I personally do, he actually risked his life to release information about the government spying on people. And there are for sure more advanced ways now. Even your phone is listening.
Yes. Unequivocally.
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before the transition* or before they transitioned* (not sure which one you meant to write)
And before SHE went to prison, I see no reason to say he other than being a anti-trans shit stain. The timing of the transition doesn’t matter at all, a person who is transsexual should be called the gender they know they are independent on if someone is talking about before their public transition. A person is the gender they feel they are and should be called so for any time in their life unless they have specifically said that they want to be called their biological/sexual gender when others talk about them before their transition.
Transgender is the preferred term fyi.
Was going to write these exact words.
Damn right he is. He risked his safety and his life (and still does) to make sure we all know more about how the feds are spying on their own citizens.
He’s a true hero of the American People, that one, make no mistake.
And Europeans, even though many don’t know him, he’s shown how much the US spies on us too.
I consider him a true American patriot.
Nothing is more patriotic than wanting your country to do better.
Implementing drag net surveillance was a terrible decision, and exposing it was truly heroic.
Sadly, Snowden is now in the clutches of Russia who can and does use him as their pawn.
It is easy to say that this is where the EU should have stepped up and given him sanctuary, but that would have been less than ideal for him.
- Europe and the US have close ties with police and law enforcement, while no EU nation would hand their own citizens over to the US, they would absolutely hand over a US citizen to the US if requested.
- During the war on terror, Europe was complicit in plenty of illegal renditions of their own citizens to the CIA, they were then sent to illegal black sites and tortured, plenty of these persons have since been proven innocent.
Given the high profile of Snowden’s leak, the US still want’s him back, and back then even more so, had Snowden gone to the EU, he most likely would have been extradited, kidnapped or even assassinated.
By staying in Russia that was a far lower risk to him.
“The west should have protected him from the west.”
Eh, the EU makes a big deal of freedom, and has stood up to the US in the past, but here there are actual laws and regulations to follow, and if we stop extraditing US citizens to the US, the US would stop extraditing our citizens to us.
Countries in the EU are still occupying Africa. Settler shitheads.
It appears that I am out of the loop on this…
Here’s one example: https://www.pulse.ng/story/7-ways-france-still-controls-its-former-african-colonies-2024072617033075753
Don’t feel bad. Many are out of the loop. The west spends a lot of money ensuring most are clueless to what’s actually going on in the world.
That article made me vigorously expel air from my nose.
What’s the #1 way that France still controls its former African colonies?
“1. These countries must officially speak French”
Did you know England controls the United States? How? England makes the US speak English. I’m super serial! This isn’t a laughing matter, so stop laughing at this matter.
Oh, I had no idea about this…
The colonial tax seems especially evil.
Luckily it seems entirely fabricated like many other claims on that post in Pulse Nigeria’s Food and Travel section
You are answering to someone from a tankie instance, expect their views to be aligned with authoritarian left and take them with many grains of salt. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie
Hey, thanks for telling me, I know about tankies, as well as the instances they run, though I don’t check every user to see where they come from.
I’ll tag him accordingly.
What exactly have I said that wasn’t true?
That countries in the EU are controlling countries in Africa. What else is there you could’ve said that’s not true?
I don’t generally dwell on the libshits like yourself, some will never learn the art of thinking critically, but I would like to point out that the best way to control the population is to divide it. You’re either a fed or unknowingly lending them a hand.
The irony of calling someone a “lib-shit”, over what is, in the grande scheme of things, a minor quibble, in the literal same sentence they talk about how people are dividing the population intentionally to control them.
Lmfao, you’re the one dividing the population you unselfreflective dipshit. Grow up.
Unironically true. Wish we lived in the timeline where war crimes mattered and those war criminal bastards were rotting in prison. Now because the USA let their own war crimes slide, it’s made autonomous killing systems permissible and civilian casualty rates nearly completely ignored as the horrible precedent of today and on. I hate warfare with a passion
He’s at lower risk from the US, but speaking out about Russia would probably be riskier. It’s an unfortunate situation for him to be stuck in Russia and not some other safe country.
I think the Swiss should have offered him assistance in an embassy or Vietnam or somewhere other than Putin’s Russia (which we knew was bad even back then).
Really though, Obama should have pardoned him.
while no EU nation would hand their own citizens over to the US
Europe was complicit in plenty of illegal renditions of their own citizens to the CIA
Make up your mind.
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Nothing is more patriotic than wanting your country to do better.
Is being patriotic and wanting your first world country to do better something heroic?
I think he blew up his life to reveal something the general public probably should be aware of, but ultimately didn’t care about.
Idk if it was heroic, but it certainly was interesting how he released the info slowly to get catch the government in numerous lies attempting to downplay the truth of the matter. One of the Obama administration’s biggest blights.
the news quickly buried it and allowed propaganda to trash his name, usa surely dont want more shit to come out.
