Nowadays, Edward Snowden is the person, whose activity connected with the leak of top-secret documents about a variety of the classified N.S.A. surveillance programs, who is widely discussed all around the world from ordinary people to high-ranking officials.
Being a computer system contractor for the N.S.A., Snowden collected a pile of documents linked with the U.S. surveillance activities towards ordinary Americans (Smith). The whole society was shocked with his revelations, though an overwhelming majority of ordinary citizens approve the act of Snowden, people who are in minority ask themselves: ‘Why Edward Snowden is a hero? (Turley)’ The answer to this question can be described by obvious reasons of Snowden’s reckless deed.
Taking into account the above-mentioned fact, it can be seen that the U.S. government, while attracting attention to the illegal actions of Edward Snowden, tries to hide its own illegal actions towards the private life of American citizens (Vanden Heuvel).
The one more argument which proves that Edward Snowden is a hero, not a traitor, is the unwillingness of the US government to find a middle course in this case and the situation when Snowden found himself in exile in Moscow, Russia, with the resolved passport and impossibility to return home in the USA (Bamford).
The one more controversial issue here is that Snowden also has revealed the fact when the U.S. spy agencies tapped the cellphone conversations of many world leaders like Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany; in such a way, Snowden ‘warned’ leaders of many countries to pay bigger heed to the issues of confidentiality which can be also qualified as the heroic deed of Edward Snowden (Smith).
Whereas the U.S. government continues to consider Snowden a traitor, he continues to live in exile in Moscow. Here is arisen the question to the U.S government about this situation with the exile of their citizen. Why did they resolve his passport? Was it the fear that more secrets can be revealed by Edward Snowden?
According to Snowden the secret documents are no longer under his control and he doesn’t have them with him in Russia. Copies of these documents are founded now in several news organizations such as First Look Media, The Guardian newspaper and also in hands of writer Barton Gellman, a journalist for The Washington Post (Bamford). It is disputable that the custodians of these documents will give it back to the government of the U.S. Such situation keeps high-ranking politicians of the U.S. government in state of constant tense expectations of diplomatic row. Snowden affirms that there is no need in such anxiety; because he left a trait of everything he had stolen in order to simplify the inquiry (Bamford). Such Snowden’s action only shows that, first of all, he displayed an unflagging concern for ordinary citizens of his own native country.
There exist reasons which caused, without any doubt, the heroic deed of Edward Snowden. This happened in 2013 when Snowden read a news story about the statement of James Clapper, director of national intelligence, concerning the fact that the N.S.A. didn’t collect information on millions of Americans. This news story became decisive for Snowden to make a move (Bamford).
Edward Snowden can be defined as a hero who has the desperate nature, because only brave and desperate people are able to commit really noble actions for ordinary people from own country, taking into account the fact that just these ordinary people are thought to be pawns on the political arena.
Nobody likes to know their life is under the constant surveillance and control. So, even people, who don’t like Snowden, can’t approvingly stand the interference in their personal life (Turley).
Fighters for justice always existed and will always exist; Edward Snowden is the bright example of such courageous fighter who doesn’t wait that someone else will change everything towards better future, he does it by himself perfectly imagining possible consequence of such action.
The situation with Edward Snowden remains unsolved and very indeterminate. He leaves the life completely filled with ambiguity. The ambiguity is, maybe, the worst thing for the person who has found himself trapped with no hope for changing the situation for the better. What will happen to this heroic man when his term of stay in Russia ends? Nobody knows; though the U.S. government bides its time towards Snowden hoping for the law of extradition.
We can infinitely discuss the actions of Edward Snowden, but he is the man who wasn’t afraid to defend the rights of ordinary people. He dared to show that politicians are not all-powerful and cannot take decisions neglecting opinions of other people from their own country.
The country should know its own heroes and Edward Snowden is definitely a hero who has become the defender of his nation.
Works Cited
Bamford, James. The Most Wanted Man In the World. Wired Magazine. 2014. <www.wired.com/2014/08/edward-snowden/#ch-7>.
Turley, Jonathan. Edward Snowden: Whistleblower or traitor? Aljazeera. 9 Jun 2014. <m.aljazeera.com/story/20146955611522671>.
Smith, Patricia. Edward Snowden: Traitor or Hero? Up – Front Magazine. 2014. <http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/sites/default/files/asset/file/upfront022414edwardsnowden.pdf>.
Vanden Heuvel, Katrina, and Stephan F. Cohen. Edward Snowden. A ‘Nation’ Interview. The Nation. 28 Oct 2014. <m.thenation.com/article/186129-snowden-exile-exclusive-interview>.
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