4 ms·
I wish everyone would wait more than 24 hours before drawing such concrete conclusions. We barely know that much of the story here yet, and I imagine a lot more
by brown9-2 13y ago
I wish everyone would wait more than 24 hours before drawing such concrete conclusions. We barely know that much of the story here yet, and I imagine a lot more of it is going to come out in the next few days (such as his true location, more about his career in the IC, etc.).
In the past there have been dissidents like this where it turned out years later that a foreign intelligence service was behind them the whole time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_and_Mitchell_defection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_and_Mitchell_defection).
I'm not saying that is the case here, but this news cycle is making everyone crazy - just think that we've known this guy's name for only approximately 24 hours.
- dredmorbius 13y agoOne aspect of stories such as this is that the need to spin them is an essential component. Universal surveillance / Assured liberty, to span both sides of this coin, are concepts which can only be sold if people believe in them. There are deep interests on either side of this debate, and one thing they're going to try to do is grab hold of the debate and steer it using language and concepts which are as charged as possible. Plus there are plenty of idiots whole glom onto such concepts and repeat unverified information and sheer speculation. I'm exercising my user-tagging features heavily at the moment (no on HN, clearly, but elsewhere).
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- godgod 13y agoWill you believe ANYTHING the news puts about him? I won't. With a very few exceptions (Guardian) the MSM are suspect. It's all state driven misinformation. The US gov's "trash his reputation machine" is in overdrive.
- praxulus 13y agoThat's irrelevant. Given the scale of the issue, there is almost no way we could confidently come to any conclusion about him in such a short amount of time. You're free to ignore input from the MSM, but you still need to allow time for more facts to surface.
- mseebach 13y agoThe Guardian has the the distinct edge of having exclusive access to the few actual facts in this case. That is a clear advantage, no doubt about that. But make no mistake, the Guardian has a substantial arsenal of axes to grind.
- brown9-2 13y agoBe careful - what you are swearing to is refusing to hear anything that would sway your preconceived notions of what has happened here.