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Journalists can't publish information they don't have. Snowden was trusted with state secrets and he chose which documents he gave to journalists. You're righ
by marcoperaza 12y ago
Journalists can't publish information they don't have. Snowden was trusted with state secrets and he chose which documents he gave to journalists. You're right that he can't control what those journalists do with the documents. Just one of the many reasons that passing classified documents to the press (and especially foreign press) is illegal even if you think you're whistle-blowing on illegal activities. And to preempt your argument, going through the proper channels wouldn't have yielded the results that Snowden wanted. One man does not have the legitimacy to make policy.
I'm not paid to post political opinions. I hope you can open your mind and see that there are informed people in this world who don't agree with you.
- adamnemecek 12y ago> One man does not have the legitimacy to make policy. He's not making policy. He's informing the public.
- LLWM 12y agoAnd why do you think he did that?
- adamnemecek 12y agoI agree that his goal was changing policy. Nevertheless he does not have the power to make policy on his own. The power to change policy rests ultimately in the democratic process. And giving the public the info required to make good policy seems pretty fair to me. The public could have chosen/can choose to ignore his leaks.
- Estragon 12y agoSnowden is very explicit that his goal was not to drive policy in any particular direction, only to allow informed, democratic debate about what the NSA is doing. He decided to come forward when he saw that the NSA lies to its congressional oversight committee, which is completely undemocratic.
- LLWM 12y agoThe NSA is very explicit that their goal is to perform legal surveillance to safeguard the security of the US. Since the truth is secret, to believe either party's goals are as they say is purely a matter of trust.
- Estragon 12y agoThe NSA has been proven to lie to its overseers repeatedly over the course of decades while Snowden has been proven to lie to the NSA in order to expose its lies. Personally, I regard Snowden's behavior to be more trustworthy in this respect.
- LLWM 12y agoAh, the good old two-wrongs-make-a-right school of morality.
- adamnemecek 12y agoIt's more of lesser of two evils school of morality.
- LLWM 12y agoAs long as you recognize it's still evil.