Edward Snowden - the Anti Hero
Autor: Rachel • April 29, 2018 • 976 Words (4 Pages) • 525 Views
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Brutus too, after betraying Caesar, went and joined hands with his rival, Cassius.
He joined hands with Cassius only for the reason that he knew Caesar wasn’t going to listen to him whereas Brutus wanted what was best for Rome. Similarly, in the case of Snowden, he knew the moment he gave the files to Glenn Greenwald, the reporter from The Guardian, he knew he couldn’t go back home. Presently he is seeking asylum in Moscow, Russia. To be fair, he didn’t plan on staying with his country’s archrivals. It was just such a turn of events that when he reached the Moscow airport he had been informed that the United States of America has revoked his passport, stranding him in Russia.
So what is Snowden’s real crime? Like Ellsberg, Vanunu, and Bradley Manning before him, he uncovered questionable activities that those in power would rather have kept secret. That’s the valuable role that whistle-blowers play in a free society, and it’s one that, in each individual case, should be weighed against the breach of trust they commit, and the potential harm their revelations can cause. In some instances, conceivably, the interests of the state should prevail. Here, though, the scales are clearly tipped in Snowden’s favor. The USA is called the land of the free, but there is no freedom in the analysis of a citizen’s conversation. The US government neglected the constitution, stealing every citizen’s right to privacy. Snowden has uncovered the NSA’s unfortunate secrets. The Patriot Act cannot justify the NSA’s unlawful actions. Federal Judge Leon affirms that the government’s national spying is unconstitutional. Even with all of America’s data records, the NSA is unable prevent terrorism. Snowden has unmasked a government that has inflicted a false sense of freedom. Snowden has provided Americans with their right to knowledge. In turn, Snowden is an Anti-hero. He took the wrong means to do the right job, well, something like Deadpool.
WORDS CITED:
- "The Constitution of the United States," Amendment 4.
- Rusbridger, Alan, and Ewen MacAskill. "Edward Snowden Interview - the Edited Transcript." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 2014.
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