Do Americans think Snowden is a hero and should get a pardon or do they think he should be convicted and jailed? Also...

Do Americans think Snowden is a hero and should get a pardon or do they think he should be convicted and jailed? Also, how do the opinions differ between democrats and republicans?

Other urls found in this thread:

eff.org/nsa-spying/nsadocs
twitter.com/snowden/status/716683740903247873
global.handelsblatt.com/edition/509/ressort/politics/article/edward-snowdens-guardian-angels
washingtonpost.com/world/europe/nsa-scandal-rekindles-in-germany-with-an-ironic-twist/2015/04/30/030ec9e0-ee7e-11e4-8050-839e9234b303_story.html
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

Neither. He is a hero but still broke the law. He should just stay in Russia and start a new life.

1 he should stay away and let live as he is now, branded but free

2 the division is more in-line with whether or not people think he is doing the right or wrong thing, it is not just the donkey or the elephant as you can see from the dnc email debacle

HE'S MY HERO I WANT TO HAVE CHILDREN FROM HIM

>Snowden should go to jail for exposing his government breaking their own law hurting their citizens
Holy shit Germoney land of the cucked

I lot of people view him as somewhat of a hero but they don't care enough to help him out and even those that do seem to think that he should stay in Russia because the CIA will just off him or something if he comes back.

He betrayed my country and my father. He is dead to me.

My issue is mass dumps are never a good idea because there is always shit that endangers people if it is released and he violated agreements with his employer. Some people probably think he did a great thing but everyone who didn't think the government spying on us is a bit naive. Ultimately I don't think he should be thrown in jail for life but I think he should go to trial and if guilty do 5 to 10 or something.

>Snowden should go to jail
Where did he say that?

No one knows what he actually did because he sold all the info to Russia and China.

Snowden is a hero like Assange and at least he's smart to escape.
Chelsea manning is a retard

>he broke the law
>He should stay in Russia
He's insinuating he'll get locked up if he comes back
>American reading comprehension

he should have a fair trial but we know that would never happen in burgerland

where are the documents that he supposedly leaked? all i've ever seen is headlines about PRISM with no substance behind it

Kind of sad if you can never return to your country, the place where your family and wife lives and the place that you call home.

Don't you think its wrong that a person like Bradley manning who has mental issues and crime was revealing a video where civilisations were killed, is sentenced to 35 years in prison? I mean he revealed something that was very wrong.

Ignore flag, I'm American.

Any sane administration would pardon him. As it is he should just accept that he's going to be in Russia the rest of his life and integrate.

The minute he reveals damaging info to a foreign government he should be droned though (if that hasn't already happened)

As it stands he is a hero.

>where are the documents that he supposedly leaked?
2016 and you cant google? like seriously?

>google snowden documents
>nsa this from snowden
>nsa that from snowden

He didn't you don't always go to jail for breaking the law. Also you're thinking of prison, jail isnt where he'd be going if found guilty.

It's about a 50-50 split on whether his actions did a service for the American people. Millennials are more likely to view his actions positively, older Americans more likely negatively.

A clear majority of Americans, however, still desire criminal proceedings against him. Again, among millennials specifically, this turns 50-50. Above that, and it's all negative.

ie, "Maybe he did a good thing, maybe not, but he deserves to go to court for his actions".

Manning carelessly leaked a bunch of information because they knew they were going to be caught. The info released didn't reveal anything new, and put a bunch of people's lives in dangers.

I want CIA and NSA to stop spying on me right now!!!!!

>B-but he broke the law that our honorable and selfless congressmen knew was for our benefit with no hidden motives whatsoever!
See? This is why anarchism makes more sense than statism.

>these brain-damaged cucks ITT who were happy to be illegally spied upon by the U.S. government
He's not a hero or a patriot, he's just a person who did the right thing and told people the truth about the shady illegal shit their hypocritical government, corporations, and legislators do, and not just to one or two people but to the entire population. Yeah he's pretentious, self-interested, and self-aggrandizing, but I don't care; this is information that needed to be shared and discussed.

