I'd say he has a leg up on you at least in terms of being able to figure out that the respect many have for him, GG, the Damons, Ellsbergs, etc, etc , etc, and/or their efforts, merely rhetorical or otherwise, isn't like the kinda love they have for their family/friends/pets, and doesn't come close to the denotative definition of "worship" either.
Those kinda comparisons and license taken with words like "worship" are obvious efforts to belittle legitimate non-love expressions of agreement with which you disagree, and more often than not, in lieu of any meaningful or substantive way of undermining the reasons things like respect, etc, are offered to them for specific acts.
That's why it's not about Snowden, etc, and rather about what he did in this narrow and specific case. One could easily concede (based on our shared opinion of rightwing libertarians) that this is an example of a generally speaking, a bad person doing good, like Bush's efforts in Africa for example, but to focus on the bad in Bush in no way diminishes the obvious good his actions in that case have had. Unlike with Bush (whose sins/crimes aren't even remotely comparable to Snowdens/GG alleged worship) however, where his likely motives -- a desire for redemption perhaps, either in the eyes of his god, for his legacy, etc -- Snowden's, GG's, etc motives are clearly based in/on things that are part of/flow from their ideological/moral makeup (unless of course, you wanna argue that libertarains, whether of the left or right variety, haven't long objected to such) which is shared by those who "love" them, even if there's a great deal of disagreement coming from the same sources. An indictment of them in the narrow context of their efforts to reveal and curtail the survelliance state is also an indictment of all of us that object to one and who agree with their motives and efforts. All of this "Paulite" BS differs not one iota from the BS rightwingnuts spewed about how us anti-Iraq war folks supported SH, and "hated the troops and loved the terrorists" for that matter.
That's no doubt why we've seen all the various ways they've (and those of us that agree with them on this in ways you repeat daily -- like here) been attacked as messengers, and efforts made to undermine their credibility ranging from boxes in their garages to their libertarianism -- it stalls the inevitability of having to take a personal stand, pro or con, on the issue. There's little doubt in anyones mind at this point that had these revelations been made by a dedicated, lifetime "liberal", and reported by Eugene Robinson, that they'd have similarly been crucified by your type, and poor Eugene no doubt would be a designated self-loathing black man by now and an UT for libertarians. Your emotional investment may not be of the kind you seek to conjure up and belittle here, but you are no doubt invested heavily, no?
It doesn't matter whether you "worship" BHO or not. If you are opposed to a "Stasi" state as some characterize it, as a voter/supporter of his, he appears to have tossed you aside. The amount of emotional investment one puts into Snowden, GG, or BHO has no impact on the realities of the SS or the remedies of it. And your solely loving your family, friends, and little puppy dogs and kittens too doesn't make you on balance a "good" (much less a better one) or even a "smart" person, given that the common Nazi or AQ member no doubt satisfies that minimum of societal expectations.
And all your efforts to malign the gratefullness and respect those "villians" have generated/garnered through their actions on this matter due to the common ground shared, makes your possession of excessive goodness or smarts highly suspect, and makes you more like those rightwingnut libertarians (at least in terms of illegitimate debating tactics use as noted above and "goodness" standards) than whatever agreement is shared on this issue those you belittle with these efforts could ever hope to achieve.
So, "please continue". You guys are some of the best entertainment around here
= new reply since forum marked as read
[/img][/url]
Matt!
