4 ms·

Snowden should be called a "public informant", not a leaker, whistleblower, etc. Typically, informants are insiders who help police, etc. "Informant" has a pos

Snowden should be called a "public informant", not a leaker, whistleblower, etc. Typically, informants are insiders who help police, etc. "Informant" has a positive connotation. So if the government has their informants: FBI informant, police informant, etc. we the people should have a "Public Informant".

mjn 13y ago
Oddly enough, the term "whistleblower" was coined specifically to avoid the perceived negative connotations of the term "informant": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower#Origin_of_term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower#Origin_of_term
- jivatmanx 13y ago
  Interesting, the negative connotation might have been a legacy of prohibition. It's unfortunate that people don't feel the same about the war on drugs, simply because it mostly effects minorities.
  - jeltz 13y ago
    I don't think so. I have a negative connotation and I am not American. I would more guess it is American propaganda around the war of drugs which is trying to make informant sound like a good thing. When I hear informant I think of organizations like Stasi.
    - klibertp 13y ago
      It's more "collaborator" a bit east from you, "informant" has a more neutral meaning here.
- crazygringo 13y ago
  Interesting. While "informant" on its own has negative connotations to me (rat, disloyalty, etc.), "public informant" actually sounds nice, because it's understood to be in the public's interest. For me, Snowden's actions are beyond mere whistleblowing, and the term sounds restrictive, almost trivial to me. He hasn't revealed a few broken laws or certain instances of corruption. Instead, he's revealing to the public the kinds of fundamental information we should have had all along, in a properly functioning democracy -- and this is far more important. I like the idea of having an additional term for the likes of Snowden, or those who revealed the Pentagon Papers, and so on.
lubran 13y ago
No he's not, he is a traitor and belongs in jail.

mjn 13y ago

Oddly enough, the term "whistleblower" was coined specifically to avoid the perceived negative connotations of the term "informant": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower#Origin_of_term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower#Origin_of_term

jivatmanx 13y ago
Interesting, the negative connotation might have been a legacy of prohibition. It's unfortunate that people don't feel the same about the war on drugs, simply because it mostly effects minorities.
- jeltz 13y ago
  I don't think so. I have a negative connotation and I am not American. I would more guess it is American propaganda around the war of drugs which is trying to make informant sound like a good thing. When I hear informant I think of organizations like Stasi.
  - klibertp 13y ago
    It's more "collaborator" a bit east from you, "informant" has a more neutral meaning here.
crazygringo 13y ago
Interesting. While "informant" on its own has negative connotations to me (rat, disloyalty, etc.), "public informant" actually sounds nice, because it's understood to be in the public's interest. For me, Snowden's actions are beyond mere whistleblowing, and the term sounds restrictive, almost trivial to me. He hasn't revealed a few broken laws or certain instances of corruption. Instead, he's revealing to the public the kinds of fundamental information we should have had all along, in a properly functioning democracy -- and this is far more important. I like the idea of having an additional term for the likes of Snowden, or those who revealed the Pentagon Papers, and so on.

lubran 13y ago

No he's not, he is a traitor and belongs in jail.