It's not an issue that divided strictly along party lines; neoliberal authoritarian Republican and Democratic shills are both unhappy that their deceit and crimes got thrown into the public spotlight. I notice that hu-rah-rah we're number 1 hill billy Republicans are more upset than Democrats though

He would never get a fair trial in this country, there's too much money and anger against him. He deserves whistleblower protections but will never get them.

American government killed Aaron Swartz, never forget.

There are no international conventions against spying.
On topic, US intelligence thinks there are at least 150 SVR agents in our country today.

>USA
>land of freedoms and democracy
>totalitarian Russia gave a shelter to the man who shared info about American government spying on people
cheeky breeky

stop spying on me, you sick pervert fat cunt

I can't. I have a voyeuristic fetish that only Slavs can satisfy.

yeah that's right he'd be given the death penalty since he's a traitor and it's the US

Your own government is probably spying on you too :)

Democrat here... if he returns to US jurisdiction he should be tried for betraying his country and face civil charges for betraying his co-workers. Most of the info he obtained was by compromising co-worker's passwords and access.

However its not worth going after him if stays away from US, even if he leaves Russia.

I bet he's plowing some sweet Russian pussy while he's there

Hero.

t. Trump supporter

Hero. Pardon (it's legal and been given to much less deserving people). I'm neither a democrat nor republican since both parties are shit but I lean more to the left.

He is a hero but he will never be allowed back into the field which he is trained as an expert in so maybe he should just stay where he is.

Good post

I always wondered why decided to cancel his passport when they did. They could have done it when he was in Hong Kong or after he left Russia to where ever his next stop was. Instead they did it so he would be in the most dangerous and embarrassing place for them possible.

He did the right thing. We have a right to know what our government is doing. If they're violating the rights of others, they should be exposed.

To anybody who thinks he should have gone through the "proper channels" rather than leaking information about the NSA's (and GCHQ's) programs:

John Kiriakou was released from prison not long ago for informing the public about waterboarding torture by the CIA. He was the only person convicted of a crime in the entire scandal.

William Binney became a whistleblower after resigning from the NSA, after realizing the NSA's surveillance program had shifted from gathering foreign intelligence to spying on American citizens after 2001. He was later harassed by the FBI. They went as far as raiding his home, heavily armed, and confiscating possessions he had to fight in court to get back.

Thomas Drake was yet another NSA agent who exposed the agency's programs on warrantless electronic surveillance. After the disclosure, he was indicted on several charges. It was only after his trial became a widespread public affair that the government dropped the series charges in return for him pleading guilty to a lesser charge.

Thomas Tamm also helped expose the warrantless surveillance program. Like Binney, he was also harassed by the FBI and was raided.

Journalists who have reported on these leaks have also been harassed. Some have relocated outside of the US so they could actually work on reporting these stories unimpeded.

Given the treatment of previous whistleblowers, you can't expect me to honestly believe Snowden would have been treated fairly in the US. The only thing that's helping him now is the fact that now he's a very public figure, so if he were extradited and mistreated in the US, it would get a lot of press. But the fact that I even need to point that out, and the fact that more whistleblowers have been charged under the Obama administration than all administrations prior, speak volumes about the current situation.

eff.org/nsa-spying/nsadocs

Hero but he broke the law and should be jailed if the opportunity was present
It's good that he has found refuge elsewhere

Thank you russia.
This is why its good to have enemies.
Good people against your own government can stay safer.

To extend on this:
>William Binney became a whistleblower after resigning from the NSA, after realizing the NSA's surveillance program had shifted from gathering foreign intelligence to spying on American citizens after 2001. He was later harassed by the FBI. They went as far as raiding his home, heavily armed, and confiscating possessions he had to fight in court to get back.
Stress made his diabetes worse, up to the point where they had to take his feet. He now requires a wheel chair.
>Thomas Drake was yet another NSA agent who exposed the agency's programs on warrantless electronic surveillance. After the disclosure, he was indicted on several charges. It was only after his trial became a widespread public affair that the government dropped the series charges in return for him pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
He lost his job and couldn't find any job in his field because every employer was scared of the government. In the end Apple hired him to work as sales clerk.

