Like Edward Snowden, Benjamin Franklin Was Called a Traitor For Informing the People

[Glink]

Hero? I don't think so; but not sure. However I am damn glad he did it; and hope he lives a long and happy life.

As far as him leaving; probably the right move. His chances of being treated fairly here were probably pretty low.

He lit a fuse that needed lit; and then got the hell away from the blast area.

Seems logical.

 

[FrancSevin]

Hero? Nope, still not feelin' it.

Unless assigned to do so, Heroes don't sleep with the enemy.

 

[Kane]

Hero? Nope, still not feelin' it.

Unless assigned to do so, Heroes don't sleep with the enemy.

Some suggest Snowden took the wrong approach, and should have simply brought his grievances before Congress under the protections afforded any other whistleblower.

Well, that movie's been played before and it has never ended well. Folks that have fought for the attention of Congress (particularly with issues of such gravity) are simply remanded to the dustbin of our national security bureaucracy, never to see the light of day ... or, in Snowden's case, somewhere even less enjoyable.

So, in the view of many, he took a route he felt certain would get the message to the Amerikan People, knowing full well it was at his own peril.

Naive? Probably. Gutsy? You bet. Are the Amerikan People listening? Yep.

 

[FrancSevin]

Some suggest Snowden took the wrong approach, and should have simply brought his grievances before Congress under the protections afforded any other whistleblower.

Well, that movie's been played before and it has never ended well. Folks that have fought for the attention of Congress (particularly with issues of such gravity) are simply remanded to the dustbin of our national security bureaucracy, never to see the light of day ... or, in Snowden's case, somewhere even less enjoyable.

So, in the view of many, he took a route he felt certain would get the message to the Amerikan People, knowing full well it was at his own peril.

Naive? Probably. Gutsy? You bet. Are the Amerikan People listening? Yep.

The ends do not justify the means. Lee Harey Oswald woke our country up tothe fact that Camelot was a myth, a dangerous misconception that our nation was completely at peace. And that our secret service had niavely become complacent to the dangers to which they had allowed our President to be so vunerably exposed.

So given the justification used to annoint Snowden, is Lee Harvey Oswald a hero?

The world just buried a man who went to prison, and stayed there because he stubbornly believed he was moraly justified in his views. Nelson mandella suffered and was eventualy justified in his postion against the governmet by his actions both before and after his release from political prison. He suffered incarceration because of his moral beliefs. Snowden ran to our eneimies. Who willingly exploited him and the data he carried out of the country.

The have more reason to erect a statue to him than we.

 

[Kane]

The ends do not justify the means. Lee Harey Oswald woke our country up tothe fact that Camelot was a myth, a dangerous misconception that our nation was completely at peace. And that our secret service had niavely become complacent to the dangers to which they had allowed our President to be so vunerably exposed.

So given the justification used to annoint Snowden, is Lee Harvey Oswald a hero?

The world just buried a man who went to prison, and stayed there because he stubbornly believed he was moraly justified in his views. Nelson mandella suffered and was eventualy justified in his postion against the governmet by his actions both before and after his release from political prison. He suffered incarceration because of his moral beliefs. Snowden ran to our eneimies. Who willingly exploited him and the data he carried out of the country.

The have more reason to erect a statue to him than we.

All well and good, but the Amerikan people should not have to wait 27 years for the truth to come out about their own government's domestic surveillance misdeeds.

Neither should anyone be killed or made to disappear in exposing the truth. In confronting the dark powers of NSA and our CIA, Snowden risked both. As it worked out, he is alive and well in another country, negotiating to find amnesty in one that is warmer.

 

[FrancSevin]

All well and good, but the Amerikan people should not have to wait 27 years for the truth to come out about their government's domestic surveillance misdeeds.

No argument there. But are you saying the only way for the truth to be exposed was for someone to tuck secrets under their arm and, with that as a barganing chip, head to the comfortable sanctuary of our eneimies?

Am I glad the secrets were exposed? Yes. But the way it was done was not worthy of hero status. It equates to a deathbed confession. Useful for the facts but hardly heroic.

Heroes generaly sacrifice greatly to acheive such status.

Breightbart stayed here and likely died for it. But, by comparison, his actions were heroic.

 

[waybomb]

Yes, the way Snowden did it seems to be the only way.

Have a better idea?

He did sacrifice greatly. He is no longer allowed home, and probably has a bullseye on his back for some CIA assassin to fill.

 

[Kane]

No argument there. But are you saying the only way for the truth to be exposed was for someone to tuck secrets under their arm and, with that as a barganing chip, head to the comfortable sanctuary of our eneimies?

Am I glad the secrets were exposed? Yes. But the way it was done was not worthy of hero status. It equates to a deathbed confession. Useful for the facts but hardly heroic.

Heroes generaly sacrifice greatly to acheive such status.

Breightbart stayed here and likely died for it. But, by comparison, his actions were heroic.

(see my edit above)

If Snowden had done as you suggest, he too would be dead or 'missing'. If he had begun exposing NSA anywhere within its grasp, on Amerikan soil or elsewhere, all that we would know of him is a one-paragraph obituary in a Hawaiian newspaper earlier this year.

My guess is he will end up on a beach in neutral Brazil, more like he had probably pictured when his patriotic saga began.