3 ms·
> The United States has strong and vocal free speech and privacy advocates who can hold their government accountable without fear of harm Then why did Snowden
by lnanek2 13y ago
> The United States has strong and vocal free speech and privacy advocates who can hold their government accountable without fear of harm
Then why did Snowden have to run away to a foreign country? Why is Manning in jail for 35 years?
- pertsix 13y agobreaking the law
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- guelo 13y agoEven the most repressive regimes have laws that activists are charged with violating.
- anologwintermut 13y agoBecause, right, wrong, or otherwise, he did actually break the law and not in some twisted way that's meant to punish people the government doesn't like. But you are right, it's not a good example. On the other hand, the fact that the Washington Post can still publish what he "stole"(from the gov's view) is telling about US respect for free speech.
- felipe 13y agoChen Guangcheng also "broke the law". So in your logic does that excuses China?
- anologwintermut 13y agoIn that case, it appears that the Chinese went looking for a law he broke to get rid of a pesky dissident. I.e. he pissed them off for other reasons and then they found something. What Snowden did, in terms of the actual act of disclosing massive amounts of classified data, was in and of it self very illegal. And it's that actual act that the government takes issue with, so the situation is completely different. Of course, a major question is do Snowden's motivations grant him an exception to that law or at least grounds of a pardon or such. I'd say yes, though it also depends on what he leaks.
- hitchhiker999 13y agoPlenty of people in wall street broke the law, they didn't go to jail. Nixon broke the law, he didn't go to jail. I think we could probably list a few thousand examples of this. Plus, if he was acting in the interest of the US people, there should have been some protection.