Traitor vs Whistleblower

In the movie On the Waterfront most characters see no difference between traitors and whistle blowers. Even to their own family members, characters show little sympathy for those who "rat" on the mob operation of the docks. For example, after Joeys death his father has a very "I told you so" air about him and instead of mourning he says "If he had listened to me he would have lived longer". He is to contemptuous and cowardly to even stand up for his own son, due in part to his anger at his son for stooling, and his own fear of being called a traitor. A similar thing happens with Tommy, the golden warrior who always follows Terry around. After Terry testifies against Johnny Friendly, Tommy responds to what he thinks is betrayal by killing all of Terry's pigeons. It may be that the characters respond that way because it is the only way of doing things that they have ever known. For Tommy, it takes the death of his brother for him to truly realize the difference between stooling and whistleblowing but most characters never have an eye opening experience like that.

I believe that the difference between stooling and whistleblowing really just comes down to motive. A person who stools will usually do it only to benefit themselves. It could be money, power, protection, or whatever, but the point remains that they are being completely selfish. When a person is whistleblowing, it is to help society as a whole, or really just any group of people larger than themself. If a person brings to light a problem which affects many people takes it to the public eye, they are not tattling but rather doing a service to society which all citizens should be obligated to do. However, if no one is getting hurt by what a person is telling on i.e. victimless crimes such as smoking pot or pirating software, then that is tattling and that person should be shunned.