General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am getting the odd sense that some don't like Snowden because he made the establishment look bad [View all]CakeGrrl
(10,611 posts)"If you disagree, you're stupid", but I did catch it.
Your position is clear from your original assertion.
Sorry, but one can't steal information, flee to a foreigm country with said stolen information, then tell a foreign newspaper they took a job to which they were entrusted with the express purpose of theft.
How much anarchy is permissible? If the cover story sounds noble enough, how many laws should be suspended? And for whom?
The problem in front of those who think others are protecting the government by believing that Snowden should be tried for the laws he broke is their (your) inability to see how some of us can hold that position yet agree on the point of having a long overdue dialogue about surveillance.
Snowden took the wrong approach. Sharing data with nations known for spying is beyond the bounds of nobly exposing the domestic surveillance that he did not, by the way, discover anew.
As evidenced by his limited options, his actions are not seen as an act of heroism to be rewarded. The key motivator in the asylum offers he's received are to spite the U.S. That's telling.