Let it Snowden

In today's coffee and boredom-fueled post, I'd like to talk about an entity which has irreversibly harmed this country, whose actions are clearly treasonous, and which should be held fully accountable for it and punished to the fullest extent of the law. I speak, of course, of the NSA.

In the media shuffle surrounding Edward Snowden and the NSA, it seems the real crime in the picture has been lost. There are those who call Snowden a traitor, claiming that his illegal actions merit extreme punishment. If this is the case, then certainly the NSA deserves punishment as well. They have, after all, broken an entire Constitutional amendment as well as violated numerous privacy rights.

And yet, the media has focused primarily on Snowden. One could make a variety of guesses as to why, among them being the drama of the story, which almost certainly sells; however, I would posit that the real criminal here, the state, has simply done an excellent job with its PR. By appearing to be the victim and the wounded party, the state has deflected attention away from itself via its willing partner the media and placed the blame squarely on a man who it has ironically forced to escape to a former Cold War enemy. In short, the more the state shouts that Snowden is a criminal and a traitor, the more you can be sure that the real traitor, the state, is guilty as charged.

What it comes down to is a question of accountability. A state which classifies its crimes can never be held accountable for them. It is one thing to classify a military project designed to protect one's citizenry. It is quite another thing to classify a system which works directly against one's own citizens. The state claims that it listens to our calls and reads our emails for our safety; however, I can think of no one more dangerous to my safety than an overarching entity with a monopoly on power that both makes the rules and is allowed to break them, and that, as we have found, monitors all our personal correspondence. I doubt very much that a handful of men with homemade bombs and AK-47s hiding in caves are as dangerous as a well-equipped and well-informed mafia whose legitimacy has been established with the majority of the population.

That legitimacy, however, appears to be rapidly diminishing, thanks to men like Edward Snowden. It takes a brave and honest man to do the right thing, despite the personal danger and discomfort that might cause. It takes a traitorous coward to commit a real crime and then blame someone else when you get caught. People may not always have the best grasp on politics, but in a large number of cases, they know right from wrong in this instance. No matter how much the state howls that it has been wounded, the real wound would be the one it fears most: lack of support.

There is a real fear in the statements of those like John Bolton, whose hyperbolic claims of what he thinks should happen to Snowden are tinged with an underlying, desperate plea not to discuss the real issue publicly. For those in power it is no great thing to have your secret programs leaked. The issue isn't that the populace found out about the NSA's spy programs; the issue is that it might anger that populace.

Fear is a tool the NSA understands implicitly. They tried to use it by threatening Snowden with death, which didn't work. They are trying to use it through tapping our phones and reading our email to control us. However, fear is a double-edged sword. The NSA fears us far more than we fear them. The Snowden issue hasn't gone away, and that worries them. A quick public anger can be handled easily: find a celebrity who's gotten themselves addicted to coke as a distraction. Say there's a "War on Christmas." Whatever it takes. However, a slow, increasing burn is a real problem. Eventually, it can start a fire that can't be easily put out.

I hope this has given whoever stumbles on it some food for thought. I hope I have brought some new information to that person. And as for you, NSA agent who gets stuck with reading this, I know you've known all this all along. Now you know that we know it too.