No Stupid Questions

Yes. If there ever was one.

Without a doubt I think he was a hero. We should build a statue to him at the NSA or Dell HQ - maybe both.

He's a hero. Doesn't matter that it ended up being largely ignored by the public. He was motivated by doing good and sacrificed himself for it. That's the definition of a hero. A former coworker said "who's Edward Snowden?" when he came up. From that moment on, I judged her a moron, and that turned out to be a correct judgement.

Unreservdly YES.

mixed but yes. the govt made an example of him and from the popular standpoint he was serving the people. he also helped GDPR so thats factored in. currently the police state is still winning.

Absolutely. And those who say otherwise are the real criminals

I got in trouble in school for putting free Kevin stuff on my binders, backpack, etc

Hero? From the stance of exposing things that should have been public knowledge, absolutely.

I think he blew up his life to reveal something the general public probably should be aware of, but ultimately didn't care about.

Idk if it was heroic, but it certainly was interesting how he released the info slowly to get catch the government in numerous lies attempting to downplay the truth of the matter. One of the Obama administration's biggest blights.

Just stopping by to say hi to the glowies monitoring this thread. 👋

Hmm... Interesting essay question. I think for the year it happened, yes-ish. Had it been today, it would have been like whatevs, because everyone is giving away their privacy in exchange for some functionally. And so, as I think back on it, it didn't really mattered. I think this could've been debated either way.

What he revealed was worthwhile.

How he did it was fucked.

What he’s done since …. Hasn’t helped his image.

I think what he did was heroic. I don't know for sure that his motives were pure, like I can't see into his soul, or know what his relationship with Russia was before doing it, but all in all I think what he revealed had to be revealed. The NSA were untethered by any sort of oversight or accountability to the public, and they proved beyond any doubt just how completely and totally an agency loses it's fucking mind when no one's watching. I doubt anything changed in that regard - they've probably just strafed into a different shadowy part of the landscape and are continuing with new/improved tools - but it at least taught us all that, yes, the government really is both capable and motivated to spy on every bowel movement and armpit sniff you perform, whether or not you're a suspect in a crime. The mere affirmation that this sort of thing really goes on is worth having.

Damn right he is. He risked his safety and his life (and still does) to make sure we all know more about how the feds are spying on their own citizens.

He's a true hero of the American People, that one, make no mistake.

Without reservation, yes.

Selfless and morally guided actions. He’s the dictionary definition of a hero.

Yes, and I wish him well. Be careful, if you're thinking of anything.

Yes. Unequivocally.

Permanent Record was the first book I ever read (apart from the ones in school and college), and I loved it. His story does inspire me.

In my eyes, he is!

Hero isn't a title for life. His willingness to fuck his own life up to reveal NSA secrets to the world was heroic. Him staying in Russia with everything they've done more recently is decidedly less so.

We want to judge him by absolute categories like morals and convictions. And that's unfair because nobody is that pristinely moral all the time. I get that after his 007-like escape to Hong Kong, he would choose the easier way out now. If that means tacitly approving of Russia's illegal attack on their neighbor then so be it. I think his morals compelled him to release the surveillance secret to the world. And the experience has sufficiently dulled any moral urges. Combine that with a limited list of choices of where else to go. A true superhuman hero would not want to stay where he once sought asylum if that country was itself responsible for hundreds of thousands of people seeking asylum elsewhere. As I said, hero isn't a title for life.