It is with a heavy heart that I post this

[BainsBane]

37. That kind of distraction is the result of turning an important issue

about privacy vs. concerns over terrorism and an encroaching national security state into a simplistic obsession over individuals--either Snowden or Greenwald are saints or demons. Both could be horrible people and that would not change the fact the NSA is collecting unprecedented amount of information about Americans. For some reason Bart Gellman is never mentioned, as though Greenwald were the only person to ever report on Snowden. Greenwald and Snowden as individuals are far less important than the broader issue of the tension between national security and privacy, the Fourth Amendment and the power of the state. People, however, don't want to have that conversation. They insist on reducing it to personality contests and making it as meaningless as possible. I can't imagine why I would possibly care what Greenwald's views on immigration are. It says nothing about the central issues of encroaching government surveillance.