Blinded by fantasy: Snowden

The heroes many put on a pedestal these days should make one wonder. The old values of integrity, honesty, courage, and so forth don’t seem to matter much. Instead, it is a reverence for the tantrum against perceived or imagined ‘bad things.’ That can range from those who think a $20 million salary represents racial oppression and honor Chavez and Castro to those that engage in treason and sedition. Lynn Westmoreland is a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Georgia, describes Edward Snowden’s gambit — “It continues to threaten U.S. security and endanger the lives of innocents.”

Mr. Snowden’s pose as a privacy advocate could be a real reflection of his values or it could be nothing more than an elaborate cover for his criminal behavior. His actions certainly are inconsistent with a man concerned about privacy. Mr. Snowden stole the credentials of his coworkers and used them to rifle through their personal files, accessing the files of human resource managers that had nothing to do with spy programs. And he gathered personally identifiable information of thousands of intelligence community employees, exposing them to our nation’s adversaries. These are not the actions of a dedicated patriot scouring for evidence of government maleficence.
…
So what were his motivations? The fact is that Edward Snowden began stealing classified information shortly after a workplace argument and subsequent reprimand by management. The evidence suggests that Mr. Snowden is a disgruntled man driven by narcissism and reckless disregard for those he was hired to protect. However, it is difficult to know the whole truth until he returns to the United States to face prosecution.

Trust is something that is hard earned and seldom recovered when lost. Trust is a cornerstone of a healthy and vibrant society. From Snowden to Clinton, trust doesn’t appear to hold much value and their followers show that many just don’t care or don’t know why it might be worth something.