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I wish him all the best. He's done many countries a great service. He inspired the search for truth and he made us realise that our politicians (and technology
by scrrr 13y ago
I wish him all the best. He's done many countries a great service. He inspired the search for truth and he made us realise that our politicians (and technology providers) are a bunch of disgusting LIARS.
I hope that he will be able to have a good life in Russia, in peace and security. And that his deed will inspire future whistleblowers.
- pjmlp 13y ago> ... our politicians (and technology providers) are a bunch of disgusting LIARS. I never thought otherwise.
- zepolud 13y agoIt's safe to assume that most of us accepted that the mass surveillance programs existed. This doesn't diminish the importance of what Snowden did. It was more of an emperor-has-no-clothes moment than some unexpected, shocking revelation. It forced a lot of people to stop avoiding the problem and to actually start talking about it openly.
- pjmlp 13y agoI think Snowden has lots of courage for doing what he did, specially since it is the type of revelation that may cost him his life. I have been downvoted already on the parent post, but coming from an European country that experienced dictatorship for 41 years, I have a tendency to not believe in politicians. Many fellow Europeans had to endure similar governments in the last century. So how could in the land of free, citizens expect it would be any different?!
- antitrust 13y agoWhat should we have in place of politicians? It's a serious question.
- pjmlp 13y agoI really don't know. However tries to change the system, either becomes one of them or ends up being forced to leave with consequences from not playing with the rest of the gang.
- antitrust 13y agoThis question fascinates me. Everyone seems to hate politicians, yet we rely on them. And in theory, they're acting as our proxies. Why does this seemingly good situation turn out so badly? (I don't know, per se. I know a number of theories. I'm mulling them over, like a fine wine or whisky or whatever it is that one mulls.)
- chiph 13y agoClassic joke, even more true today: "How do you know when a politician is lying? He opens his mouth."
- mikemoka 13y agoGranting asylum to Snowden will just influence relations between US and Russia,and is not done to be coherent with previous standings of the country on the topic of human rights,almost always different. We have to be careful not to associate concepts like "freedom of speech" and "example of democracy" with countries like Russia, given the actual situation the people there live under I am not sure we can say Russia holds human rights in the highest regard in my opinion.
- ihsw 13y agoExactly, imagine how the situation would've played out if Snowden were gay (or a woman).
- rfctr 13y agoLet me think... it would be... the same?
- steveklabnik 13y agoI think they're referring to this: http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/latest/17811861/russias-putin-signs-gay-propaganda-ban-into-law/ http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/latest/17811861/russias-p...
- ambientwhsiper 13y agoLet me think... you're a fucking idiot. There.
- kostyakow 13y agoI don't think anything would be different if he was a woman.
- SimHacker 13y agoHow deftly you dodged half of the question. What if he were a gay woman?