How Dr. Birx blew it
The role of a whistleblower is a tough one. Whistleblowers must have courage. They also must have deep humanity and a strong desire to see justice done. They must be courageous and strong and hell-bent on doing the right thing.
I should know. I come from a family of whistleblowers. My mother took on a school system that was not providing adequate testing for learning disabled children. My father took on a psychiatric facility that was not providing good care for their patients. He was blacklisted for that and nearly lost the ability to work in his chosen field.
Whistleblowers are people who put their careers on the line because they want to do the right thing. And that leads me to Dr. Deborah Birx.
While I understand and sympathize with how difficult it must have been to work for the Trump administration, Birx should have known better.
This is a woman who is an expert in her field. What did she think would have happened had she spoken up much sooner? Did she not see the need to alert the American People to the chaos and incompetence behind the scenes? Yes, she most likely would have lost her job. But her place in history would have been established.
Instead, she chose fear. Many people who work for the former guy choose fear. It is unfortunate. But for Birx, a woman of science, it just seems particularly sad. Here’s a woman who had a sterling reputation and was a tough and strong medical professional in her own right. She would have had support. It isn’t easy to fathom why she did what she did.
Whistleblowers deserve our admiration. Birx could have chosen to do the right thing. Although she did eventually speak out, sadly, it was too little, way too late.
