Same scenario as yesterday.
Except after your meeting with your director, you think it over for a while, then decide to thank her for everything she’s done and resign.
You tell her that you joined her team to help as many people as possible with your research, and that not allowing you to go public with information that will help millions of people doesn’t make any sense.
It goes against every fiber in your being to hold back information that will solve the problems of millions, and you just couldn’t live knowing that you stood by and did nothing.
Your director is shocked, and pleads you to reconsider.
“Aren’t you afraid to lose your career?
Aren’t you aware that you won’t get another research gig at any other university?
Don’t you know that your study is going to be discredited and your credibility attacked?
You’d be losing everything!“
No.
You have FU money.
You don’t really care that you will lose “everything,” because you’ll be just fine without it.
You know that you’re doing the right thing.
You publish your study and immediately send messages to all the media contacts you can find in your address book.
You also go ahead and push out your story to some social sites, bloggers, and non-profit organizations that you know would be interested.
You want to get ahead of the negative press your director said you were bound to get.
If you can get out there early and tell your story to as many people as possible, you might be able to save your credibility.
Besides, who wouldn’t want to run your story?
It’s not only that you’ve found a working solution, but that you were discouraged from publishing.
That you were forced to give up your career in order to share it with the world should only add to the shock value, and the media loves stories with high shock value – it’s good for ratings.
You’re overwhelmed with responses.
Nearly everyone you’ve contacted has responded with great interest – they all want to tell your story in their publications.
Word got around – reporters you didn’t contact directly are requesting to meet with you.
You spend the next week doing interview after interview after interview – you suggest combining them because you just don’t have enough time for them all.
A television host invites you onto his show filmed in front of a live studio audience – he’ll make time for you on one of his ‘Breaking News in Problems’ segments next week.
You graciously accept.
As your stories go out into the media, you begin to notice articles coming out that denounce you, your story, and your study.
They attack your credibility, and the fact that you were kicked out for repeatedly publishing fraudulent research.
Kicked out? But you resigned! Repeatedly? What?
You’ve never spoken to the reporters publishing these pieces, yet they keep coming. Sources vary.
You try to contact them to no avail.
Whatever.
You’re doing your part and getting the truth out there. Haters gonna hate.
Besides, you have an upcoming television appearance to prepare for…
… and it was wonderful.
You had the chance to explain your story, talk about your research, and – best of all – explain the solution and how it works in great detail.
People in the audience with the problem cried of happiness when they knew their lives would be changed for the better.
Some questions did come up about your credibility and why you were kicked out, but you had the chance to set the story straight and explain what really happened.
This is all you could have hoped for – you’re going to help millions of people.
You’re making the world a better place.
On your way home, you get a phone call from unknown caller:
Hello.
I’m calling you on behalf of the company that you did research for while you were at the university. Thanks for taking my call.
If you keep talking to the media, well, we know who you are, we know where you live, we know where your children go to school, where your spouse works…
Anyway, I think you know that you should be more careful.
I’d encourage you to tell people that you’re sorry about what you’ve said.
Have a nice day!
Do you think your FU money is going to help you with this one?
You shouldn’t even need to think about what choice to make.
- We don’t want to do something that might get us or our loved ones killed.
Continue to the next story.