Snowden vs Govt Secrecy

The March 7, 2014 Wall Street Journal Saturday Acrostic Puzzle  was a cryptoquote from Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus

 

 

“Secrets have power. And that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well. Sharing secrets, real secrets, important ones, with even one other person, will change them. Writing them down is worse, because who can tell how many eyes might see them"

Fellow nerds on the WSJ puzzle blog added quotes about secrets from Abraham Lincoln:

David wrote :

It’s not me who can’t keep a secret. It’s all the people I tell who can’t! (Abraham Lincoln)

and from Benjamin Franklin:

Puzzled wrote :

Oh yeah, I almost forgot:
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”
― Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack

So, it seems people have been debating the power of secrets in fact and fiction for centuries.

Sean Wilentz in his January 19, 2014 New Republic article: "Would You Feel Differently About Snowden, Greenwald, and Assange If You Knew What They Really Thought?" attempts to attack Snowden's leaking/whistleblower actions by engaging in ad hominem attacks questioning his motives. 

But the debate as to whether Snowden is a leaker or a whistlerblower seems prescient:

#BreakingNews Congressman: NSA leaker was 'whistleblower'- Edit battle rages on Snowden's Wikipedia page http://t.co/Z04RYgcohJ
— Timothy Snow (@SnowinRI) August 5, 2013

for, allegedly, Snowden did attempt to go through whistleblower channels before he leaked, according to March 9, 2014 Fox report : "Snowden claims he raised concerns about NSA internally 10 times before leaking documents"

However, Snowden seems to have an Orwellian Animal Farm outlook that some government spying programs are more equal than others when he remains silent about his friend's Putin allegedly tapping the phones b/n US State Nuland and Ukraine "F**k The EU" - US State Department Blasts Europe; Revealed As Alleged Mastermind Behind Ukraine Unrest   US blames Russia for leaking telephone call about Ukraine

However, regardless of Snowden's treasonous useful idiocy, who is just a Putin stooge at this point:

Snowden tells EU (and the ENTIRE world) Many Other Spy Programs Remain Secret For Now http://t.co/Sqg504tSJi (Really a veiled Putin threat)
— Tom T. (@VRWCTexan) March 8, 2014

I don't support blanket warrants and violations of the 4th Amendment, which is against the original intent of the author of the Patriot Act, Sen Sensenbrenner:





Additionally, I don't support using Snowden as an excuse to destroy the 1st Amendment with stricter whistleblower controls, as per Cheryl K Chumely's June 12, 2013 "Washington Times" article: "Rep. Peter King: Punish the journalists for information leaks"


Finally, I don't support sneaky Huff Po  Robert Naiman 08/15/2013 proposition Amend or Repeal the Espionage Act to Protect Journalists and Whistle-blowers that would in fact constrict the 1A protections to govt defined journalists, thus only having the fox guard the hen house.