this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2025
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[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 56 points 4 days ago (3 children)

if you plan to whistleblow something, always plan it thoroughly so you cant be silenced by being murdered.

[–] Hazor@lemmy.world 30 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

And make it abundantly clear to everyone that you're not suicidal. Record videos with date stamps. Send date stamped letters by mail to friends, with instructions to retain the letters indefinitely, and perhaps which are clearly marked "to be opened in the event of my death". The letters should say something along the lines of "I am not suicidal. I do not want to die. I am not going to kill myself under any circumstances. If I die, it was not by suicide. I want to live. I have ABC reasons to live. I have XYZ plans for the future." Etc.

Keep multiple copies of the information in multiple locations, and make sure multiple people know where a copy is. Ideally, have a dead-man's switch set up, or someone you trust to do it, to automatically send all the information to all the major news outlets if you do turn up dead, along with a statement akin to the letter outlined above to make it clear you were murdered.

[–] needthosepylons@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm not sure it's in those exact terms, but I think there were a few cases with high levels of preparation. Ended up being ruled as suicides anyway by the courts and the media. Not saying they'll always win, though. But their idealogical power is not to underestimate.

A minister in my country was deemed to have committed suicide by drowning in a 50cm body of water. Strangely enough, all witnesses have committed suicide too just before being heard by the courts.

And it worked. Everybody know it wasn't a suicide, but it changes nothing for those responsible of the murder.

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Didn't the boeing guy pretty explicitly state that he was not suicidal to family and friends right before he died?

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

They think we are so fucking stupid, don't they?

[–] adm@lemm.ee 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

They don't care. If there is no immediate and severe punishment for it then it doesn't matter if we 'know.' In 10 years the only line will be the official one and we'll just look like conspiracy theorists with half remembered facts. They dont think you're stupid, they know they'll get aways with it and they don't think about you at all.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 2 points 4 days ago

I don't think that's it at all. Wealth and power makes people stupid, and in order to keep believing in their own superior status, they have to believe we are stupider than them, which is very stupid indeed.

Like it or not, even "monsters" have to have a model of the world and a theory of mind in order to operate. If they didn't think about us, they wouldn't be able to exploit us. If they didn't treat us with contempt, they wouldn't be able to exploit us. So, contemptuous consideration it is.

It's just that is a poor model of reality, so it's going to be part of their downfall. They are going to keep treating us as idiots until we surprise them by suddenly not acting the part anymore. These abuses are clear and they are piling up. We remember the panama papers and what happened to those journalists. We remember what happened to Snowden, Manning and Assange. This has an undermining effect on the legitimacy of the system.

You don't see the termites until the house is already falling down around you.

[–] unconfirmedsourcesDOTgov@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's a great idea, though in practice I fear you'd seem like Snowden and everyone would eventually coalesce around the idea that you're a traitor because you didn't get assassinated or put into a dark hole to be forgotten.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The point is like Russian point. It isn't just to silence you so trouble goes away that the whistle-blower was involved with. It's to silence other potential whistle-blowers. It's too send a message.

[–] Bacano@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

Yeah I read somewhere that, in Russian culture, the more absurd the cover up story the more insulting it is meant to be for the victim.

Like if someone "shot themselves 3 times in the back of the head then fell out of a window". Maybe Epstein fits into that too

[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 1 points 4 days ago

hmm, true. Which makes it even more crucial to avoid getting murdered.