> The cognitive dissonance here is almost too much to bear

The cognitive dissonance is now everywhere. It permeates our systems.

The Greatest Country on Earth (tm) looking to crucify the defender of democracy and freedom and effectively forcing him into finding protection in a communist regime.

Approximately 50% of American citizens are made to believe Snowden is a traitor.

The list goes on. And the situation has literally reached biblical proportions. Signs are now on the wall.

I almost resisted making this comment because it's not directly on topic, but I feel compelled to say that the notion that present-day Russia is in any way communist is just laughable.

> And the situation has literally reached biblical proportions.

Not sure what part of the bible is literally in proportion here.

Because it's not literally, it's figurative.

J on the cross.

We're crucifying democracy. Is it really that hard to see?

Trying to establish an equivalence between a man and a political system seems a _touch_ cult-of-personality-like don't you think?

I think there are plenty of defensible arguments one can give to say that Edward Snowden is not a traitor, but pearl-clutching hyperbolics leave me completely unconvinced.

I don't think it is necessary for Snowden to be "equivalent to" democracy for his treatment to be seen as akin to the crucifixion of democracy. He did bring to light one of the worst subversions of democracy we've ever known. He is being crucified for aiding democratic institutions reestablish their will, including by those very institutions he aided.

This can quite reasonably be interpreted as democracy being crucified, without Snowden himself "being" Democracy.

What does democracy have to do with Jesus? Like most monotheistic religions, Christianity is incredibly authoritarian. Christians don't vote on what God does. He does what He wants, and it's beyond even the comprehension of mere mortals, much less our control.

It has been always like this, it's just now harder to sip the koolaid.

> Approximately 50% of American citizens are made to believe Snowden is a traitor.

He took highly-classified information to China & Russia. What other word than 'traitor' applies?

He's not 'the defender of democracy and freedom'; he's a criminal, a spy and — yes — a traitor.

Nothing he has alleged is illegal or unconstitutional (the Constitution does not mandate all good things, nor does it forbid all bad things). He didn't expose massive wrongdoing: he exposed lawful, constitutional intelligence operations.

I know I'm going to get downvoted to hell, but honestly I don't care: it is both correct and should not be forgotten that Mr. Snowden broke the law and violated the trust which his nation put in him.

> He took highly-classified information to China & Russia. What other word than 'traitor' applies?

Do you guys keep repeating falshoods over and over again even in the face of evidence to the contrary for a reason? Do you think if you keep spouting lies they will somehow become true?

He leaked the information to journalists globally. He didn't hand the information over to China or Russia. Whatever information they might have on US surveillance operations came from the same leaks the journalists have chosen to release. Snowden was not in possession of any documents by the time he arrived in Russia.

> he's a criminal, a spy and — yes — a traitor.

A criminal under the espionage act yes, but he's also a whistleblower that is being denied whisteblower protections.

A spy? I assume you have some proof of this otherwise you are talking out of your ass.

A traitor? A traitor to his superiors maybe. His loyalty was to the American people first and foremost, not the government. As yours should be. He betrayed a secretive, undemocratic practice by an unaccountable government. The people should be singing his praises because he acted in the very interests of the Republic and its people, you know that thing you all claim to love and protect in your weird, cult-like pledges of allegiance that you force your kids to recite? The fact that you have been convinced by those that don't have your interests at heart that a man that was trying to help you is your enemy is the ultimate fucking tragedy here.

I would be careful to separate out exactly what trust he violated. He certainly violated the trust of his superiors. He certainly upheld the trust of his nation - that is to say, all of us being spied upon by those superiors.

Remember, it is up to us citizens to tell our government what we will or won't accept as proper behavior, no matter what legal framework the government tries to surround us with.

he broke the law, but he didn't bring the classified info to those governments. by all accounts he has shielded that info from them, that he did share with journalists. I can't understand why you make these mis-statements.