June 12, 2013 · by danbojangles · Bookmark the permalink. ·
Let’s get right into the meat of the massive, still developing, scandal that is the revelation of the size/scope/activity of the American surveillance state. The question that’s on the minds/lips of every “journalist,” media pundit, and national politician within arms-reach of their White House talking-points check list.. The question that’s being posed subtly, through insinuation, and not-so-subtly, by name.. The most important, pressing, relevant question of the day:
Exactly what kind of coward is Edward Snowden?
Let’s analyze this through a series of questions.
What kind of coward would decide, at only 29 years old, to single-handedly expose, and subsequently challenge, the most powerful, sophisticated, technologically-advanced government in the history of the world?
What kind of coward would willingly/consciously abandon:
The comforts of a lifestyle afforded by a job paying roughly $200,000 a year?
A home in Hawaii, shared by a girlfriend?
All intimate relationships with family, friends, and loved ones (including the aforementioned girlfriend)?
The stability/familiarity of living in the country of your birth, and native language?
What kind of coward, at 29 years old, would consciously/willfully challenge arguably the most advanced intelligence agencies in the world to employ surveillance technology of unfathomable complexity in what’s sure to become a manhunt of epic proportions?
What kind of coward would choose to invite that manhunt in a country or continent with which they were largely unfamiliar?
What kind of coward would subject his life, accomplishments, and character to 24/7 scrutiny from the esteemed American media machine?
What kind of coward would challenge an administration that has asserted, and acted on the assertion, that they have the authority to assassinate US citizens without regard for those rights past generations believed to be enshrined in our founding document, such as due process?
What kind of coward would challenge an administration that has asserted the authority to indefinitely detain American citizens?
What kind of coward would challenge a government that has, in the past decade, tortured people TO DEATH, with impunity?
What kind of coward would invite uncertainty/instability of incalculable proportions into his life for the idea that Americans, indeed the world, should be permitted to publicly debate the scope of a secret, pervasive surveillance grid which, besides violating the 4th Amendment, has the potential to usher in a technological tyranny over the whole of humanity?
What kind of coward would risk the majority of humanity misinterpreting his actions as being those of a “traitor”..?
What kind of coward would be confident enough in the rightness of his convictions to risk having a majority of humanity be misled into believing he’s a “traitor” to his county? (Note: pundits have already called for his execution for “treason.”)
What kind of coward would recognize/weigh everything he stood to lose, and decide that an idea like “freedom” was worth the risk?
ANSWER:
The kind of coward you could only hope to be.
