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I'm not sure where I'm ignoring any of that but you seem to be saying that because a country can make laws preventing you from whistleblowing that therefore it's borderline irrelevant whether you're doing something illegal or not in order to whistleblow.

That is far too general of a position than what I'm comfortable with. Seems somewhat anarchist to me.

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The reason the government incentivizes whistleblowing and protects those that do so is because without those laws there is a legitimate fear of retaliation. In order to protect itself, the government makes sure that that fear is actualized when whistleblowing on it.

I have to agree with the GP that when pointing out breaking the law is breaking the law, there is a loss of legitimacy.

Laws are usually theoretical until they are broken and tried in court. Even then they are still subject to revision.

This is not anarchist in any sense of the word, colloquially or academically. It's hundreds of years (or more) of legal practice.

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