The split is in general between Republicans who want to jail him and Democrats who want him to go free. That being said, while he did break the law, I'd be willing to give him a pardon for his whistleblowing.

He's a pawn of Putin's and a traitor. His word isn't worth a damn thing.
I remind you that he condemned the Panama Papers as an attempt to discredit Putin. Fucking hypocrite.

>I remind you that he condemned the Panama Papers as an attempt to discredit Putin.
twitter.com/snowden/status/716683740903247873
Are you thinking of a different person?

Hero, should get a pardon.
Unfortunately there are some idiots or literal cucks out there that believe him to be a traitor like the government claimed. The media fucks up on something, and it makes him look bad, but so many people can't look further into it than just "This is what the media tells me."

There is no consensus between left and right, but it seems whoever is in power wishes him to be labelled a traitor. Which is saddening.

He's not a hero, he's a fucking cowardly traitor who's caused way too much damage to American interests and foreign relations to justify any level of pardon. If he was truly a hero, he wouldn't run like a coward, especially to the arch enemy of the USA. Do people seriously think Putin would let him stay in Moscow free of charge?

Him and his retarded fans portray his actions as an act of martyrdom, but if he really was a martyr he'd face his consequences like a man. Not only is he a rat, but he's a cowardly rat. And a traitor. And a weaboo to go along with it. Literally the lowest levels of humanity.

Fuck him. Both him and that tranny snitch would be hanging from the jail walls if they were in any other country. Fucking mentally ill rats.

This is why you don't give weebs and traps any position of responsibility ever.

Tranny Manning is still alive and he was a soldier (they normally are punished more harshly). Hell apparently my tax dollars are going to give him his sex change.

Either stay, and be found guilty of treason, or leave.
I would leave senpai.

And don't act like he didn't give shit up. His background shows that while he changes his position like any normal human being does, he truly loves his country.

He tried to take his life. Apparently he got punishment worse than a death penalty.

good. Useless faggot caused even more harm than Snowden

Grow up.

He stokes his own ego now even though what he did isn't really impressive.

NSA shills ITT

He's a traitor and an egotist, like Assange and Manning. Things like this will always happen, though - it's a fact of political life. I hope Snowden enjoys his experience as a public dissident and Manning has his surgeries and everything. The people they exposed were careless.

>He's a traitor

lol

He exposed government bullshit. The founding fathers themselves understood that sometimes you need to break the law to do the right thing.

Trump has convinced a lot of people to hate him and see him as a traitor

HONEST ANSWER WARNING:

>Do Americans think Snowden is a hero and should get a pardon or do they think he should be convicted and jailed?

It seems about evenly split, to be desu. Some want to split the baby and get Snowden to admit that to a crime for a plea deal with no jail time. Either way almost everyone agrees it does no one any good having him in Russia of all places.

>Also, how do the opinions differ between democrats and republicans?

Now this is a very interesting question. Republicans are usually very pro military and by extension pro intel services to a certain degree, however since this occurred under the Obama administration you see partisans at least happy to stir the shit pot and try to pin the NSA's meddling in private citizen's affairs on him alone. Democrats have historically been at the very least more skeptical of the intel services and pro whistblower/leaker (see Pentagon Papers, Watergate and so on). However, since they're on the defensive partisans on their side are happy to see him burn for his part in the affair to deflect as much blame from the White House as possible. However, there are Republicans that are still pro intel services and Democrats that are pro Snowden, so its very mixed politically. The real deciding factor is how much you care about Obama, imo.

tl;dr- shit's fucked over it

What a manchild

>you can't expect me to honestly believe Snowden would have been treated fairly in the US

I personally think he would've been assassinated if he didn't get out of Hong Kong when he actually did.

Manning is a retard and the whole saga is maximum Liberalism. Keep him in solitary confinement for years on end but cut off his dick because the real human rights violation is that he isn't wearing lipstick.

He's never getting pardoned.

Almost all republicans this he's a traitor and some democrats think he's a hero.

