4 Ways Deception is Hidden in Plain Sight

Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash

As a journalist, I am honored to be trusted with a lot of heartbreaking stories. But the part of the job that I’d call “fun” is the part when I get to uncover something that someone intentionally hid. Sometimes they hid it to be able to continue doing harm. Sometimes they are worried the information would hurt an organization’s reputation. In many cases, the act of hiding the information creates a deception. In my work, I see such strong patterns of how information is hidden that it now seems obvious.

In this post, I’ll include ways the truth is hidden, and principles you, as a whistleblower, advocate, or courageous leader can use to uncover the lies.

First, deception is:

1. Hidden in authority

   While authorities can use their power for good, they can also use it to obscure the truth. Lawyers who are tasked to uphold the law can try to squash whistleblowers’ and journalists’ ability to tell the truth with intimidating-sounding cease and desist letters, nondisclosure agreements, and legalese. Similarly, Christian leaders sometimes use deeply-held Christian values like trust, obedience, and forgiveness to silence dissenters.

   Expertise itself can be leveraged to obscure fraud. For example, Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff had testified before Congress, and spoken as an expert for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC was the government entity to which whistleblower Harry Markopolos made several reports of Madoff’s suspected fraud. But the SEC, which held Madoff to be an expert, ignored many of these reports and generally failed to hold Madoff accountable from defrauding his clients of almost $65 billion.

2. Hidden in gestures (that don’t make much of a difference)

   Often leaders simply deny the need for change when whistleblowers speak up about problems. But sometimes, they’ll concede small changes or posture like they care, while hiding the magnitude of the problem from the public.

   Jason Martin, a whistleblower, advocate, adjunct professor, and social scientist, told me that organizations can avoid the hard, disrupting work of real change by offering “satisficing” behavior.

   “Institutions are very good at saying, ‘Okay, we're listening,’” Jason said. “But you kind of know what they're really doing is they're listening and changing enough so that they can continue to have the model that they have without being disrupted.”

   (For more of Jason’s thoughts, read my previous post on the 5 Haunting Questions Whistleblowers are Asking.)

3. Hidden in charisma

   The term “grooming” often applies to an abuser offering special treatment to a victim, gaining their trust, and slowly breaking down boundaries. But individuals can also groom a community to trust them, Pete Singer, executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment recently told me.

   “So often, they put significant amounts of time into presenting themselves as exactly the kind of person that would make you say, ‘Well, they would never do that,’” he said.

4. Hidden in success

   Success can both hide problems happening under the surface and it can also motivate leaders and board members from being willing to deal with concerns in a transparent manner. For example, the CEO who is accused of toxic leadership may also be the one who successfully brings in major donors to keep the ministry going. It’s easier for a board to believe their successful CEO’s version that the disgruntled former employee inappropriately failed to trust his leaders than to hear the whistleblower’s cries for help with the CEO’s bullying.

However, truth is:

1. Found in evidence

   Documentation, legally-recorded meetings, public records, firsthand testimony, collaboration with other witnesses, and good journalism can be a whistleblower’s strongest tools to overcome the illusions of authority.

   That’s what Carson Weitnauer, a former Ravi Zacharias International Ministries staffer, said at a recent Restore conference. He said he really wanted to believe that journalist Julie Roys was a liar. But Julie Roys’ documentation showing Zacharias’ sexual misconduct toward Lori Anne Thompson soon poked holes in everything Weitnauer thought he knew, that RZIM leaders were telling him, and that two so-called independent investigations and an investigation by Zacharias’ publisher determined, which was that Zacharias was innocent.

   “I would put everything that Ravi and RZIM had told me in one column and I would put everything that Julie was documenting in another column and I got to 87 rows of discrepancies,” Carson said. “I was reluctantly but totally convinced and I felt like I had a responsibility to do something.”

2. Found in integrity

   Leaders who want to join with whistleblowers in bringing out truth can do this with advocating for transparent processes surrounding controversial issues in their organization. Rather than letting the company’s lawyers dictate a response, or a smooth-talking CEO to question whistleblowers’ character, they can courageously roll up their sleeves to examine, embrace the truth, and tell the truth.

3. Found in advocacy

   Whistleblowing is exhausting, risky, taxing, and isolating. But advocates can come alongside them to offer advice, resources, a listening ear, their own voices, and pressure on leaders to make changes.

4. Found in persistent, courageous whistleblowing

   Most whistleblowers have to make multiple attempts to speak up before people will listen and change. They also often experience further trauma from institutional betrayal when their organizations mishandle their reports of abuse. But their persistence is what drives out the lies to finally show the truth.

Sometimes knowing the truth is a burden. Researcher C. Fred Alford puts it this way. “For some the earth moves when they discover that people in authority routinely lie, and that those who work for them routinely cover-up. Once one knows this, or rather once one feels this knowledge in one’s bones, one lives in a new world.”¹

So, truth-tellers, please take care of yourselves.

(Disclaimer: This is my own personal opinion, intended as general information, and not meant to replace legal or psychological advice for your specific situation.)

1. C. Fred Alford, “Whistle-Blower Narratives: The Experience of Choiceless Choice,” Social Research, Spring 2007.