Thread: Edward Snowden and his stay in Russia

Originally Posted by 14Russian

But, Americans (here) and many Russians don't care, apparently. I guess there's stupid people everywhere.

It's not that we are stupid... it's just that we have known about this for years. It really isn't news. If you live in or around the Washington, D.C. area or NY City especially, then you know that spying is a way of life and it is not just the Americans who spy. "In that building over there, the Russians rent our offices to listen to the folks who work in that building over there. And in that building over there you have the XXX, who listen to the people work in this building over there. Oh, and when this building was built, the xxx, bought out an entire floor just so they could try and listen to the folks down the road, so a little while later, the other folks bought the building, evicted everyone and now it sits empty."

You know that if you have a family member who works for an alphabet agency that your home phone may be tapped so don't have any family fights on them because it is embarrassing to the employee.

You know that your emails are being scanned for buzz words to see if you know things you shouldn't.

And this was all long before FaceBook where people willingly put their personal information and the government agencies now look to find things out. FaceBook is now their Town Crier or Gladys Kravitz.




But you say wait a minute, what about people who don't live in those area or work for government agencies... Well, if they work for a public company then they too are used to having their emails, voice mails, company cell phone, and pretty much anything else scanned, recorded, read and listened to thanks to Sarbanes Oxley.

So, Mr. Snowden is not some hero in our eyes, he is a contract employee he who broke his contract. He signed agreements not to divulge the classified information he might see and he did.

Other countries already know that we spy on them, because, oh my, they spy on us. And other countries know that we spy on our people because, on my, they do the same to their people.

We see him like the kid in school who raises his hand at the end of class to remind the teacher that she didn't give any homework. The entire class knows that the teacher didn't give out any homework, the teacher knows she didn't give out any homework and everyone is fine with that. The bell is going to ring and everyone can have a well needed night off from homework and grading papers and such... but no... Mr. Snowden just has to go and raise his hand to say "Teacher, what about the homework???"

This is why no one wants Mr. Snowden.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

***It's not that we are stupid...***
This is why no one wants Mr. Snowden.

Yes, it is. You just demostrated evidence of it, thank you. So, you are saying Americans are justified in the attitude, 'everyone knows there's spying so it's okay or we can accept/tolerate it.' LOL! Well, that is a new perspective I haven't seen too often so congratulations. That's a stupid attitude. I never said Snowden is a hero. One can debate that but he tried to give details on how *pervasive' and serious it is with details. Instead of people just 'assuming' they're being spied on, he brought the subject into the public eye more than before. He sacrificed his safety and livelihood to 'tell people' and hopefully, wake them up. Unfortunately, he didn't realize how many stupid and oblivious people there are. Even when they're smacked on the head with the revelations, people not only overlook it but call him a 'traitor.' LOL! Unreal.
Edit: Also, Snowden showed that the American Government has violated the Constitution among other things and no one with a rational mind would consider his 'contract' allowing that.
Snowden is 'not being accepted' (as you put it) by other countries because they are in bed with the U.S. Government and the U.S. has intimidated other countries to not grant him the request.
I'm not surprised the mod liked your comment. It's typical of this site whenever the topic is politics.

Russian 14... you are the one who doesn't seem to understand that:

1. Anyone with a FaceBook account or using any sort of Android product has already given up on their privacy long ago. We sold our souls to the devils on those technologies and they know more about us than our own families do and ever will. "Here, want a great calendar App that will help organize your life and your families too?... Wonderful, now we know all of your doctors appointments, that little Suzi does tumbling, and little Jimmy plays the trombone, and you had your mammogram done last week and that two weeks from now you plan on divorcing your hubby and he doesn't know it yet."

2. Children today know from early school age that you in order to obtain any sort of account, be it a school based IT account or a job, you must sign a Computer and Internet Use Policy Form. Once you sign that form, your emails, web movement, anything electronic at work/school is no longer private. Every key stroke and document is recorded and stored and can be reviewed at anytime without your permission.

So, it is not a case where Mr. Snowden brought to light anything really new or different about what is already happening in our society. We are not oblivious to it. Maybe you just randomly click on TOS agreements or sign legal contacts and policies. Maybe it is you who has been oblivious to it all and that is why you are so upset over all of this?

Oh and Russian 14... I can write this post and have a passionate debate all without resorting to name calling and maybe that is part of the reason Lampada liked my post....hmmmm?