I am glad we talked about Edward Snowden in this class. Spring semester one of my professors suggested if we didn't know anything about Edward Snowden, we better find out. Fortunately the movie The Fifth Estate was available to rent. He said the movie was okay and should give us a good idea of what happened. I understand that movies are fiction even if it is based on a true story. I sat down on the weekend and was excited to watch this movie for the wrong reason, Benedict Cumberbatch is one of my favorite actors. I was so lost during the movie and by the end I thought that I would never understand any thing about Edward Snowden. This is why I am happy we discussed and watched the PBS documentary on this subject. I finally understand the subject matter.
Is Edward Snowden a patriot or a traitor? I looked up the definition of patriot and traitor to help me understand and answer the question better.Merriam-Webster's dictionary it states a patriot is, "a person who loves and strongly supports or fights for his or her country," and "one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests." I also looked up traitor and Merriam-Webster says it is,"a person who is not loyal to his or her own country, friends, etc.:a person who betrays a country or group of people by helping or supporting the enemy." This didn't help me much, but what did is what the word traitor had in its full definition, "one who commits treason." Treason is a betrayal of trust. It also gave the example of reading a friends diary without permission as an act of personal treason. That is kind of what Edward Snowden did, he read the nations diary without permission. The information he has we do not know. We do not know what he plans to do with it. We do know what many have thought all along, that we are being watched. All of our data is being gathered and can be looked at by the government. From what we are buying online, if we are on campus, to what we put on Facebook and Twitter, etc.
All this information is well and good, but it doesn't answer the question. I can't make up my mind, because he did let the American public know what was going on, but he is in possession of information that may or may not be sensitive. I'm guessing sensitive. Mr. Snowden knows how valuable this information is and what it can do to our country. Time will tell what Mr. Snowden's agenda really is.
