10 years after Snowden's first leak, what have we learned?
I still can't wrap my head around the widespread dislike/hatred of Snowden, and politicians still labeling him as a degenerate or criminal that should be brought to justice, while ignoring the crimes and abuse he revealed. Seems very 1984-esque. My own friends and family don't really remember what he did, but remember him vaguely as some sort of criminal that somehow hurt the USA or sold us out. There's also a narrative that he somehow "defected" to Russia, despite the fact that the U.S. government trapped him there during a flight layover, and he never wanted to go there at all.<p>When I first heard his story I expected him to be hailed as a hero, and thought we might even have a holiday to celebrate him for risking his life, freedom, and career to inform us that our government is doing something deeply unethical in secret with our own money, that violates our basic freedoms. Thank you Snowden.