The curious case of Edward Snowden

He doesn’t age backwards like Benjamin Button, but Edward Snowden’s story is one step backwards for the U.S.

Snowden is responsible for revealing the National Security Agency’s history of mass surveillance upon citizens. In breaching this code of secrecy, he is being charged with espionage.

An online petition to pardon Snowden has reached 100,000 signatures, prompting the White House to take official action. If the White House even entertains this thought, it will be a slippery slope.

Who’s to say the information gleaned through his leak is more important than a government employee breaking a federal law? If it were classified information that Obama blows up school buses full of children, then that certainly would be worth revealing. I would send my thank you note to whomever revealed it  while they’re sitting in jail.

Snowden broke a federal law. Whether we believe he did it for the betterment of the country is of no consequence.

If we start pardoning on that criteria, every man who has stolen out of hunger should immediately be pardoned. They were just trying to feed their family.

Want to murder a man? Just plead that it is for the betterment of the country and maybe someone will start a petition for you.

The illogical reasoning in this country towards the privilege of knowledge is double-sided. Let’s break down the thought process of someone who signed that petition to pardon Snowden.

Snowden is a hero! Government should be transparent! We need to know everything about the government with no secrets withheld. Wait, the NSA was spying on us? Whoa, whoa, whoa ... the government shouldn’t know everything about us!

Isn’t Snowden just a microcosm of the NSA program in general? The NSA revealed citizens’ private information to protect the country. Snowden revealed the federal government’s private information to protect the country. If you don’t support the NSA’s program, logic says you shouldn’t support Snowden’s pardon.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t be born wise and grow younger. Well, unless you’re Benjamin Button. And if Snowden gets pardoned, I will be even more confused than I was after that movie.

­— lewicole@indiana.edu