General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so (excellent information) [View all]reusrename
(1,716 posts)We are all influenced by others to a certain degree. If Thomas Paine had not had a influential group of admirers he probably could not have distributed his treasonous pamphlet, or even if he had, no one would have even bothered to read it. The fact that folks like Franklin were supporters is what helped to make his popular.
Snowden's views appear to be directly at odds with Obama's and that is what most likely causes this reaction. It is interesting to watch this now, especially while considering that these social networks, the manner in which we influence each other, is what is being mapped using the metadata that they are collecting without a warrant.
http://flowingdata.com/2013/06/13/sniffing-out-paul-revere-with-basic-social-network-analysis/