I agree that we don’t know the reasons he was let go.
But!:
Of course he deserves special treatment for his role in the VW scandal, because of course we desperately want and need to build a society that always actively encourages and never discourages actions like those he took.
– But: Of course the car industry cannot be relied on to give him that special treatment. And we haven’t yet built the kind of society that does.
So it is incumbent on us here and now to give him that special treatment.
Not least to give the signal that we will help you if you help us. Keep you safe. To remove doubt of that. As it stands, that doubt has increased, and the expectation that the auto industry will retaliate has increased, so on the table there is less apparent safety to do what he did.
That’s not how this world works. Whistleblowers have their lives ruined, almost uniformly. Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, William Binney, Jesselyn Radack, Frank Ford, Joe Darby.
May I ask you to compare your comment with this quote from my comment: “And we haven’t yet built the kind of society that does”.
Would you agree that there are indications that you did read too fast? – The necessity of world-building and world-shaping is the core of what I was attempting to convey.
You have hope for change in this regard. I don’t. I’m not just saying that we don’t live in that society, but that we never will. People don’t like those who hold to their principles over their fellows and people aren’t changing.
But!:
Of course he deserves special treatment for his role in the VW scandal, because of course we desperately want and need to build a society that always actively encourages and never discourages actions like those he took.
– But: Of course the car industry cannot be relied on to give him that special treatment. And we haven’t yet built the kind of society that does.
So it is incumbent on us here and now to give him that special treatment.
Not least to give the signal that we will help you if you help us. Keep you safe. To remove doubt of that. As it stands, that doubt has increased, and the expectation that the auto industry will retaliate has increased, so on the table there is less apparent safety to do what he did.