General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSnowden: Has your non-support or support of Snowden changed over time?
Has your non-support or support of Snowden changed over time?
Poll below...
20 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited | |
Yes, I started out supporting him - but changed my mind and now I do not | |
1 (5%) |
|
Yes, I started out not supporting him - but changed my mind and now I do | |
1 (5%) |
|
No, I have always NOT supported him | |
4 (20%) |
|
No, I HAVE always supported him | |
13 (65%) |
|
Other | |
1 (5%) |
|
0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided. | |
Show usernames
Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll |

HipChick
(25,532 posts)and now by way of Russia...I'd say my support changed..
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Does this dude even exist?
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)People are certainly emotional about characters from television. Very simple minded really.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)For those that still don't get why this is so important - see The Young Turks video linked here at DU.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017129956
Kolesar
(31,182 posts)And his story did not shake out satisfactorily. Paulbot, Greenwaldbot: that didn't help him.
baldguy
(36,649 posts)But who obviously wasn't. Everything else I have since learned has reenforced that first impression.
jaysunb
(11,856 posts)My exact impressions and feeling.
HipChick
(25,532 posts)Keeps secrets from his supposed GF
but can't keep Classified secrets that he signed an oath for..
quinnox
(20,600 posts)And I have not seen any reason or new developments to cause me to change that opinion, so far. If Snowden ended up selling crucial secrets to Russia or something like that, then that would be another matter. But the story of a patriotic American of conscience has remained consistent. I can forgive him for evading the U.S. at this time, he is a young man, and perhaps with good reason is afraid of being thrown into Gitmo or tortured in an undisclosed location if caught.
I would only support Snowden being brought to face justice under certain conditions. One is, the trial would not be secret, and would be public. And it would not be done in a military court, but a regular court of law. No secret trials, no secret proceedings. A fair trial, open to the public.
BenzoDia
(1,010 posts)The important messages about rights and privacy have been lost in a sea of internet beefs.
Peacetrain
(23,721 posts)But someday.. I think.. we are going to find out how he feels about the people around him..I bet he writes a book or blog
No one seems to really care about him as a person.. he has become a universal football..
Everyone wants a piece of him to use as their personal punching bag for their political points of view.
Who knows what is in the heart of anyone.. especially someone who steps so far out on a limb.
This is not some mass murderer..
But he is also no Martin Luther King.. standing up against the powers that be.
I honestly do not know what to think of him..
I hope he does not turn over information that will hurt the United States or put us in harms way if he has access to that kind of information.
I feel for his family.. God they must be so scared.. This is their son..
At this point in time.. the worst thing he has done is embarrass us with our allies.
The story continues to develop is the best I can see right now..
Who knows, where this is going..
Rex
(65,616 posts)He is his own person and can stand on his own two feet. Or so he thinks.
rucky
(35,211 posts)and if he finds asylum, great. If he's brought back here for trial, that's fine too. He knew the risks when he did what he did.
dawg
(10,777 posts)favorable to him. When you attempt a propaganda push on an independent-thinking audience, you have to expect a certain amount of backlash, and I think the President's most ardent supporters on this board have done him more harm than good over the last few months.
Harmony Blue
(3,978 posts)besides President Obama has said lets have the debate about the NSA programs.
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)I'm still "sorting through" Snowden, and have tuned out the DU mob. There's way too little honest discussion, and way too much of an obvious agenda.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)I was unsure about him and his motives at first, but then I saw how much BS this non-scandal turned out to be over things most Americans have known already. There has been a tracking program long before Obama became president, and it is perfectly legal whether one likes it or not. There is that, and the fact that he not only broke the law, but perhaps even put the country's national security in jeopardy over leaking vital documents.
Furthermore, for Snowden to lay the blame squarely at the President during his video chat several weeks ago regarding the program just dashes his credibility as far as I'm concerned. He knows full well that a President is not responsible for voting on and changing laws; that is Congress's job. And with our current Congress, the Patriot Act has been approved by representatives of both major parties. If supposed civil libertarians like Snowden want an end to it, then they are going to have to start voting for Congressmen/women who feel likewise.
jaysunb
(11,856 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)interesting television personalities and wail about some flunky without giving a shit that Booz Allen and the NSA let a flunky do this while claiming they are the security experts of all time, deserving in great trust except for Snowden. And Boston. And Ft Hood. Big experts. But you don't care about any of that. It's about some guy.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)Then with all the lies from the Personality Cult, and Obama breaking US and International laws and treatings in forcing down Morales's plane, I changed my mind to support him.
FirstLight
(14,501 posts)the way the NSA and our govt is freaking out over his truth telling.
His reasons for running are obvious to me, I wouldn't think I could reveal that much truthiness and get out alive either.
The story is not about HIM ...imho
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)It seems that the names I recognize here from previous issues fall very much where I would have expected on their opinions regarding Snowden.
