Engineering accidents are not merely accidents but the result of poor engineering processes and management. Poor engineering processes leading to a failure is the responsibility of the management since they are responsible for how project run and with what processes. Since so many engineering projects directly impact human life (as seen in the bridge examples in class and Therac-25 and Challenger readings) there need to be more checks on engineering implementations because of the severe consequences a mistake can cause. The management also needs to take bugs and failures more seriously than we saw in the big mistakes of the Challenger and Therac machines, if the erosion and injuries had been considered more severe than the management did, the deaths could have been prevented.
Engineers are obligated to speak the truth to an extent. If there are problems that could cause failures in what they’re working on or there are injustices happening, they should speak up in the appropriate manner. The truth/problem should be shared with the proper channels in order to fix the problem and it shouldn’t be shared with the public unless necessary. It is difficult to make a decision about whistleblowing but I think that proper channels should always be used. In the case of Manning, he/she should have communicated his issues with the injustices he was seeing with his superior, following the military’s chain of command, since there are ways for whistleblowers to report abuses. If his superior didn’t listen, care, or was the cause of the problem, he could contact his congressman. There are better channels to release confidential information like through a credible news outlet, releasing information on the condition that confidential parts wouldn’t be shared. This was the case with the Pentagon Papers and can allow injustices to be made public when necessary to fix them without breaching his security clearance. Manning ultimately released sensitive information that could help our enemies which makes him a traitor. I can understand why he felt the videos/information needed to be shared with the public but he shouldn’t have gone about it in the way that he did since he created a threat to national security.
I’m not saying that whistleblowing is inherently wrong, but if it is necessary, it should be done through the proper channels to prevent more harm than the abuses being reported. Whistleblowing can hurt the person who does it but can benefit the greater good and public when they have knowledge of certain injustices. There are some cases where breaking the law can be necessary for the betterment of society and for justice through whistleblowing. Knowledge of injustice is not always a good thing, especially when it is something that you personally, or in general, cannot fix. The government has a lot of corruption but I do not think I need to know everything that is wrong with the government since I couldn’t change it and it is not directly harming me, in general. In this case I’d say innocence is bliss and I wouldn’t want a whistleblower to reveal injustices that I can’t do anything about.
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