I personally do, he actually risked his life to release information about the government spying on people. And there are for sure more advanced ways now. Even your phone is listening.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    What Snowden did was objectively good, and he did so at great personal cost, but you should be cautious about making any living person your hero. His politics seem to lean closer to libertarian nut-job than anything else, and it’s very possible he will disappoint you in the future. Case in point, Glen Greenwald broke the Snowden leaks, and I considered him one of my heros for a time,.but these days he sounds more like Tucker Carlson than anyone else. The point is, admire heroic actions, but don’t make people your heroes.

  • Ghis@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Guy gave up his life to show Americans (and the world) the truth, and we as a society just ignored him.

      • M137@lemmy.today
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        6 days ago

        before the transition* or before they transitioned* (not sure which one you meant to write)

        And before SHE went to prison, I see no reason to say he other than being a anti-trans shit stain. The timing of the transition doesn’t matter at all, a person who is transsexual should be called the gender they know they are independent on if someone is talking about before their public transition. A person is the gender they feel they are and should be called so for any time in their life unless they have specifically said that they want to be called their biological/sexual gender when others talk about them before their transition.

  • stoy@lemmy.zip
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    7 days ago

    I consider him a true American patriot.

    Nothing is more patriotic than wanting your country to do better.

    Implementing drag net surveillance was a terrible decision, and exposing it was truly heroic.

    Sadly, Snowden is now in the clutches of Russia who can and does use him as their pawn.

    It is easy to say that this is where the EU should have stepped up and given him sanctuary, but that would have been less than ideal for him.

    1. Europe and the US have close ties with police and law enforcement, while no EU nation would hand their own citizens over to the US, they would absolutely hand over a US citizen to the US if requested.
    2. During the war on terror, Europe was complicit in plenty of illegal renditions of their own citizens to the CIA, they were then sent to illegal black sites and tortured, plenty of these persons have since been proven innocent.

    Given the high profile of Snowden’s leak, the US still want’s him back, and back then even more so, had Snowden gone to the EU, he most likely would have been extradited, kidnapped or even assassinated.

    By staying in Russia that was a far lower risk to him.

    • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      He’s at lower risk from the US, but speaking out about Russia would probably be riskier. It’s an unfortunate situation for him to be stuck in Russia and not some other safe country.

      I think the Swiss should have offered him assistance in an embassy or Vietnam or somewhere other than Putin’s Russia (which we knew was bad even back then).

      Really though, Obama should have pardoned him.

      • stoy@lemmy.zip
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        6 days ago

        Eh, the EU makes a big deal of freedom, and has stood up to the US in the past, but here there are actual laws and regulations to follow, and if we stop extraditing US citizens to the US, the US would stop extraditing our citizens to us.

              • stoy@lemmy.zip
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                6 days ago

                Hey, thanks for telling me, I know about tankies, as well as the instances they run, though I don’t check every user to see where they come from.

                I’ll tag him accordingly.

              • pucker4676@lemmy.ml
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                6 days ago

                I don’t generally dwell on the libshits like yourself, some will never learn the art of thinking critically, but I would like to point out that the best way to control the population is to divide it. You’re either a fed or unknowingly lending them a hand.

                • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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                  The irony of calling someone a “lib-shit”, over what is, in the grande scheme of things, a minor quibble, in the literal same sentence they talk about how people are dividing the population intentionally to control them.

                  Lmfao, you’re the one dividing the population you unselfreflective dipshit. Grow up.

              • merc@sh.itjust.works
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                6 days ago

                That article made me vigorously expel air from my nose.

                What’s the #1 way that France still controls its former African colonies?

                “1. These countries must officially speak French”

                Did you know England controls the United States? How? England makes the US speak English. I’m super serial! This isn’t a laughing matter, so stop laughing at this matter.

              • stoy@lemmy.zip
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                6 days ago

                Oh, I had no idea about this…

                The colonial tax seems especially evil.

