Oh Good. We Get THE REAL version of The Snowden Story.
Before you read further, I DO think Snowden did us all a favor. I did not realize how deep the government was into my underwear, AND I haven’t found yet where his disclosures cost lives like some.
Having Oliver Stone weigh in with a movie about the events is a bit iffy though.
The STAR:
Category: Geezer Alert!
I just cannot help but think that there is something else really going on here. And I’m with you Zero, I had no idea what the sam hell the government was doing with all the spying they do on us civilians…
How can they make a movie without knowing how it’s going to end? I mean does Snowden die in Gitmo, from a mysterious car crash in Russia, or while being gang-raped in the Fed prison in Colorado?
His death will be a Jesus parable. Betrayed by a deciple, martyred by the government that feared him, etc. Then, after his death, the world will awake to find that he has left an epic Easter egg somewhere hidden in the interwebs and that his data will live forever and ever amen.
I’ve always been torn on Snowden. No, his revelations haven’t endangered lives, and no one was killed thanks to him. That said… I also know the amount of damage he did to our intelligence gathering capabilities, and that to me is inexcusable.
Yes, there have been instances where NSA tools have been used by some authority-abusing assholes to spy on innocent American civilians, but I would submit that the vast majority of NSA employees are honorable, dedicated intelligence professionals, who are committed to protecting this nation. Yes, I’m glad abuses have been exposed, and ultimately punished, from what I understand.
Many people impugn the entire agency because of what Snowden did, and our collection capabilities have suffered enormously, not to mention the MONTHS of work it took to untangle all the information he released and assess the damage.
So yeah… fuck Snowden.
I support the idea of giving Snowden a medal along with his blindfold and cigarette. He did some good, and a lot more harm. And he didn’t do it out of altruism, he did it because he was an asshole with an axe to grind.
True, his shit hasn’t cost any lives, yet, that we know of. But what will happen in the next war, with our intelligence capabilities so badly compromised? Yes, the NSA spying on us bothers me greatly, but that was only a small part of the info this asshole leaked.
Snowden is a traitor, period. Just look where he ran off to. There’s lots of places that would have sheltered him, but where did he go? Russia, by way of Red China. No wonder Oliver Fucking Stone(d) wants to make a movie glorifying this douchebag. Although I wasn’t aware that Gordon-Levitt (what’s with all the hyphenated names these days?) was THAT much of a communist.
I always had this suspicion that Snowden had been recruited by the Russians a long time ago. Just based on some of the techniques he apparently used to get his co-workers to reveal their PKI certs, and the fact that he’s now comfy and cozy in Russia… I don’t know. I can’t help but think that maybe he was a Russian asset all along.
Actors follow the paycheck. Spencer Tracy was conflicted about playing a Catholic priest, but did it (and won an Oscar) – Dan Blocker turned down the King Kong role in Dr. Strangelove because he thought it was too Communist a movie – and the role went to Slim Pickens, who was an even more staunch conservative. In a sense most actors are like military – their job is to act and do a good job in the role, not to embrace the politics of the director. Some do, just as some military probably support Obama – but when you are chasing millions+ paychecks, I doubt “oh, geee, but the producer has different politics” comes to mind much.
None of which changes the fact that Oliver Stone is an asshole, mind you.