looking at this issue from another perspective Manning did betray her country and took advantage of her position for something she had sworn to keep secret. She absolutely needed to face punishment for her actions, she not only leaked classified information but also cause major damage to the reputation of the US Army and the US citizen’s views on the war on terror. She exposed how war can make someone numb to its horrors making such an incident more likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if they were never called out if corruption in leadership is never unopposed, then change will never happen, that is why whistleblowing is a self-sacrifice for the greater good and it should be encouraged and praised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The choice to act to root out wrongdoing or evil out of loyalty or a sense of duty is what whistle-blowing truly is. In the video \u201cCollateral Murder?\u201d published on the youtube channel Al Jazeera English. Talks about leaked raw combat footage in which a helicopter crew gun down perceived threats and cause innocent civilians… <\/p>\n