I see a lot of people taking the “we can’t tell you everything” angle as a personal insult, like it means they are trying to say we are too fragile and are incapable of understanding the truth. I truly don’t think that’s what’s happening. Most people, if told something big one on one, wouldn’t completely fall apart. It might be uncomfortable or may even shift our worldview, but we wouldn’t go running around in panic. The issue isn’t individuals. It’s how people behave collectively. Humans are unpredictable in groups. We feed off each other’s emotions (especially fear and uncertainty). We’ve seen this play out before..... Think about COVID. If someone had told ONLY you about it early on, you probably wouldn’t have immediately run out and panic bought a shit ton of toilet paper. BUT once people saw others reacting, it escalated fast. That’s the difference... It’s not about whether you can handle it. It’s about how millions of people react at the same time and also w/ incomplete information. SO when whistleblowers hold back or speak carefully, I don’t think it’s because they think we’re incapable. It’s probably because they understand that dropping something huge without any context, structure, or a plan you aren't informing them, you are just going to trigger a chain reaction. Honestly, it seems more like they’re trying to force movement behind the scenes. Testifying to congress may be them pushing Congress/the government to come up with a framework for disclosure. Because if THEY don’t, eventually someone will come forward who doesn’t care about timing or consequences, and then you get a massive information drop with zero preparation. At that point, nobody really knows how society would react. Honestly I think incomplete information might be just as risky. If you give people bits and fragments, we will naturally fill in the blanks (and usually with worst case scenarios.) Uncertainty like that can spiral just as fast as panic, if not faster. This kind of information not only needs to be released, but it needs to be delivered in a way people can actually process. Otherwise....the reaction to it could be more disruptive than the information itself. submitted by /u/Miserable_Skin9738 [link] [comments]