Lately, news reports about some politicians and their surrogates have been labeled as whistleblowing. But a closer look reveals they could just be snitches. The key way to determine who is what is to look at the motivation.
Whistleblowers, most of the time, feel they are doing their duty or that it’s in the public interest. But often they start blowing the whistle because they have learned they are about to lose their job. Snitches mostly have their self-interest, or they want revenge.
Whistleblowers are employees or former employees who believe they are exposing misconduct in the public interest. They report and then let the law do its job. But a snitch is someone who keeps it going and enlists others to carry out personal attacks on people they don’t like. They like to befriend people and may secretly record conversations to dig up new dirt to run and tell for their personal benefit or to defame an individual.
In a news report, a prosecutor reviewed an official report by an alleged whistleblower. The law enforcement official determined that it was primarily allegations and innuendo. But that did not stop the snitches from making their own laws and enlisting a group of citizens to rule in their kangaroo court of public opinion.
There is a song, “It’s a thin line between love and hate,” and there is a similarity. Whistleblowers have a sense of love, but snitches have a sense of hate and show it in speech and actions. Snitches betray confidence and continue reporting to authorities, sometimes manufacturing new dirt. They are the kind of people who take sand to the beach, doing something redundant, pointless, or futile.
Another news report said there is an upcoming ruling by a special prosecutor. If the law enforcement ruling doesn’t go the way of the snitch, don’t be surprised if they try to make a ‘citizen arrest’. They have already said that they have a right to ‘stand their ground’.
Lawrence Mitchell,
Martinsville
