People became ambivalent. Snowden fled eventually to Russia. Some people viewed him less relevant over time as the archive merely trickled out. When he fled to Russia, he looked less like a martyr and more like a national security information leaker or spy like Robert
A lot of what sounded extraordinary in 2013 is now baked into everyday discussion like metadata and mass surveillance. He is also available less for interviews because he is in Russia.
He didn't "flee" to Russia. His passport was renounced/revoked/disabled while he was on his way to the original destination. He got stuck in the Russian airport for a freaking long time in a small room while the govt made sure he can't go anywhere else. Good Lord, fled to Russia it seems.
Easy advice to give as a bystander lacking context (2013!), hard to follow as a "martyr" living in that context. It wasn't even clear whether he'd be a martyr (he could have easily turned the politics around, wouldn't be the first time in the American history).
I was definitely around in 2013. And it was quite clear at the time there will be government persecution for the leaks, I mean that's why he ran in the first place.
If you stand on the path of martyrdom for your people you should be prepared to follow it to conclusion rather than fleeing to the sworn enemy.
Well the sworn frenemy has a crude but fitting idiom for that I suspect you might be familiar with, and Snowden might be too now: пиздеть - не мешки ворочать.
I have huge respect for people that have passed the test of going against their environment and comrades to do what they think is right (even if/when I disagree with it or it harms my interests). You can argue that he was insincere or a double agent (this is definitely wrong), you can argue he's a traitor by endangering people who had nothing to do with it (weak argument IMO), but arguing from an armchair that he must have walked full length is just silly I think. Let's have an extreme and inverted thought experiment to test your views. Imagine someone blows the whistle about FSB's Ryazan sugar [1] today, must he not run and let his head be smashed with a sledgehammer in a prime time TV show?
firesteelrain · · focus · HN ↗
A lot of what sounded extraordinary in 2013 is now baked into everyday discussion like metadata and mass surveillance. He is also available less for interviews because he is in Russia.
Basically bigger fish to fry
unsungNovelty · · focus · HN ↗
varjag · · focus · HN ↗
[dead]
orbital-decay · · focus · HN ↗
varjag · · focus · HN ↗
If you stand on the path of martyrdom for your people you should be prepared to follow it to conclusion rather than fleeing to the sworn enemy.
orbital-decay · · focus · HN ↗
I have huge respect for people that have passed the test of going against their environment and comrades to do what they think is right (even if/when I disagree with it or it harms my interests). You can argue that he was insincere or a double agent (this is definitely wrong), you can argue he's a traitor by endangering people who had nothing to do with it (weak argument IMO), but arguing from an armchair that he must have walked full length is just silly I think. Let's have an extreme and inverted thought experiment to test your views. Imagine someone blows the whistle about FSB's Ryazan sugar [1] today, must he not run and let his head be smashed with a sledgehammer in a prime time TV show?
[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Russian_apartment_bombings#Alleged_Russian_government_involvement" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Russian_apartment_bombing...
varjag · · focus · HN ↗
Cowardice is the greatest of the sins for it begets many of the others. Or if you insist on colloquial Russian: не можешь срать - не мучай жопу.