re: Snowden and Putin really throwing it down on us now.

quote:

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If he was truly the "hero" that his comrades claim him to be he would have revealed what he knew about NSA domestic spying and then turned himself in to face the consequences

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There is an intrinsic downside to being a martyr.

False. If he had done that, he would have been labeled a traitor and his influence would have been limited. The change that he wants, as do the American people, is not something that can come by an act like that. It takes a relentless campaign to bring out the truth and bring about change. That is not something that he would have been allowed to bring about had he done the honorable thing like you said he should have.

A hero is not always viewed as such by his own people during his time. A hero stands against wrong no matter what, and is labeled what he is based on the results he gets. War is not a pretty thing, and this is a war on a completely different scale. He is taking measures that could be skewed or viewed as radical to stand up against a system that has overstepped its legal bounds.

Two wrongs don't make a right, but sometimes, two wrongs together teach a lesson that everyone can learn from. This is why he is a hero. He has realized this, and has taken it upon himself to follow an unpopular route to acheive what should have been acheivable by legal means.