campaign asking President Obama to pardon Edward Snowden
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Sailor Enceladus
- Posts: 1543
- Joined: Mon 22 Feb 2016, 19:43
Ah ok. I guess I just don't see such a strong link between country laws and the people. People are just born into a country, many laws that people are born into weren't even decided when they existed, and should probably get the chop. I surely don't agree with every legal decision, I guess almost every person is a "traitor to the law" in some way. Not a very important or useful measurement I think, except if your occupation is a lawyer and you enjoy sucking as much money as possible off the people.
Indeed, most people were not even born when many laws were promulgated but they still have to adhere to them.
If they don't like it and there is enough of them, they can try and get it changed via the right channels and methods, it's called democracy.
However breaking laws because you don't happen to like them, is called anarchy.
Well at least we agree on one thing, our dislike of lawyers.
If they don't like it and there is enough of them, they can try and get it changed via the right channels and methods, it's called democracy.
However breaking laws because you don't happen to like them, is called anarchy.
Well at least we agree on one thing, our dislike of lawyers.
If you have gained an awareness that a government body you work for is comitting crimes against its own people, then it is in fact your moral obligation to expose this knowledge.
Snowden is not guilty of treason, the NSA is guilty of treason. The NSA broke the rules. The NSA stepped out of line. The NSA was doing things that were wrong, unconstitutional, and morally objectionable.
What Snowden did, was an attempt to protect the people of his country, and indeed the whole world, from an agency acting in secrecy, without any oversight what-so-ever, implementing a type of dragnet surveiillance that would make the DDR Stasi look like a bunch of funloving hippies.
Pardon my expression, but it takes balls of steel to expose the most powerful government agency in the world, knowing full well they'll come after you with all they've got, knowing you will never be able to have a normal life after that, or any life at all if they can help it.
That is true sacrifice. That is true love for your country.
But hey, that's just, like, my opinion man.
Snowden is not guilty of treason, the NSA is guilty of treason. The NSA broke the rules. The NSA stepped out of line. The NSA was doing things that were wrong, unconstitutional, and morally objectionable.
What Snowden did, was an attempt to protect the people of his country, and indeed the whole world, from an agency acting in secrecy, without any oversight what-so-ever, implementing a type of dragnet surveiillance that would make the DDR Stasi look like a bunch of funloving hippies.
Pardon my expression, but it takes balls of steel to expose the most powerful government agency in the world, knowing full well they'll come after you with all they've got, knowing you will never be able to have a normal life after that, or any life at all if they can help it.
That is true sacrifice. That is true love for your country.
But hey, that's just, like, my opinion man.
I'm not defending the NSA, they did break the law, but technically so did he.
It was his methods that were wrong.
He could have easily gone public but not supplied any proof.
People would (quite rightly) have asked for the proof which he could have supplied in private to Congress.
(Supplying classified documents to Congress is not an act of treason, especially if they subpoena you).
By this time the story would have been all over the media and Congress would be pressured into releasing at least some documents.
That way he would have exposed the wrong doings of the NSA, not have been accused of treason and been able to still enjoy living in his own country as a true hero.
It was his methods that were wrong.
He could have easily gone public but not supplied any proof.
People would (quite rightly) have asked for the proof which he could have supplied in private to Congress.
(Supplying classified documents to Congress is not an act of treason, especially if they subpoena you).
By this time the story would have been all over the media and Congress would be pressured into releasing at least some documents.
That way he would have exposed the wrong doings of the NSA, not have been accused of treason and been able to still enjoy living in his own country as a true hero.