Posted on 08/26/2013 10:18:14 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Damon praises Snowden for NSA leaks By Rebecca Shabad - 08/26/13 11:46 AM ET
Actor Matt Damon is praising National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's decision to expose classified domestic surveillance programs as "a great thing" for the country.
“I think it’s a great thing he did," Damon, who has portrayed CIA agents in the "Bourne" movie trilogy and "The Good Shepherd," said in an interview posted on YouTube on Aug. 22.
The Hollywood actor said he hadn’t read everything that Snowden has leaked, but called him a “conscientious guy.”
“If we're going to trade our civil liberties for our security, then that should be a decision that we collectively make," Damon added. “It shouldn’t be made for us.”
Husam “Sam” Asi, the interviewer in the brief one-minute clip, is CEO of film and music website UKScreen and host of BBC Arabic TV show “Alternative Cinema.” The full interview with Damon was broadcast on his show on Saturday.
Damon recently waded into the political conversation in early August when he said in an interview with BET, “[Obama] broke up with me.” He said he questioned the legality of the Obama administration’s drone strikes, and the NSA’s surveillance programs that Snowden revealed.
“[Obama’s] got some explaining to do, particularly for a constitutional law professor,” he said in the Aug. 7 interview.
Damon was a strong supporter of Obama during his presidential campaigns.
In the YouTube interview, Damon asks, “To what degree are we willing to sacrifice those liberties for our security?”
“That’s something everyone needs to talk about,” he said. “It’s not something that should be just done."
As of Aug. 26, the short clip had more than 10,000 views.
Thank God Matt Damon has weighed in! I’ve been on pins and needles waiting for his wisdom to come down the Hollywood Hills!
He must have a movie coming out and needs Conservatives to spend their money to go see it.
All three of his brain cells must have been firing for him to emit an utterance that coherent.
what a self important ass
he must be insufferable to live with
me thinks he likes meat flute...married or not
as much as I criticized this guy over the past few years, it’s good to finally see some signs of the Obama kool-aide finally starting to wear off.
“If we’re going to trade our civil liberties for our security, then that should be a decision that we collectively make.”
Like with guns, Matt?
The NSA gets to record ever single digital thing we do and store it for ever, flipping the finger to the 4th amendment and everything this country was built on. This is Hillary Filegate to the 9th power. Remember THAT? She had paper FBI files on a few hundred in government and everyone KNEW that could be used for blackmail and control. Now they have everything written, by everybody, right at their finger tips.
And the choices for a patriot, is to dutifully keep it all secret from the American people, or to move to North Korea?
Interesting take. Damon has been drastically wrong in the past, but on this he’s right.
I’m not sure how I feel about Snowden, but I know that Damon is one of the biggest traitors and hypocrites to ever utter sewage out of his mouth.
If you could have 100 Matt Damons weighing in, you’d have someone with an IQ of about 80.
Damon is as dumb as they come.
A statement from a cartoon character or a puppet without a hand in it carries about as much weight as a comment from Damon.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day....
Damn, and I clicked this cause I really wanted to know what Johnny Damon thought...
Yes, broken clock. He usually makes me want to barf when he speaks, but this time I agree.
Benjamin Franklin “Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
You think it’s conservative or constitutional for the feds to be spying on US citizens? Snowden’s no traitor. His actions got the discussion going.
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