No, the cowardly thing to do would have been to ignore his conscience and remain quiet so he could keep his six-figure salary and cushy life.
Agreed. But running away and hiding, rather than standing up to the fact what he did was still illegal, is also cowardly. Rosa Parks sat on a bus, knowing she'd be arrested. Did she run when the police got there? No, she stood up (or I guess in her case sat down) for what she believed in and she was willing to pay the price for doing what she thought was right. Rosa Parks was courageous. Edward Snowden is not.
Cowards don't speak out against tyrannical government.
Obviously they do. Of course, the USA is not a tyrannical government, so your statement really doesn't matter, but even in the manner you made it, Snowden is a coward. He broke the law and ran.
How would he fight a government that can legally incarcerate and torture its own citizens, without the possibility of appeal or due process of any kind whatsoever?
That would not happen to him. The public visibility of Edward Snowden would make that impossible.
Oh, right. My bad. I assumed you were being serious.
I was.
Edward Snowden did a courageous act, but he is not courageous. He came out with his information because he claimed to be a patriot, a true American, and yet he ran from America instead of standing up to face its justice system. That's not courage and that's not patriotism. Snowden acted once in a courageous manner, and then fled in a cowardly manner.
And calling us Snowden a "coward" is laughable. I wonder how many here who label him thus would so willingly sacrifice their home, family and freedom to stand up for their principles.
He is a coward and he's not standing up for his principles. He's tattling and running away.
So anyone who doesn't want to get locked in a box, tortured, and refused a trial for years is a coward?
No, a person who breaks the law and runs from authorities is a coward. Snowden knew full well what he was doing. But rather than face the music, he ran.
I think you're full of ****. I guess all of the founding fathers were pieces of **** for not turning themselves into the British government to be hanged.
Our founding fathers didn't sign the Declaration of Independence and then hightail it to Mexico. They put their names on the document and then were willing to fight for what they believed in. Edward Snowden is nothing like our founding fathers.
Ridiculous. You just want to see him burn because you hate what he did, it has NOTHING to do with his "courage".
I don't hate what he did. I think what he did was rather irrelevant, because anyone who knows anything about technology has known this has been going on for years. All the "revelations" Snowden supposedly announced have been known for years.
Privacy is a big issue. I am very much in favor of Internet privacy, and I do not approve of what the government has been doing. But with that said, at the same time, I also believe very strongly in standing up for convictions and Snowden did not. Snowden chose to run rather than stand up and fight for what he believes in.
If you discovered the government was doing morally wrong, or unconstitutional actions and didn't report it, you'd be a coward.
Agreed. I'm not saying the one act Snowden made was not a courageous one act. But one act does not define a man. If I'm afraid of heights and go up on a ferris wheel one time before vowing to never do so again, does that mean I'm courageous? No, it means I had a moment of strength.
If the government were torturing children in dark rooms, I imagine you'd do something.
Damn straight I would. And I would look my government in the eye and sit in that court room and let my fellow Americans decide if I did the right thing or not.
This "Patriotism and loyalty to the government REGARDLESS of what they do" is absolute bull****.
I never said that. You're putting words into my mouth which were never there.
