[email protected] 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 ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
