In April 1975, Lionel Rosenblatt and Larry Craig Johnstone, both U.S. Foreign Service officers, flew from Washington, D.C. to Vietnam to organize the rescue of South Vietnamese citizens who had helped the foreign service during the Vietnam War. South Vietnam was about to fall to the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces that waged a decades-long war to end the foreign rule of their country and establish a Communist government.

According to a New York Times obituary for Rosenblatt last month, the two officers believed the American government was doing far too little to protect people who had put themselves at risk to help Americans. Once their government fell, they would be liable to retribution from the victors of the war.

Upon arriving in Vietnam, Rosenblatt and Johnstone learned that their plan had been discovered and that they would likely be arrested. Immediately, they disappeared into the woodwork and began contacting the 400 to 500 people with whom they had worked. Within a week, they helped transport about 200 Vietnamese away from danger.

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Curiously, the American Foreign Service honoured the pair with its Constructive Dissent Award for going against the grain to perform a valuable service within the system. I say “curiously” because many organizations scorn those who disobey orders or otherwise break ranks to perform actions that serve the common good.

Some time ago, an executive in a large organization told me in no uncertain terms that he regarded whistleblowers as deeply immoral people. As a journalist, that remark stuck with me. Journalists rely heavily on people within organizations to provide information about illegal or immoral activities within their institutions. The goal is not sensationalism but the public interest. Without whistleblowers, many scandalous activities would remain hidden.

For those at or near the top of institutional hierarchies, protecting the reputation of the organization is a top priority. Those who make its dirty work public are seen as betraying a sacred trust.

In the Catholic Church, the first victims of clergy sexual abuse who made their stories public took a risk in coming forward. Many did not believe their accounts. Who could accept that Father So-and-So, the kind, charismatic pastor, would stoop to such depths? The supposed victims must be out to get some money or to make the Church look bad.

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In fact, that was rarely the case. Those who came forward had suffered grievously from the abuse they experienced. Mainly, they sought justice.

Yet those who tell an inconvenient truth – whether as abuse victims or as whistleblowers or as heroic rescuers like Rosenblatt and Johnstone – are often stigmatized and their careers ruined. Even if they remain with their company, they are typically marginalized. They are victims of a herd mentality. Other firms or institutions are unlikely to hire known whistleblowers.

In the current controversy over contracts awarded by Alberta Health Services to private companies, Globe and Mail reporter Carrie Tait, who brought apparent irregularities to public attention, has been stalked and subjected to secret surveillance. Others who questioned the contracts have had their personal lives scrutinized by private investigators.

People with various forms of power will sometimes go to great lengths to persecute those who shine the light on their questionable actions. As long as they can operate in darkness, their misdeeds will be ignored, downplayed or even explained away. Yet those who speak out against the abuses of power deserve applause for their moral courage. They are willing to risk scorn and mistreatment for the sake of the truth.

The attempted coverups of one’s moral transgressions and the persecution of those who reveal them testify to the reality of conscience. Those who put their desires before the common good may attempt to rationalize and deny their guilt, but they cannot even flee from themselves. Their conscience haunts them, but they will go to great lengths to cover their tracks from both themselves and others.

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Then there are others who are characterized by moral indifference, such as the long-ago American ambassador to South Vietnam who was deaf to Rosenblatt’s and Johnstone’s pleas to rescue those who had helped the U.S. foreign service in a time of war.

Conscience and morality are among the greatest attributes of human beings. They raise us above the level of instinct and self-preservation. To this day, the American Foreign Service honours those who dissent constructively. That approach counters the marginalization often experienced by those who follow their consciences to shine the light of truth where others want to bury or ignore it.