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You can read some of these posts and chat logs yourself: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-2009-ed-snowden-said-leakers-should-be-shot-th

You can read some of these posts and chat logs yourself: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-2009-ed-snowden-said-leakers-should-be-shot-then-he-became-one/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-200... It's difficult to reconcile the image of Snowden the idealistic whistleblower with Snowden the right-wing Islamophobic security-state cheerleader who wanted leakers to be shot in the balls, from just a couple of years earlier. At least one of these is a manufactured persona, and I don't know which.

__s 7y ago
I don't see a disconnect. For one, people will overlook that he at least made an effort to whistle blow responsibly (& I've yet to see evidence that he failed in that effort). He didn't pass off his information to wikileaks I might think it's more plausible since I myself have gone from wildly left wing youth to libertarian left adult. Recognizing that faith in state is as bogus as faith in religion has great impact on one's political opinions & sometimes I like to dial things up on the internet too
whatshisface 7y ago
>At least one of these is a manufactured persona Why? Can't a person who is naturally prone to fervent dedication change from one ideology to another? I mean, for reference, look at a billion examples of religious converts, or for perhaps a better analogy to Snowden, look at /r/atheism.
- dTal 7y ago
  I don't think it's even a particularly large shift. Both "personas" demonstrate a large degree of in-group loyalty and a desire to hold "traitors" accountable, to the American state and the American people respectively. It's not hard to see how a realization that the state was "betraying" the people could have provoked his change in perception of "in-group".
stordoff 7y ago
I suspect part of the answer is in the first image : > That was intentionally incendiary[...]. Don't take it personally. :D [...] I just wanted to be clear. I'm not really an ugly american. I just play one on the intarwebs [sic]. A played-up personality on one side, and five years of changing beliefs, make this less of a contradiction IMO. Considering the decision to leak may also have triggered him to re-evaluate some of his other views, in a "What else was I lied to about?"/"What else was I wrong about?" sort of way. I don't see any reason why both couldn't be a true reflection of his views at the time.
Throw_Away_5472 7y ago
These are when he already is employed at the CIA. The posts he is talking about are from before he got his security clearance, which was apparently in 2005. The positions appear very libertarian, but not racist or misogynistic. So these are probably things that he continued to post after his pondering, and that he has also outgrown.
domnomnom 7y ago
Islam is right about women. You are called a right-winger if you like or dislike this statement. As for the latter points, it's perfectly pleasurable for someone to go in idealistic/extreme thinking NSA is totally good and leakers are totally bad. Once hired he gets hit with reality which is more in the middle. The lack of imagination-reality correspondence is interpreted as a signal that there are systemic problems (as basically the opposites are true) and he thus undermines the bad system.

__s 7y ago

I don't see a disconnect. For one, people will overlook that he at least made an effort to whistle blow responsibly (& I've yet to see evidence that he failed in that effort). He didn't pass off his information to wikileaks I might think it's more plausible since I myself have gone from wildly left wing youth to libertarian left adult. Recognizing that faith in state is as bogus as faith in religion has great impact on one's political opinions & sometimes I like to dial things up on the internet too

whatshisface 7y ago

>At least one of these is a manufactured persona Why? Can't a person who is naturally prone to fervent dedication change from one ideology to another? I mean, for reference, look at a billion examples of religious converts, or for perhaps a better analogy to Snowden, look at /r/atheism.

dTal 7y ago
I don't think it's even a particularly large shift. Both "personas" demonstrate a large degree of in-group loyalty and a desire to hold "traitors" accountable, to the American state and the American people respectively. It's not hard to see how a realization that the state was "betraying" the people could have provoked his change in perception of "in-group".

stordoff 7y ago

I suspect part of the answer is in the first image : > That was intentionally incendiary[...]. Don't take it personally. :D [...] I just wanted to be clear. I'm not really an ugly american. I just play one on the intarwebs [sic]. A played-up personality on one side, and five years of changing beliefs, make this less of a contradiction IMO. Considering the decision to leak may also have triggered him to re-evaluate some of his other views, in a "What else was I lied to about?"/"What else was I wrong about?" sort of way. I don't see any reason why both couldn't be a true reflection of his views at the time.

Throw_Away_5472 7y ago

These are when he already is employed at the CIA. The posts he is talking about are from before he got his security clearance, which was apparently in 2005. The positions appear very libertarian, but not racist or misogynistic. So these are probably things that he continued to post after his pondering, and that he has also outgrown.

domnomnom 7y ago

Islam is right about women. You are called a right-winger if you like or dislike this statement. As for the latter points, it's perfectly pleasurable for someone to go in idealistic/extreme thinking NSA is totally good and leakers are totally bad. Once hired he gets hit with reality which is more in the middle. The lack of imagination-reality correspondence is interpreted as a signal that there are systemic problems (as basically the opposites are true) and he thus undermines the bad system.