People who don't know things refer to those who told them about what goes on view them as hero's. This is true under what went on with the NSA leaked information by Edward Snowden. Ever since his video where he tells what he discovered, people have been demoralizing the current government and praising Edward Snowden. Be it may what he found out can be considered important to some, in reality it isn't important at all. In fact, this has already been known since 2006. All he did was break the law.
Be it may on how you feel what the NSA is doing is "right" or "moral", it is legal under the 4th amendment, all 3 branches of government, and even the Patriot Act if you want to go in that deep. But what they have been doing in terms of keeping phone records, has been going on since 2006. Think about it, this has all been public knowledge for 7 years, and only know is he making a big deal out of it.
Snowden himself has done nothing to be worthy of being called a "hero". He has had this position in which to find out all the information he wanted about any sort of program. Instead, he sat nicely in Hawaii with his girlfirend and a nice-paying job. Also, instead of staying in America and defending what he did to the fullest extent of the law, he rant to Hong Kong. While this isn't cowardly, its not right with his own character. Laws exist for a reason, and when you break those laws, you should be tried before a court of his own peers to decide. Want an example of this in context to what Snowden did?
Back in the early 1970s Daniel Ellsberg leaked out information on how Congress and the administrations such as Lyndon B. Johnson have been publicly lying about what has been happening in Vietnam. This caused uproar and Ellsberg was put on trial. Here Ellsberg didn't run away he stood by and said that what he did was right
"I felt that as an American citizen, as a responsible citizen, I could no
longer cooperate in concealing this information from the American
public. I did this clearly at my own jeopardy and I am prepared to
answer to all the consequences of this decision."
What resulted from his trial was all of the charges put off and he was free. Say whether what Ellsberg did was right or wrong, but he felt that he was justified in his actions and stood by. Snowden isn't the same because he ran away. He also has information against him because he has known this has been going on all these years, and only until now decided to change something. The way to fight the law isn't to break it, that makes you as bad as those who you are fighting. The way to fight it is to petition, demand change, elect other officials, there are several ways. The people have a right to know why he did it and what else of our national security he's willing to sell. Him breaking a security clearance to the country and exposing possible things that could jeopardize the security of the country is treason, and he should want his day in court to prove his point.
Things have changed from 03 - 13. The Patriot Act is still around, but it has been changed. Haebus Corpus, courts of civilians, and warrants. Those have all been added to The Patriot Act to make it constitutional.
These actions simply make him unimportant for the sheer reason that he's only an ant to the real deal: The Patriot Act. The issues people are having stem from this act. Now with the 2014 congressional elections underway, the perfect opportunity to demand that things change, is to find out who voted for these bills and acts that you disagree with, and elect somebody else to replace them. Petitioning and protesting also works, regarding that it's within the confines of peace. Change is not raging on youtube about how Obama is stripping away freedoms and how the government is tyrannical. That's only making you a hypocrite to your cause.
No comments:
Post a Comment