While I won't claim to know everything about Snowden, I do know some facts about him. Furthermore, I feel that people have too quickly put him on a pedestal. It seems that his actions are still not fully justified in the amount of praise he has received. If someone told me someone was spying on me, I would not feel eternally grateful to them. In the same sense that is really all Snowden has told us. Do I feel warm and toasty for that? Not really.
1.Edward Joseph Snowden, is a thirty something old male born in North Carolina and a former worker of NSA.
Edward Snowden use to work for the NSA, we all know that, until he felt that what the organization was doing was wrong. He believed that the government and its allies spying on normal people was wrong. While uncomfortably true that your government is spying on you, it does make sense. It is the price of multiculturalism we face. How can we really believe that our country is being protected when we let in so many different people in our country? How do we avoid another September 11? When you naturally let in immigrants you will naturally have spies among them or terrorists. Those who wish to destroy our country are not easy to find. Furthermore, how do you protect your country when you can't check out people to find the bad guys? While I can see individuals in the government abusing surveillance, which is highly unpleasant. But, by revealing that the government is doing mass surveillance, will it really stop them from doing it? Will it do anything? Won't they just get better at hiding it? And thus all accountability that could have been, is all loss. Also, what Snowden fails to mention is whether all other countries are doing mass surveillance on there people to protect they're countries.
2. Snowden fled his country and ran to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is a lovely place that was leased out by the Chinese to the British for about a century. However, that lease ended in 1st of July 1997, almost two decades ago. While the people of Hong Kong are not very happy about being owned by China again, effectively they can not do anything about it. Moreover, more importantly is the fact that China has reclaimed Hong Kong for more than two decades. This means the place is very much they're property and can be counted as part of the country of China as much as Alaska is America's or Hawaii. Furthermore, China is arguably USA's rival and competitor. So interestingly enough, Snowden runs to Chinese lands even though he claims he is revealing information for the people.
3. WikiLeaks helped and assisted Snowden in his journey.
Wikileaks is organization that believes in the sharing of information freely regardless of the consequences or harm it may do to country. Also, the extremism group called Anonymous supports Wikileaks. Furthermore, Wikileaks founder and arguably the life breath of the organization is being investigated for sexual charges.
4. After fleeing to Chinese held lands Snowden left to Mother Russia.
There is much to say about Russia and Americas' relation with each other but not enough paper. So a few words are better--- Cold War enemy and very real threat. A nation that was known for brutality that could only be rivaled by Mao Zedong and Hitler. They're a country steeped in death and lack of freedom. Also, Russia is accused of shooting down airplanes and invading Ukraine. It does seem strange that someone who believes in freedom should go to two countries that is lacking in that spirit and also somewhat enemies of America, who would pay top dollar for information about her. Information that the said Snowden has.
5. Lastly, no one really knows Snowden's real intentions.
While many may hail Snowden as a hero, do we really know the guy? Mind you, we never hired him to reveal such information. At the end of the day, he is just a glorified whistle-blower. His actions at best seem very strange and do not seem to add up. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but, his actions are very confusing. All his actions up to now could be taken as a fool, a hero, a traitor to his country, or a genius who plans to destroy innocents for his benefit. Either way, it would seem that Edward Snowden is a danger to America. Implicitly and explicitly. The reason so, is that he is living in Russia with very sensitive information either on him or in his brain. In addition, history tells us that the Russians don't really have much qualms about breaking ethical codes.
So in closing, Edward Joseph Snowden's actions can only be found out in time if what he did was right or wrong. Hero or Traitor. Fool or Genius.
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