I guess the only way of measuring the thought of having sympathy for Snowden is based upon what he accomplished by doing it in a legal or illegal way. If he had done it legally, using the information that he could legally use, that still makes him a whistleblower but not a criminal (traitor). He chose to leak sensitive information marked confidential to the public, escaped the US, and became a Russian citizen.
There are channels to point out deficiencies in the system without making it so obvious what he was doing. He wasn’t trying to help. He was attacking the country he left and became a citizen of another country. That’s noit a whistleblower. That’s a spy doing espionage. And it didn’t change a thing anyway.
wy69
Nonsense. Tell me exactly how Snowden could have "legally" revealed the anti-Constitutional, anti-conservative, pro-marxist surveillance activities and tools of the deep-state, and either 1) had any success, and 2) would have survived assassination.
What court could he have gone to? What "whistleblower" protection would he have survived? What deep-state Senator would have taken up his cause?
Well said, you left out he used Chinese exfiltration channels. All in all a very successful joint intelligence operation by the Russian & Chinese Intel services. (The enemy of my enemy is my friend for now!) Their “cover for action” was and still is brilliant, he did it for moral reasons - he’s a hero!.
Let’s compare the morality of these two examples to Snowden’s actions. Lt Col Anthony Larkin MD refused deployment to Afghanistan because he didn’t think Obama was Constitutionally the president. He didn’t run to the protection of a foreign power to voice his protest he faced the consequences of his actions. Second example Cynthia O Miller - CIA analyst who leaked to the NY Times that CIA had terrorist jailing centers overseas. She thought it was immoral and it went against her personal beliefs. CIA fired her and threatened her with prosecution. I don’t think they ever did. Notice she also didn’t run to a foreign power to voice her moral concerns, she faced the consequences. Where does Snowden stack up morally compared to those two?
The reasons some on this site and others prefer Snowden the hero is he fits their biases not because any objective moral standard. He gave away a lot more than they know or even Tucker Carson or Congressman Massie knows. The Snowden hero grift fits their biases too! (Massie’s never served on the House Intel committee, so his knowledge would not be “in depth”. Normally, I kind of like the guy, but he’s dead wrong here! Note he’s been dead wrong on a couple of other things too but particularly wrong here!) Chinese & Russian Intel services make you pay for your room and board. Now Snowden’s a Russian citizen and does interviews. The Intel operation is now a Influence Operation and it seems to be working. It’s brilliant simply brilliant!