>he would've been assassinated if he didn't get out of Hong Kong
Agreed. Funny enough though being in Hong Kong made it easier to look out for American three letter agency employees:
>He wanted me to see if white men were standing outside the door
global.handelsblatt.com/edition/509/ressort/politics/article/edward-snowdens-guardian-angels

To be honest, almost no Americans know who he is or care.
It's pretty sad, actually.

>Despite the challenges ahead for Chelsea Manning, “The ultimate goal is to be comfortable in her skin,” Coombs said.

Said right after sentencing him to 35 years of solitary confinement. How... kafkaesque.

traitor

Anyone who says traitor is one of three things. Mentally retarded, kool-aid drinker in the military or don't know what he did other than leak a few secrets.

>snowden was smart enough to run and organize the NSA's cybersecurity department
>they claim he was a low level guy but he sat in big meetings
>all this from a dorky university dropout

he's also plowing a QT, snowden is a pretty based guy.

he traded state secrets to russia for asylum

THIS

Snowden did us a favor. Half the people here like him, and half the people hate his guts because he went to our 'enemies' for help.

If he wanted to be a "hero" he would have stopped at revealing the domestic spying programs, revealing our foreign spying operations stripped him of that title. Every country in the world spies on other countries, this is neither illegal nor immoral except to the most liberal of liberals. How the US conducts its spying had no business being leaked.

Hopefully we can get our hands on him and he enjoys a comfy cell in gitmo until the extent of what he gave Russia is determined.

Pretty much this

Hero, but he is still a "criminal".

>kool-aid drinker in the military
As former military myself, I can confirm this is true.
There are few things more terrifying than knowing half the retards who join the military are drinking the kool aid so much you could pretty much get them to do anything you want.

>gitmo
Here's how I know that the following of this list applies to you:
[x] Mentally retarded

Agreed

America's government is a vindictive creature.

Cuck mentality

Obama and Hillary*

[citation needed]

The leaked information he provided us even changed anything? Or it was like the 6 million of papers in which even the Queen of England was involved in a tax evasion conspiracy.

>revealing our foreign spying operations stripped him of that title

He was a hero for the world as a whole.

Just because you are butthurt that he revealed the disease that is America's CIA/NSA abroad, does not make him any less of a hero.

I'm Ambivalent over him. Mainly because he didn't go to a news station and instead to the wikileaks faggot.
But he had good intentions soooo...

washingtonpost.com/world/europe/nsa-scandal-rekindles-in-germany-with-an-ironic-twist/2015/04/30/030ec9e0-ee7e-11e4-8050-839e9234b303_story.html

Revealed how little we trust Europe.

What!?
He did not go to the wikileaks guy, which is Julian Assange. He went to journalists, namely Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and the Guardian!

i don't trust europe either

the EU is anti-democratic and borderline tyrannical. they want to build their own army which means goodbye to NATO which means they're susceptible to domestic(moozlims) and foreign(russian) threats.

it's not like they can defend themselves. they're too busy infighting to unite against a common enemy.

Meet us halfway: We'll stop raping Iran, switch to SI, and stop spying if you stop invading, spying, and being overly aggressive assholes in politics.

Governments never trust each other, no matter how they close they are. So in the end, this poor bastard just sacrificed himself to we can say "HA I TOLD YOU".

Well then why is my redtube and horse porn links all over WIKILEAKS!?

Did I just fall for shitty bait.

I count one! One German caught!

Congratz Satan, you must be proud of yourself.

But in all seriousness still unsure. Kinda dangerous to expose spying, but I would probably do the same thing desu.

>Governments never trust each other, no matter how they close they are

We weren't spying on Canada.

But good meme justification user.

Canada is irrelevant desu.

>he deserves to go to court for his actions
Snowden has said he's willing to go to court if he believes he could get a fair trial. But that's really impossible.

I honestly view him as a true patriot. If he really didn't give a shit about the country, he could just carry on with his cushy job and live the dream in Hawaii. The American people have a right to know that their own government is spying on them.

Edgy

He did us a favor however I think he should have remained politically aloof after his escape.

I don't think he should be jailed I am pretty sure there is some law that protects people if they do this which is odd.