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Comment by allovernow | Hacker News Reader

> Of course they will be convicted of corruption or misconduct or something

What? No such thing will happen. This is an authoritarian regime. The government will never admit wrongdoing. They'll attempt to sweep it under the rug and continue operating with a "perfect" record.

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> What? No such thing will happen.

We're already seeing it happen with Beijing blaming the mishandling of the virus outbreak on local authorities in Wuhan. The people are rightfully looking for a witch to burn, and the CCP will give them one that doesn't upset their hold on power.

Authoritarian regimes often punish scape goats to appease public.

Thats a known tactic of authoritarian regimes. And people don’t get it, they’re brainwashed and powerless

It's human nature and isn't unique to authoritarian societies. People prefer to know that a problem was caused by a villain rather than a systemic failure.

Authoritarians are particularly good at getting people to take the blame.

> Authoritarians are particularly good at getting people to take the blame.

Everyone is guilty of something, you can get people to take the blame for things they didn't do even in a democracy.

"Most of the defendants were persuaded that they had repressed memories of the crime."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Six

Good point. I hadn't considered that. What a terrifying way to live - serving your government knowing that at any point you may be thrown under the bus for following orders.

As long as you're not the scapegoat you're in a position of power relative to the proles, though.

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Vindman

Indeed, I feel terrified these days. I'm old enough to have seen various administrations, but nothing quite like this in scope and quantity.

Which orders did Vindman follow and later was punished for, exactly? I would actually put Snowden as an example of a regime punishing the whistleblower.

Snowden didn't follow the orders to the letter and then get punished. He wasn't a scapegoat for following a broad government policy which later became inconvenient/unpopular. He became an enemy of the state for opposing a government policy.

Snowden famously avoided any type of punishment by fleeing. Vindman was fired but will surely land on his feet somewhere.

> Vindman was fired but will surely land on his feet somewhere.

Was he "fired" or just reassigned? As far as I understand he is still an officer in the armed forces.

The admin is now making noise about 'disciplinary action' against him, I read just now. That seems to be very recent, so we'll see if it's the full story.

FWIW, his brother was turfed out, too.

Did you ask that same question above about Snowden? Like “what orders did he follow”?

If we are talking about whistleblower protection, it should be same whether the delivered news is favorable to you/us or not

> it should be same whether the delivered news is favorable to you/us or not

The question is usually "is it favorable to the CIA/NSA or not?".

Favorable (Vindman/Cia<mare>lla) -> whistleblower

Unfavorable (Snowden) -> leaker

whistleblower, working for a non-spy org, reporting what he believes to be illegal conduct to congress one one side.

second is a guy who stole secrets he wasn't even supposed to have access to, ran with it and leaked to a russian mob controlled outlet.

whatever

> reporting what he believes to be illegal conduct to congress one one side.

“Former” cia analyst that was directly involved in the events being investigated by the administration is reporting through his friends to an associate in Congress about an “illegal” conduct. Sounds a bit more like covering up former shady deals for his political friends.

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