Edward Snowden a 'hero' for NSA disclosures, Wikipedia founder says - Polidicks

[quote][img]http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/11/25/1385398448479/13e094fa-461c-4be7-bb25-c6833b71f036-460x276.jpeg[/img] Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has called on Barack Obama to rein in the National Security Agency as he described the whistleblower Edward Snowden as "a hero" whom history will judge "very favourably". In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Head to Head show, Wales called for a "major re-evaluation" of the NSA, adding that the public "would have never approved this sweeping surveillance program" had it been put to a vote.[/quote] [url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/25/edward-snowden-nsa-wikipedia-founder]Source[/url]

Side note: I knew the chick on the left looked familiar. She's the actress in Sacrilege by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. [URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmRI3Ew4BvA[/URL]

It took me a while to figure out why we had a news story about this, because I kept misreading "Wikipedia" as "Wikileaks," and thinking, "[I]well no shit? What else would the founder of Wikileaks say? 'I think Snowden is a traitor and should be brought to justice for leaking embarrassing information about his government's shady surveillance network?'[/i]" Now that I've got my head on straight here, it's nice to see more big names come out in support of Snowden. Ultimately futile, I think, but nice. Snowden is unlikely to ever be welcomed back into the United States, because even though it is pretty much universally agreed on that he is a hero for making the sacrifices he did to expose that corruption, the government has a bit of zero tolerance policy with treason.

Why is this news? [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Why reply?" - Starpluck))[/highlight]

Anybody wonder why the word 'dead' usually precedes hero these days? A mite insensitive, probably, but still relevant, since a lot of people are still dying for a good cause that they believe in that's unacceptable to other high-handed folk.

[QUOTE=Banhfunbags;42983878]Why is this news?[/QUOTE] Where else does it go?

[QUOTE=Banhfunbags;42983878]Why is this news?[/QUOTE] Why do people ask this question every single time? Is it to assert some sort of feeling of superiority, or do you just want to be as annoying as conceivable?

[QUOTE=Banhfunbags;42983878]Why is this news?[/QUOTE] Because it is a [i]new[/i] thing that happened. I know it can be hard for some people to wrap their head around the idea. On topic: Its nice to see more people supporting Snowden.

[QUOTE=be;42983918]Why do people ask this question every single time? Is it to assert some sort of feeling of superiority, or do you just want to be as annoying as conceivable?[/QUOTE] It's only news if somebody dies of course.

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;42984027]Yeah it may be news, but that doesn't mean it's important. The guy who made Wikipedia isn't exactly a major political figure or something. Someone might as well make [b]Edward Snowden a 'hero' for NSA disclosures, Facepunch user says[/b].[/QUOTE] Uh, Jimmy Wales is pretty fucking important if you ask me because Wikipedia isn't some little website some teenager made in his bedroom, people rely on Wikipedia for knowledge and news and if you get a little bored and want to research something.

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;42984027]Yeah it may be news, but that doesn't mean it's important. The guy who made Wikipedia isn't exactly a major political figure or something. Someone might as well make [b]Edward Snowden a 'hero' for NSA disclosures, Facepunch user says[/b].[/QUOTE] Are you seriously saying the founder of the largest [i]free[/i] database of knowledge mankind has put on the Internet has no say in the affairs of information surveillance and snooping?

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;42984027]Yeah it may be news, but that doesn't mean it's important. The guy who made Wikipedia isn't exactly a major political figure or something. Someone might as well make [b]Edward Snowden a 'hero' for NSA disclosures, Facepunch user says[/b].[/QUOTE] Rated Winner because this probably wins as "Dumbest fucking thing I've heard someone say on Facepunch" 2013 Ribbon

So we have forgotten about manning?

[QUOTE=Sprockethead;42984865]So we have forgotten about manning?[/QUOTE] No, but there's not much left to do for Chelsea, and by all means; the sentence she got was rather fair for a military trial. A lot of the more absurd charges were dropped.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;42983785]It took me a while to figure out why we had a news story about this, because I kept misreading "Wikipedia" as "Wikileaks," and thinking, "[I]well no shit? What else would the founder of Wikileaks say? 'I think Snowden is a traitor and should be brought to justice for leaking embarrassing information about his government's shady surveillance network?'[/i]" Now that I've got my head on straight here, it's nice to see more big names come out in support of Snowden. Ultimately futile, I think, but nice. Snowden is unlikely to ever be welcomed back into the United States, because even though it is pretty much universally agreed on that he is a hero for making the sacrifices he did to expose that corruption, the government has a bit of zero tolerance policy with treason.[/QUOTE] Yet according to the people, the goverment is commiting treason by not giving Snowden a pardon and then shape up on it's surveillance policies so it's not so damn paranoid.

he should make a personal appeal to the NSA

[QUOTE=Van-man;42985096]Yet according to the people, the goverment is commiting treason by not giving Snowden a pardon and then shape up on it's surveillance policies so it's not so damn paranoid.[/QUOTE] Sure, I agree, but when's the last time the Will of the People has been important in US politics?

[QUOTE=Van-man;42985096]Yet according to the people, the goverment is commiting treason by not giving Snowden a pardon and then shape up on it's surveillance policies so it's not so damn paranoid.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Big Dumb American;42986422]Sure, I agree, but when's the last time the Will of the People has been important in US politics?[/QUOTE] According to 'the people' Obama may be secretly a Muslim from Kenya, 9/11 was a conspiracy, and national healthcare is a bad idea. 'The people' are generally uninformed and consequently are given no direct say in lawmaking. US law has never been based on pure democracy, what matters is not what individual people think but who they put into office to intelligently make decisions on their behalf. Snowden will never receive a pardon because releasing documents unrelated to government misconduct is not considered whistleblowing and is only digging a deeper hole for himself. If he cares. He has a new life in Russia, after all.

[QUOTE=catbarf;42989193]According to 'the people' Obama may be secretly a Muslim from Kenya, 9/11 was a conspiracy, and national healthcare is a bad idea. 'The people' are generally uninformed and consequently are given no direct say in lawmaking. US law has never been based on pure democracy, what matters is not what individual people think but who they put into office to intelligently make decisions on their behalf. Snowden will never receive a pardon because releasing documents unrelated to government misconduct is not considered whistleblowing and is only digging a deeper hole for himself. If he cares. He has a new life in Russia, after all.[/QUOTE] These 'people' you're talking about are just especially uninformed. Not everybody is a conspiracy nut. If you seriously think the general public wanting personal freedoms and more government transparency is equivalent to mob mentality then you're nuts.

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;42989229]These 'people' you're talking about are just especially uninformed. Not everybody is a conspiracy nut. If you think people wanting personal freedoms is equivalent to mob mentality then you're nuts.[/QUOTE] I think that in the American public (as opposed to on a tech-savvy international forum populated primarily by teenagers) the idea that the government is committing treason and Snowden deserves a 100% full pardon and to be celebrated is definitely a minority view, which is what repeated public polls have shown if you do a little research ([url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/05/edward-snowden-poll_n_3542931.html]like this[/url], for example). Some view him as a hero, some view him as a traitor, most view him somewhere in between. The point is that US lawmaking isn't based on what individual citizens believe- if you want change, elect a representative who can push for it for you.