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This may be hard to believe on Hacker News, and you and I might think it's wrong, but most Americans do not like Snowden. They've done opinion polls and more th
by argonaut 10y ago
This may be hard to believe on Hacker News, and you and I might think it's wrong, but most Americans do not like Snowden. They've done opinion polls and more than 60% of Americans have a negative opinion of Snowden. Very very few think he's a hero.
Politicians want him home for a public trial. But if there's a secret trial or he's assassinated, there will be outrage in certain circles (ACLU/journalists), but he won't be a huge martyr.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/04/21/edward-snowden-unpopular-at-home-a-hero-abroad-poll-finds http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/04/21/edward-snowde...
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/edward-snowden-rasmussen-poll-hero-russia/2016/09/23/id/749866/ http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/edward-snowden-rasmussen-po...
- chillwaves 10y agoAnd I think this is ultimately why Obama will not pardon him, because they think it will hurt the democrats politically. Time and again, both sides pick politics over.. anything.
- peteretep 10y agoI'm not sure there's as strong a correlation between current opinion of a public figure, and the degree to which their death becomes a cause célèbre.
- argonaut 10y agoDo you have historical American counterexamples? Regardless, while assassination maybe would be a cause celebre, almost certainly a trial would be politically popular.
- peteretep 10y agoLincoln: "It was only with his death that Lincoln's popularity soared. Lincoln was slain on Good Friday, and pastors who had for four years criticized Lincoln from their pulpits rewrote their Easter Sunday sermons to remember him as an American Moses who brought his people out of slavery but was not allowed to cross over into the Promised Land" From: http://www.civilwar.org/hallowed-ground-magazine/unpopular-mr-lincoln.html http://www.civilwar.org/hallowed-ground-magazine/unpopular-m...
- argonaut 10y agoCiting a 150 year old example is hardly a compelling case. And Lincoln had other things going for him. Like the fact that he was president. If Trump died I'm sure his opinion polls would go up too.
- peteretep 10y agoIf you're going to ask for historical examples, don't complain you're given historical examples.
- argonaut 10y agoI stand by my point that if the only example you can find is 150 years old (and also has literally no similarities to Snowden - e.g. it wasn't even a government assassination or an enemy of the govt), you don't have much of a case.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- lettergram 10y agoYou only need a small minority to believe something. If they believe it loud enough they will create a ruckus. Then the government will have to actually prove all the character assassination attempts. Even though there is no evidence they really have against him at this point. I mean, in terms of being a Russian spy, or an alcoholic or something. Also, remember these are the same pollsters who had Hillary winning the election...
- icebraining 10y agoAlso, remember these are the same pollsters who had Hillary winning the election... No, polls said "more people will vote for Hillary than Trump" - and they were right. The failure was of the journalists and pundits interpreting that as a win.
- argonaut 10y agoNo, they don't have to prove any of the character assasination attempts. They just have to prove Snowden committed a crime, which even Snowden has admitted to.