Government is an extremely powerful tool that society uses , in my too often painful experience with tools I've discovered that the more powerful the tool the more judiciously and cautiously you should use it. It's one thing to smack your thumb with a framing hammer, it's entirely another to drive a nail through your kneecap with a nail gun.
Government at its best can help you if you need help and mercy knows there's enough of us that need a little help these days.
Unfortunately government isn't always at its best as we can see here on DU every single day we log on.
I don't think it's that power corrupts so much as it is that power is magnetically attractive to the corruptible, that isn't going to change any time soon.
It's a problem that's so old it has a phrase that was ancient when Juvenal wrote it down.
Who will watch the watchers of the watchers and then who will watch those watchers ad infinitum?
Zorra
(27,670 posts)convinced me that he was probably on the level.
RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)Arctic Dave
(13,812 posts)He is not the issue.
The government's MASSIVE spying apparatus is.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)However I AM alarmed by the extent of our nation's spying, and I am growing increasingly disgusted by my fellow "progressives" who argue that everything is justified so long it's "our guy" at the head of the table. But not to the point where i'm out on an anti-Obama crusade.
So apparently I'm a Obama cheerleader who's also a member of the Snowden fan club.. .which also means I'm a supporter of Lyndon Larouche and that I believe Austria is thirty miles north of Moscow... or something, I haven't figured all this out yet
noamnety
(20,234 posts)How many people who voted for currently supporting Snowden hesitated just a second longer than they otherwise would have, thinking they might rather not go on record with that thought?
flamingdem
(40,069 posts)later it may be egg on face!
we don't know everything he's capable of - or if we'll find he's received payment from China or Putin
Alamuti Lotus
(3,093 posts)The "spying is no big deal, fry the traitor, rah rah cause it's my guy doing it" crowd (which I believe includes you) are really the worst advocates for their cause. The fanatic defense of authority borders on worship to a disturbing degree, with equally disturbing Orwellian language and tactics to shout down and suppress anybody who disagrees.
flamingdem
(40,069 posts)do you really have to use terms like Orwellian and say things like fry the traitor, all of which are false
The reason i mention it is that a long term DUer said goodbye today just because of this type of flip post.
Please be more thoughtful when discussing DUers who are mostly democrats and not fascists as you imply
Alamuti Lotus
(3,093 posts)Helping to prove my point in the process, I might add.
I do not speak flippantly:--certain sources ARE acting and speaking in a disturbingly Orwellian fashion, using phrases (quoting verbatim from somethings I've read here--not my imagination) like "fry the traitor". In addition, some say "time to send in the SEALS" and other expressions of their murderous fantasies. Another person recently suggests that it is "sedition" to believe in these things, and that the "cockroaches" (aka "people who disagree with me" are coming out of the shadows with his clumsy loyalty oath ("call out the traitors"
thuggery. There is an increasingly authoritarian tendency from certain individuals, I'm (not) sorry that it offends you that this is pointed out. Personally, I am more bothered about these very real tendencies on frequent display:--the sensibility of these enforcers is not terribly high on my list.
Left coast liberal
(1,138 posts)Telling others how to remark on a post is not ok.
Free country, free speech - remember?
If the old time DU'er is so offended then let them take a break, or make a sandwich or find another forum.
Don't start getting preachy now!
mitchtv
(17,718 posts)He stole , but apparently it was the right thing to do, and he did us a favor. The Morales affair was a shame on our nation, so now I lean in his favor.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)although I obviously don't have all the facts.
gholtron
(376 posts)That's not to say that I'm against true whistleblowers that actually uncovered evidence with facts. This guy planned to steal government classified documents and to flee to a Communist country. He didn't show any evidence that the N.S.A has broken any laws. I think he is an opportunist.
HardTimes99
(2,049 posts)you have my sincere compliments for your fair-mindedness in how you posed the choices.
I selected "Other" because I started out supporting Snowden and my support for him has grown as his odyssey has continued.
Just so you are clear on where I stand, so long as Bush and Cheney walk around free men, I think it is silly to speak of 'justice' and 'treason.' In my opinion, this country became a rogue state on March 20, 2003 and nothing that has happened since has restored us to the community of law-abiding nations yet.
All that remains is the state's monopoly on the use of force and its subjects' sullen compliance with its dictates.
In such an environment, Snowden becomes larger than life itself, a metaphor for resistance to oppression.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)flamingdem
(40,069 posts)Or just .. y'know liberal and all with um sharing her beauty on stage?
PDittie
(8,322 posts)I mean... dude.
(least racy pic I could find)
matt819
(10,749 posts)It's not a matter of support/non-support, liking/not liking.
It's a matter of the reliability of the information.
If the revelations are true, then you have to decide how you feel about those revelations. Again, it's not a matter of whether you support or like him. Is the information true?
If the information is not true - and I realize this is a complex issue - then the issue is still not one of support/liking. It's still a matter of reliability. If he's unreliable, it's really irrelevant whether you like him or support him. Those are non-issues, red herrings. Those emotional responses may feel good, but they are irrelevant.