                • ptu@sopuli.xyz
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                  5 days ago

                  Luckily it seems entirely fabricated like many other claims on that post in Pulse Nigeria’s Food and Travel section

      • Poxlox@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Unironically true. Wish we lived in the timeline where war crimes mattered and those war criminal bastards were rotting in prison. Now because the USA let their own war crimes slide, it’s made autonomous killing systems permissible and civilian casualty rates nearly completely ignored as the horrible precedent of today and on. I hate warfare with a passion

    • 0x0@lemmy.zip
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      5 days ago

      while no EU nation would hand their own citizens over to the US

      Europe was complicit in plenty of illegal renditions of their own citizens to the CIA

      Make up your mind.

    • Augmented1207@feddit.org
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      5 days ago

      EU states have handed over their own citizens to the US, if these people have hurt us citizens enough. There is a nice episode of the darknet diaries that just came out

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      6 days ago

      Nothing is more patriotic than wanting your country to do better.

      Is being patriotic and wanting your first world country to do better something heroic?

      • Rumo161@feddit.org
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        6 days ago

        Well that highly depends in what you deem good. If wantig to do better is stopping the support of any goverment that suppresses its people and/or invades other countrys and you put your life in the line for that goal, i think thats very heroic.

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    7 days ago

    Damn right he is. He risks his safety and his life (and still does) to make sure we all know more about how the feds are spying on their own citizens.

    He’s a true hero of the American People, that one, make no mistake.

  • Phantaloons@piefed.zip
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    I think about where we’d be without him, and I think about where we are.

    Oddly enough, it’s the same place.

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    7 days ago

    I think he blew up his life to reveal something the general public probably should be aware of, but ultimately didn’t care about.

    Idk if it was heroic, but it certainly was interesting how he released the info slowly to get catch the government in numerous lies attempting to downplay the truth of the matter. One of the Obama administration’s biggest blights.

  • HrabiaVulpes@europe.pub
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    6 days ago

    I think he is a very sad man. He thought americans cared, he thought if americans knew they were getting fucked over they would do something. He thought american democracy is worth fighting for.

    He was wrong.

      • brad_troika@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        What’s the point of asking for opinions if this is what you think of opinions different than yours.

          • the_wizard_of_0Z@lemmy.ca
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            If people post online they have to have tough skin. Being hidden from the mob you can have the base digest your ideas to see if you have holes in your takes. Negitivity should be welcomed if productive.

        • the_wizard_of_0Z@lemmy.ca
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          7 days ago

          well the timeline we live in has pushed many to spaces where there is a common understanding of the nature of our state. Red flags and normie takes. We don’t all agree on everything but more than not. Welcome to the fedi. Welcome to the fringes. Or the shad ball of deplorables.

        • greenbit@lemmy.zip
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          7 days ago

          An opinion based on falsities is not really an opinion, like a favourite color, or food and such.

          • the_wizard_of_0Z@lemmy.ca
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            7 days ago

            Anonymous_Leaker == SBD - Silent but deadly 🤣

            “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

              • yermaw@sh.itjust.works
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                6 days ago

                A 2 day old account with that name immediately vague-threatening anyone who answers incorrectly to an opinion question?

                The vibe is off

                • Anonymous_Leaker@lemmy.worldOP
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                  6 days ago

                  Nothing was threatening, that’s slander. Perhaps, it was misunderstood. I was just giving tips on what not to do. How about a fresh start?

      • the_wizard_of_0Z@lemmy.ca
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        7 days ago

        People should own their own shame they create based on their ability to compehend their actions… It should motivate their change anything else is kinky. You should not accept shame like a nasty little gift. criminal, was ist das? well sheet I am a criminal too… who isn’t? Straight Thuggin

    • brachiosaurus@mander.xyz
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      I would argue that praising soldiers for their bravery and calling them heroes is a bootlicker thing to do.

  • qevlarr@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Yes, 100 percent. The fact that he’s in exile in Russia is because he cannot get a fair trial in the US. He was never a Russian asset, he’s a whistleblower being unfairly persecuted

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    Everybody, who puts morals or ethics in front of their own, personal gain, is by default a hero in today’s context. That’s the only weapon we have against authoritarian regimes, capitalism and oligarchy. A weapon, that can only be used once per capita. But don’t be fooled—we are all.