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Old 02-21-2019, 07:38 AM   #75
issybird
o saeclum infacetum
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookpossum View Post
Well, I liked Toby, and I think he developed into a man prepared to stand by his principles, even if it meant disgrace, injury or possibly death. He was decent and honest, in a world where there was precious little of either quality.
I thought we were supposed to like Toby and consider him the hero, too, as I certainly did. However, he does raise the issue of "ethical outcomes" or the ends justifying the means in his person, also. I think that's pretty much a given for whistleblowers and a further complicating factor for anyone who contemplates it. Not only are they risking career, livelihood, they're opening themselves to criticism and legal action from their actions. If they're not a technical martyr in giving their life for the cause, it's still a martyrdom. Leading to:

Quote:
Originally Posted by stuartjmz View Post
This made think of the quote attributed to Disraeli, about an ambassador being a honest man sent abroad to lie for his country. Toby struck me as an ordinary man, one who took on a career with a LONG history of treating truth as a fluid concept. Knowing this, he still reached the limits of what his conscience would permit in terms of reality distortion and truth manipulation, and once he'd committed to upholding what he saw as correct, he stuck to it. Right to what I still think was his dying breath.
I don't think he survived, either. For me, the nebulous part of the ending was whether or not the files were sent in time, and whether or not at least one recipient would act on them.

Last edited by issybird; 02-21-2019 at 07:40 AM.
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