<story><title>Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/opinion/edward-snowden-whistle-blower.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>umanwizard</author><text>I find it pleasantly surprising -- almost unbelievable, in fact -- that a highly sought-after fugitive accused of treason and practically certain to be found guilty of serious crimes is so widely supported by the public and the media.&lt;p&gt;Has there ever been another person whom the executive has done everything in its power to paint as a dangerous enemy of the state, whose approval rating was several points higher than the President&amp;#x27;s and several &lt;i&gt;times&lt;/i&gt; higher than that of Congress? Or is this a never-before-seen situation?&lt;p&gt;The inverted totalitarianism[1] we live in can seem almost invincible, but this to me is a big glimmer of hope that some people at least are still unwilling to swallow the (two-)party line.&lt;p&gt;I hope this leads to some real change, but then again, I can&amp;#x27;t exactly hold my breath.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Inverted_totalitarianism&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ewoodrich</author><text>An NBC&amp;#x2F;WSJ poll from late July [1] (the most recent poll I found that assessed general favorability of both President Obama and Edward Snowden, lists Snowden with a favorability of 11%, 37% behind Obama&amp;#x27;s number at that point in time.&lt;p&gt;A Harvard poll of millennials [2] (defined as 18-29) show that 22% consider him a &amp;quot;traitor&amp;quot;, 22% consider him a patriot, and the remainder are &amp;quot;not sure&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;Of course, polls which pose questions about approval of his release of documents may differ substantially, but then again, so do polls about specific actions the President has taken. I don&amp;#x27;t know where the data for your assertion comes from.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/A_Politics/_Today_Stories_Teases/130724-July-NBC-WSJ-poll.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;msnbcmedia.msn.com&amp;#x2F;i&amp;#x2F;MSNBC&amp;#x2F;Sections&amp;#x2F;A_Politics&amp;#x2F;_Today...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://iop.harvard.edu/blog/iop-releases-new-fall-poll-5-key-findings-and-trends-millennial-viewpoints&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;iop.harvard.edu&amp;#x2F;blog&amp;#x2F;iop-releases-new-fall-poll-5-key...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/opinion/edward-snowden-whistle-blower.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>umanwizard</author><text>I find it pleasantly surprising -- almost unbelievable, in fact -- that a highly sought-after fugitive accused of treason and practically certain to be found guilty of serious crimes is so widely supported by the public and the media.&lt;p&gt;Has there ever been another person whom the executive has done everything in its power to paint as a dangerous enemy of the state, whose approval rating was several points higher than the President&amp;#x27;s and several &lt;i&gt;times&lt;/i&gt; higher than that of Congress? Or is this a never-before-seen situation?&lt;p&gt;The inverted totalitarianism[1] we live in can seem almost invincible, but this to me is a big glimmer of hope that some people at least are still unwilling to swallow the (two-)party line.&lt;p&gt;I hope this leads to some real change, but then again, I can&amp;#x27;t exactly hold my breath.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Inverted_totalitarianism&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>visakanv</author><text>I think the last individual who might&amp;#x27;ve been in a somewhat similar position was Daniel Ellsberg, for releasing the Pentagon Papers.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;For his disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg was initially charged with conspiracy, espionage and theft of government property, but the charges were later dropped after prosecutors investigating the Watergate Scandal soon discovered that the Nixon administration had ordered the so-called White House Plumbers to engage in unlawful efforts to discredit Ellsberg.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;But I think Snowden opened a far bigger can of worms, considering that the Pentagon Papers didn&amp;#x27;t involve spying on US citizens, etc.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Daniel_Ellsberg&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Pentagon_Papers&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>