6 ms·

Snowden is more distraction than traitor

91 points by joelrunyon 13y ago

Trezoid 13y ago
Outing himself so publicly was one of the worst things Snowden could have done. Doing so before he was already in a country which had guaranteed him political asylum was just idiotic. A leak like that one really didn't need the figure-head that the identity of the leaker would provide, and given who he was angering it was only going to make his life painful. A good leak through the right channels doesn't need to be backed by anything. All it needs to do is get the right questions asked to the right people, publicly. If the outlet the leak comes through is trusted enough, it doesn't need the figure head, and it certainly doesn't need a figurehead holed up in an airport in Russia.
- loceng 13y ago
  You think so? He sure seems to be getting a lot of media and people on their toes waiting to see if the big bad U.S. government catches him or not - and then what will follow if a country does give him asylum?
  - Trezoid 13y ago
    That's the side-show distraction from the actual leak. Yeah, people are talking about him. That would be fantastic if he was in it for his own personal gain, but he tried to tell the people of the US that their government was over-stepping the line. Being the story is not helping the story he tried to tell.
    - Shish2k 13y ago
      "Where's Waldo" is a simple concept that most people can understand and have an opinion about. A country spying on its own citizens is an important thing to deal with, but sufficiently complex that most people would rather just ignore it. I would imagine that if even a tiny fraction of the people hearing about Snowden then go in to investigate the spying, then that's more attention than the spying would get by itself.
    - loceng 13y ago
      The mass media putting 'Snowden' in everything, to try to grab some of the traffic, is noise - and that is true it's a problem for the mass consumer. However, the important articles are still circulating, being shared, etc.. it would be good if there was a good way to see them curated in an updated list.
- InclinedPlane 13y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg
- kaonashi 13y ago
  Much better to be quietly disappeared?
sigzero 13y ago
He is not a traitor. He is wanted for espionage. Those are not the same thing.
- maaku 13y ago
  http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Edward+Snowden+traitor http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Edward+Snowden+traitor Let's not be pedantic about legal meanings of words when we're talking about public perception.
chj 13y ago
Love the children and shiny object metaphor.
skc 13y ago
Someone should man up at the next press opportunity to ask President Obama a leading question. Namely "Do you expect people to point the finger at the US Govt should something terrible happen to Mr Snowden"
- alan_cx 13y ago
  What, and risk a NSA file landing on a rival's news desk? Its like the "good old days" of Hoover, but far more efficient and deep in scope. While people continue to behave so complacently compliant, I will continue to assume that any one with any power what so ever is afraid. PRISM works. Heh, even if it technically didn't, the fear of what might be on one's PRISM file is enough. See, even I think I have led a fairly reasonable life, but I would not want somethings public, especially if it meant being judged by right wing christian America. Fed up with being governed by fear.
inthewind 13y ago
Anything but to talk about the real matter. Reminds me of politicians in general. Distract you, and while you're not looking - get away with blue murder. The annoying thing is, _they_ go on about it so much, and it just permeates your mind, and it becomes normalised. I can't help but worry the whole thing is a fabrication, but to what gain? To normalise surveilance? To enforce good behaviour via fear - a panopticon? To shit stir your enemies - mine is bigger than yours? To hush dissent? I do hope Edward is real, he gets asylum and that he'll further release some more gory details. I hope people are rightly shocked and debate the issues, and push back on this. I've yet to really meet anyone in the UK who gives a shit - that worries me.
- pvnick 13y ago
  >I do hope Edward is real, he gets asylum and that he'll further release some more gory details. According to Glenn Greenwald [1], Snowden is now fully out of the picture and that the leaks will continue regardless of what happens to him. [1] https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/351730381478821888 https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/351730381478821888
GHFigs 13y ago
Note that the subject of the article is precisely the thing it's calling a distraction.

91 points by joelrunyon 13y ago

Outing himself so publicly was one of the worst things Snowden could have done. Doing so before he was already in a country which had guaranteed him political asylum was just idiotic. A leak like that one really didn't need the figure-head that the identity of the leaker would provide, and given who he was angering it was only going to make his life painful. A good leak through the right channels doesn't need to be backed by anything. All it needs to do is get the right questions asked to the right people, publicly. If the outlet the leak comes through is trusted enough, it doesn't need the figure head, and it certainly doesn't need a figurehead holed up in an airport in Russia.

loceng 13y ago
You think so? He sure seems to be getting a lot of media and people on their toes waiting to see if the big bad U.S. government catches him or not - and then what will follow if a country does give him asylum?
- Trezoid 13y ago
  That's the side-show distraction from the actual leak. Yeah, people are talking about him. That would be fantastic if he was in it for his own personal gain, but he tried to tell the people of the US that their government was over-stepping the line. Being the story is not helping the story he tried to tell.
  - Shish2k 13y ago
    "Where's Waldo" is a simple concept that most people can understand and have an opinion about. A country spying on its own citizens is an important thing to deal with, but sufficiently complex that most people would rather just ignore it. I would imagine that if even a tiny fraction of the people hearing about Snowden then go in to investigate the spying, then that's more attention than the spying would get by itself.
  - loceng 13y ago
    The mass media putting 'Snowden' in everything, to try to grab some of the traffic, is noise - and that is true it's a problem for the mass consumer. However, the important articles are still circulating, being shared, etc.. it would be good if there was a good way to see them curated in an updated list.
InclinedPlane 13y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg
kaonashi 13y ago
Much better to be quietly disappeared?

sigzero 13y ago

He is not a traitor. He is wanted for espionage. Those are not the same thing.

maaku 13y ago
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Edward+Snowden+traitor http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Edward+Snowden+traitor Let's not be pedantic about legal meanings of words when we're talking about public perception.

chj 13y ago

Love the children and shiny object metaphor.

skc 13y ago

Someone should man up at the next press opportunity to ask President Obama a leading question. Namely "Do you expect people to point the finger at the US Govt should something terrible happen to Mr Snowden"

alan_cx 13y ago
What, and risk a NSA file landing on a rival's news desk? Its like the "good old days" of Hoover, but far more efficient and deep in scope. While people continue to behave so complacently compliant, I will continue to assume that any one with any power what so ever is afraid. PRISM works. Heh, even if it technically didn't, the fear of what might be on one's PRISM file is enough. See, even I think I have led a fairly reasonable life, but I would not want somethings public, especially if it meant being judged by right wing christian America. Fed up with being governed by fear.

inthewind 13y ago

Anything but to talk about the real matter. Reminds me of politicians in general. Distract you, and while you're not looking - get away with blue murder. The annoying thing is, _they_ go on about it so much, and it just permeates your mind, and it becomes normalised. I can't help but worry the whole thing is a fabrication, but to what gain? To normalise surveilance? To enforce good behaviour via fear - a panopticon? To shit stir your enemies - mine is bigger than yours? To hush dissent? I do hope Edward is real, he gets asylum and that he'll further release some more gory details. I hope people are rightly shocked and debate the issues, and push back on this. I've yet to really meet anyone in the UK who gives a shit - that worries me.

pvnick 13y ago
>I do hope Edward is real, he gets asylum and that he'll further release some more gory details. According to Glenn Greenwald [1], Snowden is now fully out of the picture and that the leaks will continue regardless of what happens to him. [1] https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/351730381478821888 https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/351730381478821888

GHFigs 13y ago

Note that the subject of the article is precisely the thing it's calling a distraction.