Snowden hate... I don't understand it... ?

[jeff47]

33. It's about the bullshit.

Snowden didn't actually leak what everyone says he did.

The story is he revealed spying on Americans. And so lots of people are up in arms, claiming the government is spying on us. Anyone who disagrees is only an Obama lover!!!!

Except that isn't actually true.

Take a look at the documents that were actually leaked, instead of the media coverage, blogs and a billion DU posts talking about what was leaked. You'll notice something that those people keep leaving out.

Every program but one had a "targeting" component. That component was designed to exclude collection from US persons. It's legal for the government to spy on any non-US person. In fact, there was some debate in the first few days about whether or not the targeting component was sufficient. Phrases like "51% certainty" and "incidental collection" were discussed.

The one program without a "targeting" component? The phone metadata program. A 1979 SCOTUS decision ruled that phone metadata is a run-of-the-mill business record that belongs to the phone company. As such, phone metadata has no 4th amendment protection.

But that wasn't a good enough story. So those details were eliminated from coverage. Instead, every program became only good for spying on US persons. First through insinuation ("you know they abuse it!&quot and finally through outright statements. And so a halo was installed on Snowden, and no one was allowed to question the story that was being told.

And you see plenty of evidence of that in this thread. The vast majority of your responses are from fans of Snowden, insisting that only fascists or Obama fanatics could doubt Snowden. Any questioning of the narrative is a viscous attack. Pointing out that a legislative change is required to bring about the reforms they want is a quick end to the sub-thread - It's not the story they want to tell. Heck, spying by other countries on non-US persons is the fault of the NSA.

So why do I think Snowden is a putz? He worked very hard to collect a bunch of documents to reveal something that is legal in order to turn himself into a hero when he 'tweaked' the story. And he was so delusional he started in Hong Kong.

Take a look at the responses you got. Note the enormous number of people attacking anyone who questions the story. Or look at your own OP. Why does this topic devolve into name calling? There's your answer.