by Jamin Craig | Nov 12, 2014 | News Slider
Lipscomb University’s HumanDocs Film Series picks up again this week with the political documentary, “Silenced”. The film follows three whistleblowers: one in the NSA, another in the CIA and the third in the Department of Justice. These three people saw questionable practices being committed by the government and decided to draw attention to them. It is a story of dealing with the backlash of government superiors when calling attention to a potentially bad practice. Ted Parks, one of Lipscomb’s Spanish professors and head of the Lipscomb Human Docs Film Series, says these three people did not agree with the moral values of the government system put in after Sept. 11, 2001. Specific issues covered in the film include civil liberties and the use of torture and waterboarding. Parks goes into detail about what a whistleblower actually does. “A whistleblower is a person in some kind of organization who sees practices that are illegal or unethical or out of character with the institution,” Parks said, “And because of that, feels like he or she has to call attention to those practices with the hopes that they get stopped.” “It’s a very precarious position to be in, because often your superiors may be the ones involved in these practices, and you just as a personal conscience say ‘Hey, this is not right, and I can’t keep doing this.’” After the film screening, Parks will introduce a panel of guests to reflect on the film with a question and answer session. The panel will include an ethicist, an attorney representing whistleblowers, a counselor and a political science/history professor. “I’m really grateful that...
