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I personally do, he actually risked his life to release information about the government spying on people. And there are for sure more advanced ways now. Even your phone is listening.
Yeah, I wish he didn't end up in Russia, but it's understandable.
There was pretty much nowhere else he would have been safe from being extradited to the US, if not immediately, then as a political bargain.
Selfless and morally guided actions. He’s the dictionary definition of a hero.
Absolutely.
Definitely.
Absolutely. And those who say otherwise are the real criminals who violate our constitution, our countrymen, and our country. They must be destroyed for the traitors they are
Yes. If there ever was one.
He did good. Would I have preferred he leaked the names and addresses of the people doing domestic surveillance? Sure. But he tried to take it to the press and then got the hell out of there.
The fact he wasn't pardoned also is very stupid. The easiest way to kill Snowden is to pardon him at this point. Its such an easy win win for politicians.
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.
Yep, he is for sure. Probably the reason I care for privacy more now.
What he did was something 99,999999% would be too afraid of.
Oh yes. It's a shame he didn't have the opportunity to leak the Epstein Files.
The embodiment of "not all heroes wear capes". Unless he did or does.
Unreservdly YES.
Absolutely. I might not agree with his opinions but leaks were clearly a net good for the humanity and incredibly hard thing to do.
Whistleblowing is legal. Leaking is not.
He blew the whistle.
Bit of a nuanced take, a trimmed down copy-paste from another comment of mine prior. Tl;Dr: he's a product of the system that left the system.
Snowden was an individual that worked in the intelligence community in the mid-2000s. In this era, the American populace was so afraid of terrorism they signed away freedoms for national security. In this post 9/11 world, patriotism was a given, almost nationalistically, if you were American. It's fair to say that a highly nationalistic media and culture can influence the individual to embrace those mentalities more... even if it perverts your true best interest. Snowden likely viewed service to the NSA as patriotic, and in support of his fellow Americans. While he started off supporting it, he soon saw immorality, and decided to resist against them with what I see as an effective measure. I feel that for most whistleblowers, this logic applies. I wanna say "Good job, but still shame on you for taking the job to begin with," yet this system we're in can cause us to support things we otherwise wouldn't like.
Looking to modern issues: The manipulation of individuals, mass surveillance, leveraging of government by powerful. Critisizim of these was always there, but where it was pointed at and pursued sure felt a lot different after Snowden.
A hero for sure and should get a presidential pardon instead of all the pedos and rapist!
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.
As long as he doesn't do anything wrong in Russia, I'm not going to give him shit for taking refuge.