The newest smear attempt: A picture of Snowden with pants pulled down

[Summer Hathaway]

13. Are you really that naive?

OF COURSE the discussion has been about Snowden as the leaker. It has also been about what he leaked, and why. One discussion does not in any way impede the other. I think most people here are fully capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time - well, some people anyway.

The Snowden hero-worshippers have, from the beginning, attempted to shut down any conversation about the man himself, insisting that who he is - along with his background, resume, experience - is of no import. In other words, they didn't want their instantly-embraced hero to be tarnished and, as more and more information came to light about him, they kept yelling "don't look there, look over here instead".

To say that a leaker's past and his truthfulness (or lack thereof) is of no consequence is equivalent to saying "It doesn't matter if he is a proven to be a pathological liar, because I have already chosen to believe him." And that is EXACTLY what the Snowden fan club did - much to their chagrin, as things are turning out.

Just how dumb do you have to be to insist that someone's background and motives are not germane to how credible they are, or, more importantly, how trustworthy they are? How stupid do you have to be to throw your undying support to someone whose name you only heard forty-eight hours before you decided to deify him?

"The only people that should be embarrassed about anything are the people attacking him in order to distract from the issues of the leaks."

Raising questions about Snowden's veracity is NOT attacking him, nor is it an attempt to distract. Or do you think that no one should ever ask any questions about anything, but should just accept whatever they are told - with no regard to who's doing the telling?

Would you blindly accept the word of a RW politician without regard to who he is, his past statements and actions, or his motives? Or would you simply dismiss those concerns and swallow whatever they were saying at the moment, with absolutely no regard to their character, anything else?

The next time you're ready to jump on a bandwagon, you might want to check to make sure it has wheels first - otherwise you're going to be dragged along this same unpleasant road of complete humiliation.