Posted by
glen ropella on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/The-AP-kerfuffle-tp7583146p7583447.html
[hidden email] wrote at 07/15/2013 01:34 PM:
> In any case, the media fixation on this guy's judgement, training, loyalty
> or whatever is moot at this point. He's a person, so he's flawed. This
> all may have just been a royal screw-up on his part. So what?
>
> The issue should be what was disclosed (even if misguided or accidental)
> and how it relates to the constitution of the United States. It's fine to
> dismiss him as weasel or a mole -- provided collective attention is given
> to these questionable moves at the highest levels of our government.
I disagree. I think the circumstances surrounding his judgement, training,
loyalty, etc. is _primary_ at this point. I have this opinion because I already
"knew" the government was (or intended to) spy(ing) on my every behavior prior
to Snowden's actions. And, frankly, I don't much care. When my government
decides to put me in prison or kill me, it will find a way to do it. Such is life.
What I do care about, however, is whether or not our government is of/by/for the
people or not. The fact that we need people like Snowden (and Manning and
Swartz) is an indicator that it's not. And the fact that we label all these
guys as traitors, terrorists, or criminals for doing the work of the "fourth
estate" is what's wrong. Snowden was encouraged to do what he did, in the way
he did it, by our system of laws and the way we enforce them. The same can be
said of lots of do-gooder law breakers (e.g. filming animal abuse at industrial
farms, medical marijuana growers, etc.). These people feel like they _cannot_
achieve anything from within the system. They feel like they must break the law
in the service of some higher justice. That's the problem.
What Snowden revealed is trivial. The fact that he had to sacrifice his life to
reveal it is non-trivial.
> I'll be disappointed if the conclusion is just fascism: "Do absolutely
> anything to protect U.S. economic interests from harm."
Me too.
--
⇒⇐ glen e. p. ropella
Well they look so pencil thin
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