4 ms·

Gee, I didn't have an opinion on Edward Snowden before, but now that I know what Matt Damon thinks...

deveac 13y ago
Not the point. He's effectively equivalent to a TV news anchor reading a a teleprompter about the topic, except his message is being delivered to a larger network than many broadcasts and the message itself is less neutral and more sympathetic. This is good from an information dissemination perspective, which has been a massive problem for this topic in the past. It's a sign that the topic is finally starting to grab mindshare in popular culture. That is a prerequisite for many, if not all, of the possible remedies to the problems of govt illegality and overreach.
- gyardley 13y ago
  Shucks, that's terrific. Send it to all your relatives. Now, why is it posted here?
  - deveac 13y ago
    I would not think you'd need me to spell it out for you, but I'd wager it is because it illustrates the penetration of a major technology issue into popular culture. An issue who's presence (or lack of) in mainstream mindshare has significant ramifications for many many tech services (cloud, encrypted comms, email, etc). We've already seen multiple tech services announce shutdown as a direct result of Snowden's revelations of NSA's behavior, and solutions to these problems can't be framed without factoring in public support/lack-of. If you head over to the hackerNews FAQ (I'm sure you can track it down) you'll see that this is eminently on topic. So yeah. It's an on-topic current event illustrating the traction technology policy that is affecting the entire globe is gaining in popular culture. Can't imagine why a hacker would be interested in that....
    - prawn 13y ago
      Upvotes by 86 people in an hour suggests that people think it's of interest.
novalis 13y ago
Trying to paternalize on a subject this central isn't going to work. We are far from the era of central media control supported McCarthyism. If you want to play it like it is unimportant, you end up looking compromised by coming up with no valid counter arguments. If you don't care what others express in a smart concise way and attempt a one liner like that, why would others care about your lateral failed attempt to discredit the source. Stay well.
Jtsummers 13y ago
So actors are out strictly because they're actors. So whose opinions, views or insights should we consider? Knowing nothing about you I guess I shouldn't care what your views are either, clearly you couldn't possibly have any insight into any situation.

Not the point. He's effectively equivalent to a TV news anchor reading a a teleprompter about the topic, except his message is being delivered to a larger network than many broadcasts and the message itself is less neutral and more sympathetic. This is good from an information dissemination perspective, which has been a massive problem for this topic in the past. It's a sign that the topic is finally starting to grab mindshare in popular culture. That is a prerequisite for many, if not all, of the possible remedies to the problems of govt illegality and overreach.

gyardley 13y ago
Shucks, that's terrific. Send it to all your relatives. Now, why is it posted here?
- deveac 13y ago
  I would not think you'd need me to spell it out for you, but I'd wager it is because it illustrates the penetration of a major technology issue into popular culture. An issue who's presence (or lack of) in mainstream mindshare has significant ramifications for many many tech services (cloud, encrypted comms, email, etc). We've already seen multiple tech services announce shutdown as a direct result of Snowden's revelations of NSA's behavior, and solutions to these problems can't be framed without factoring in public support/lack-of. If you head over to the hackerNews FAQ (I'm sure you can track it down) you'll see that this is eminently on topic. So yeah. It's an on-topic current event illustrating the traction technology policy that is affecting the entire globe is gaining in popular culture. Can't imagine why a hacker would be interested in that....
  - prawn 13y ago
    Upvotes by 86 people in an hour suggests that people think it's of interest.

novalis 13y ago

Trying to paternalize on a subject this central isn't going to work. We are far from the era of central media control supported McCarthyism. If you want to play it like it is unimportant, you end up looking compromised by coming up with no valid counter arguments. If you don't care what others express in a smart concise way and attempt a one liner like that, why would others care about your lateral failed attempt to discredit the source. Stay well.

Jtsummers 13y ago

So actors are out strictly because they're actors. So whose opinions, views or insights should we consider? Knowing nothing about you I guess I shouldn't care what your views are either, clearly you couldn't possibly have any insight into any situation.