Guy gave up his life to show Americans (and the world) the truth, and we as a society just ignored him.
I’m starting to think the world isn’t even worth saving, since this is how the world treats those that want to save it.
Need to just let Dalamud fall already and embrace the next umbral era.
Man I’m too tired to deal with bahamut again. Can we just skip dalamud and go straight to having the first fall to the light entirely?
ignored him.
No we hunted him and he had to hide in Russia.
it’s not so much we ignored him as the government ran a huge smear campaign to discredit him
Yes, 100 percent. The fact that he’s in exile in Russia is because he cannot get a fair trial in the US. He was never a Russian asset, he’s a whistleblower being unfairly persecuted
If he was a russian asset he’d be president today
Or the head of intelligence
He told the truth about the US spying on it’s citizens. I got nothing respect for him.
No he provided evidence. There were people around the globe who knew about the nsa before Edward Snowden and told the truth. There were articles and videos back in 2008 about the nsa backdoor into windows. The only main difference is he, “proved it.” like you know how someone goes, “yeah! well prove it!!!” He did.
There were people around the globe who knew about the nsa before Edward Snowden and told the truth.
There was a whole fucking Will Smith movie about it in the late 90s. With Gene Hackman, and young Jack Black and Seth Green. Enemy of the State.
But yeah that wasn’t proof, either. But it was the closest to people shouting on the rooftops that this kind of thing was, in fact, happening.
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Seeing how little we actually did, I often wonder if he regrets coming forward.
I don’t think you remember https before. Snowden’s revelations kicked off LetsEncrypt and the much broader deployment of https.
https://www.standwithsnowden.com/news/lets-encrypt-and-snowden.html
I think he is a very sad man. He thought americans cared, he thought if americans knew they were getting fucked over they would do something. He thought american democracy is worth fighting for.
He was wrong.
That should make everyone sad tbh
Americans look happy.
that’s because you can’t see their bank accounts.
What do you mean? All that information is available in the next data breach
Ignorance is bliss.
Yes, he’s a hero And he shouldn’t be punished for calling out the he found. Hope he’s having a great day
I think about where we’d be without him, and I think about where we are.
Oddly enough, it’s the same place.
It is not his fault. He raised it several times and proposed alternatives, but the flock continued to choose the same butcher.
There was a site a long time ago called behind the truth. There was an article from somewhere else that explained about the nsa backdoor files that are hard code installed on every windows pc. I knew back in 2008 that the nsa was spying on me.
When the Snowden thing came out I yelled BOUT TIME!!!
What Snowden did was objectively good, and he did so at great personal cost, but you should be cautious about making any living person your hero. His politics seem to lean closer to libertarian nut-job than anything else, and it’s very possible he will disappoint you in the future. Case in point, Glen Greenwald broke the Snowden leaks, and I considered him one of my heros for a time,.but these days he sounds more like Tucker Carlson than anyone else. The point is, admire heroic actions, but don’t make people your heroes.
It’s hard to say he’s a hero, but, what he did was undoubtedly heroic.
If doing something heroic does not make you a hero then what does?
I would say inspiring people. Not that anyone should be held to that standard, mind you; I don’t begrudge Edward for fucking off to Russia. One heroic deed is certainly more than most, and I think the world would be a better place if more people rose to the occasion. But to call him a hero? Idk. I personally wouldn’t.
Can you give an example of someone you would call a hero?
I’d say a well known example is Greta Thunberg. She’s consistently stood up for good things at the cost of her health and safety, and while (no offense) nothing has been at the level of exposing a global surveillance apparatus, she has consistently engaged with the world, rolling each action into her public persona, only to use that persona to garner even more attention to her next action. I know Snowden clearly performed an extraordinary act at the cost of his own health and safety; truly a heroic action. And again, I mean this as no slight, dude did more than most; dude is well within his rights to go live as he wants. But, while I would say that Snowden has a consistency to his message, I wouldn’t necessarily say he has consistency to his action.
Nope. You can do a great deed and still be a shitty person.
Are you saying Snowden is a shitty person? If so, why, what’s he done?
Nope. That goes for everyone.
He’s not. Unless you think taking a job to protect your country is “shitty”
I’m not saying anything. The thread is about Snowden and you said one can do great things and still be a shitty person, so I’m trying to understand what you mean.
No, I didn’t.
Yes, at minimum a martyr.
Watching his disclosure real time while everyone around me ignored it was something else
Yes, at minimum a martyr.
he’s not dead yet.
You’re correct that the word is primarily utilized to describe one who dies but also can be used to describe those who face general suffering or persecution.
Yes, and I wish him well. Be careful, if you’re thinking of anything.
