Before Edward Snowden
Thomas Drake Showed What Happens to Legal Whistleblowers
"If there hadn't been a Thomas Drake, there couldn't have been an Edward Snowden."
-Edward Snowden
Most know about Edward Snowden, the man who broke the law by leaking secret documents to expose illegal government overreach, but not the man who preceded him, Thomas Drake, who chose to take the legal route.
Snowden critics argue that instead of leaking classified documents (an arbitrarily enforced crime), he should have taken his concerns “up the chain of command” and “through the proper channels”. Well, despite going the legal route, Drake was smeared as a “traitor”, framed by government prosecutors, and faced life in prison.
Unfortunately, YouTube is suppressing this story. Today, it emailed me its ruling that my documentary “isn’t suitable” for advertising.
Deeming Drake’s true story, with no profanity or graphic images, “not advertising friendly” is super sketchy. After all, CBS’s 60 Minutes coverage of Drake’s story aired among abundant advertising on broadcast television in 2011.
As YouTube continues to wrongfully demonetize my channel, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to Orf.Report here on Substack!
UPDATE:
Please support my work by becoming a paid subscriber!
This is the best argument I know for subscription based content.
I’ve successfully purged my life of advertising for decades now. I’ve developed an allergy to it because it’s so ugly, so vulgar. But its more nefarious effect is how it is used to control creativity. So, I’m grateful for the opportunity to pay for your work and at the same time give YouTube a well deserved pass.