<story><title>Snowden Sees Some Victories, from a Distance</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/world/europe/snowden-sees-some-victories-from-a-distance.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dimino</author><text>Almost everyone I talk to in person thinks Snowden is a criminal.  These people believe the US government was caught doing something it shouldn&amp;#x27;t have, but Snowden himself is a bad guy to these folks because he&amp;#x27;s seen as  betraying his country.&lt;p&gt;I think HN is much more pro-Snowden than the general population is, but I think the general population doesn&amp;#x27;t deny the value of exposing what the US government did.  I live in DC however, so there&amp;#x27;s certainly a pro-government feeling in this down, possibly more so than many other places in the US.&lt;p&gt;Edit: To add some support for my anecdotes, here&amp;#x27;s a somewhat recent poll I found from April 21st citing 64% of people hold a negative opinion of Snowden [0].&lt;p&gt;[0] - &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.usnews.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;21&amp;#x2F;edward-snowden-unpopular-at-home-a-hero-abroad-poll-finds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.usnews.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;21&amp;#x2F;edward-snowde...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>jgrahamc</author><text>I sometimes think that HN is pro-Snowden. Are there folks here who see him as less a hero more a villain?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>derf_</author><text>Would this be the same population polled in 2010 when 41% of them could not name the vice president of the United States in an open-ended (not multiple choice) question? [0] Or last September when 64% of them could not name the three branches of government? [1] (35% could not name a single one)&lt;p&gt;My favorite poll is this one: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pewinternet.org&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;16&amp;#x2F;americans-privacy-strategies-post-snowden&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pewinternet.org&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;16&amp;#x2F;americans-privacy-stra...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Buried near the bottom is, &amp;quot;60% believe it is acceptable to monitor the communications of American leaders.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Raise your hand if you think it&amp;#x27;s good for a healthy democracy for the executive branch to monitor the private communications of congresspeople, senators, and federal judges?&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pewforum.org&amp;#x2F;2010&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;28&amp;#x2F;u-s-religious-knowledge-survey-who-knows-what-about-religion&amp;#x2F;#Nonreligious&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pewforum.org&amp;#x2F;2010&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;28&amp;#x2F;u-s-religious-knowledge-s...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org&amp;#x2F;americans-know-surprisingly-little-about-their-government-survey-finds&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org&amp;#x2F;americans-know-su...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Snowden Sees Some Victories, from a Distance</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/world/europe/snowden-sees-some-victories-from-a-distance.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dimino</author><text>Almost everyone I talk to in person thinks Snowden is a criminal.  These people believe the US government was caught doing something it shouldn&amp;#x27;t have, but Snowden himself is a bad guy to these folks because he&amp;#x27;s seen as  betraying his country.&lt;p&gt;I think HN is much more pro-Snowden than the general population is, but I think the general population doesn&amp;#x27;t deny the value of exposing what the US government did.  I live in DC however, so there&amp;#x27;s certainly a pro-government feeling in this down, possibly more so than many other places in the US.&lt;p&gt;Edit: To add some support for my anecdotes, here&amp;#x27;s a somewhat recent poll I found from April 21st citing 64% of people hold a negative opinion of Snowden [0].&lt;p&gt;[0] - &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.usnews.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;21&amp;#x2F;edward-snowden-unpopular-at-home-a-hero-abroad-poll-finds&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.usnews.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;21&amp;#x2F;edward-snowde...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>jgrahamc</author><text>I sometimes think that HN is pro-Snowden. Are there folks here who see him as less a hero more a villain?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>atom-morgan</author><text>&amp;gt; These people believe the US government was caught doing something it shouldn&amp;#x27;t have, but Snowden himself is a bad guy to these folks because he&amp;#x27;s seen as betraying his country.&lt;p&gt;That logic should scare the living hell out of people.</text></comment>