Edward Snowden has had his passport revoked, and is stuck in Moscow, according to Time.
The list of countries willing to take Snowden is shrinking as more say either "no" or "apply in person."
Whistle blowing keeps getting more dangerous. While Assange is holed up in an Ecuadoran Embassy, Bradley Manning is still facing a whole host of charges for having a greater allegiance to exposing the truth to the masses then protecting them by...what exactly? Withholding that information?
We are moving to an open source information age. Secrets are getting harder to keep. It is up to us to demand open access to information. We children of the 80's 90's and 00's are the next generation of policy makers. Our apathy is the only thing stopping us from greater knowledge, and secrets are like water slipping between the fingers of those that would keep it from us.
By my count, Snowden is a patriot. So is Manning. Dissent is patriotic.
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Obama said something about protecting whistle blowers once...
I don't know that I have anything valid to add to this point of view as I don't think it's a "right" to know everything about everything concerning the military and security.
ReplyDeleteDissent can be patriotic, yes. I am skeptical that the intentions were altruistic.
We are sons of insurrection. This is what America was founded on. It keeps a society healthy.
ReplyDeleteFreedom is fading into myth and star spangled songs.
I am as skeptical as you are. Most actions are motivated by hidden motives. That doesn't make whistle blowing any less important.
I suppose that my view of freedom is different in that I don't think complete, uninhibited freedom in a civilized society exists or is even ideal. We have rules and laws--to include privacy and security--that are in place for a very good reason. The only way to have complete freedom is through anarchy (anarchy in this context defined as "a society without a publicly enforced government or violently enforced political authority"). I don't think that anything Snowden has revealed (so far) a) was really all that surprising, or b) in the best interest of anyone.
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