Usually we have a episode “Black Mirror” to watch, but this week we watched Snowden. The basis of this week I feel was centered around Edward Snowden and if his actions were just or unjust. Before I get into my take on this week’s material it is only right I provide some background of Edward Snowden. Edward Snowden who is better known as an American whistleblower worked for the CIA and leaked classified information from the NSA. The information he leaked brought world attention to digital privacy and security on now is a global issue. Of course like any other situation there is two sides to what he did. Some may view Snowden as courageous and some may view him as a traitor.
Regardless of what you think of Snowden what he did took a lot of courage. Agree or disagree with his actions he is primarily the reason why most of us tape the cameras on our computers because we feel the government is watching us. He gave us insight on how the government was watching what we do through our technology. The information Snowden leaked did reveal that the programs the NSA had were unconstitutional and were being done without the public’s knowledge. As shown in the movie Snowden just like other people felt this action went against democracy which is a government of the people.
On the contrary many people view Snowden as a traitor as well. He fled the country with tons of files of top secret information and gave it to another country to leak. This gave other countries a lot of information on the U.S and their programs and could have been very dangerous. It also was illegal to do what he did with the information he was given from his job. He was sworn to not give out that information when taking that job position and leaving the country and doing so went against his oath.
After watching the movie and reading the articles for the week I think both sides are in the wrong. I know this is an easy answer to come by, but when you look at the point of both sides they both knew they were in the wrong. Snowden knew what he was doing was wrong because he had to flea the country to do so and the government knew what they were doing was wrong because after Snowden did what he did they made it a crime and supposedly stopped doing this act. The government got what they were dishing out in some type of way because from invading the privacy of their own people now other countries were now invading theirs with this leak. As a U.S citizen maybe Snowden should not have leaked the information the way he did, but if he didn’t the government would have just continued to invade our privacy without any type of warning or consent of the people. The question I leave everyone with is do you believe Edward Snowden is an American hero or a whistle blowing traitor?
WEEKLY NEWS: lhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/10/02/politics/president-donald-trump-walter-reed-coronavirus/index.html
How ironic is it that after the presidential debate when Trump was bashing Biden for wearing a mask regardless of his distance from people he gets the virus a few days later?
SOCIAL MEDIA & SOCIETY 
Nice post Tyrese. I think that Snowden is overall a hero for the sacrifices that he made in order to let the public know that they were being watched. At the end of the day, Snowden’s acts were for the greater good and I think that’s what a lot of situations have to come down to. You have to do what’s best for the people without letting social status get in the way. Maybe they would have caught more suspicious activity if they were allowed to spy on everyone. However, those who are just trying to live their private lives were under surveillance. Snowden saw the problem with this as I think anyone would and instead of walking with the rest of this crowd, he acted.
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Hello Ty, I found your interpretation of Edward Snowden accurate and in close similarity to mine. Your ability to establish both perspectives of supporters and haters was key. If you only provided one side of the argument, it may have been tough to decipher Snowden’s personality and logic. I agree that he is both a traitor and a patriot (Sorry that isn’t much help!). Lastly, your own perspective at the end of your blog adds character and establishes your own strong point on view.
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Great Blog! I think I would consider Edward Snowden a hero because he took a huge risk doing what he did and currently is paying the consequences. I wonder how accurate the movie was because In the scene where he is downloading the files, he attempts to remove the Sd Card but drops it, and one of his coworker helps him not get caught having dropped the SD card. If that actually happen in real life not only would that have been cool but also it makes me wonder if anyone else was going through the same moral conundrum that Snowden did but maybe they felt like it wasn’t worth the trouble. Perhaps many other people wanted to come out with the news but didn’t have the courage that Snowden did.
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