I don’t know if he’s a hero. Might be pushing it.
But he is the textbook whistleblower.
And then those people who lied to the public, lied under oath (example Clapper), and the same folks that abused some of these powers for political gain (AG and Comey), go after Snowden full force. The liars, cheaters and backstabbers are lecturing us about integrity and loyalty.
I don’t want to judge Snowden harshly because the simple truth is that whistleblower protections and politics in the federal government are a joke, i.e. turn yourself in so we can fire you. These so called protections are all BS and only serve leadership to actually identify and suppress anyone that might want to blow the whistle. I do not know how else he could have accomplished what he did, so making some general statement that he should have handled it differently isn’t realistic.
Whistle-blowers are protected from harassment and related by Federal regulations.
Government workers are required to yearly take a course on that.
That said, in reality, the way one can tell a real whistle-blower is that the govt persecutes them...jail/fines/etc.
Illegal of course for the govt to do that, but with elections being corrupted to the point they are now, the public has no tool to reform the corruption.
The Ukraine govt is said to be one of the most corrupt in the world...and yet the current Administration is in bed with them.
Birds of a feather, flock together?
But he is the textbook whistleblower.
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So were Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen