Snowden: Hero or Villain?

Edward Snowden – is he a hero or a villain?  In my eye, he’s neither.  I see him as more of a victim for simply trying to do what he feels is right.  I don’t agree with his views on surveillance but I do feel somewhat sorry for the man.  Whether he should be viewed as a hero or a terrorist, a patriot or a criminal is not what this post is going to explore.  Rather, I’m going to talk about my views on surveillance and what I would have done if I were him. 

The main thing that I feel both Snowden and myself agree upon is the method he exposed the story.  Snowden used The Guardian Newspaper, a prominent news media outlet in England that is known to be one of the last true fourth estate newspapers.  By using The Guardian, Snowden ensured that the truth without political bias was released with the breaking story. 

But if I was in Snowden’s own shoes, I would have done nothing with the whole issue.  With the Wiki Leaks issue still ongoing, surely he would have realised the danger he would have gotten in if he went ahead with his plan.  Julian Assange of Wiki Leaks has been in a world of trouble and issues since they leaked government information.  I would not have leaked the information knowing that sort of drama would ensue. 

But also, I don’t believe there truly is a problem with the surveillance the NSA was undertaking.  The whole idea of the surveillance program was to be a security measure against large scale attacks on the United States.  If large operations such as PRISM and the other surveillance programs are truly working to prevent such attacks then why is everyone freaking out so much?  Do people honestly have that much to hide?  When viewed on a large scale, worldwide issue such as basic human security, why so much negative backlash against the government?  I see it as a necessary task to be able to keep the security of the citizens a top priority.