snowden and the billionaire monkeys on our back

Razer g2s at riseup.net
Thu Dec 6 15:45:53 PST 2018



On December 5, 2018 4:47:55 PM PST, Steve Kinney <admin at pilobilus.net> wrote:
>
>
>On 12/5/18 3:20 PM, John Newman wrote:
>> 
>> Long interview with guy who just wrote a book about
>faux-philanthropic
>> leaders of the new gilded age (or something ;) 
>> 
>>
>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/silicon-billionaires-are-the-lethal-monkey-on-the-back-of-the-american-public/
>> 
>> 
>> Interesting part where he described Snowden talking to a bunch of
>> these people, this "clash of ideals"  - 
>
>> [... snip ...] 
>
>> It was a very interesting vision, and as he started describing, well,
>> the way I’m going to do that is I’m going to build all these tools
>that
>> would allow dissidents to actually operate more freely. A
>communication
>> tool so you can message without getting caught, a Facebook “like”
>tool
>> so you can socially network without losing your privacy, some kind of
>> tokenized identity so you can make clear to different websites that
>> you’re the same person without revealing which person you are–various
>> things. Snowden was describing the creation of all these things
>because
>> he wanted to live in a world in which dissent of the kind that he
>made
>> is possible, in which it’s possible to go up against power and not be
>> interrupted in that quest; that’s his motivation, his goal. 
>
>
>> And it’s like they couldn’t process him; they couldn’t process his
>set
>> of motivations. And so Chris Sacca says, wow, you sound like you’re
>> designing a lot of tools that, they sound like apps, or startup–do
>you
>> want to build a startup? I mean, there’s a lot of people here who
>would
>> like to be your investor. Snowden just looked at him, puzzled,
>like–what
>> are you talking about? I’m talking about freedom and heresy and
>truth,
>> and being a dissident, and how a society corrects itself from
>manifest
>> injustices through allowing people who have an uncomfortable truth to
>> tell it. And you’re talking about startups? And it was just this
>> wonderful collision between someone who believes in real changes, and
>> these people who kind of believe in the pseudo-change that lines
>their
>> own pockets."
>
>Um, that's not what it reads like to me.  I see Snowden saying he wants
>to accomplish all these wonderful things that enable political dissent
>and freedom via network technology.  Then he refuses to have anything
>to
>do with implementing that vision, going so far as to pretend that he
>does not understand that building and distributing software and
>infrastructure is HOW to achieve goals like the ones he mentioned.  It
>sounds like he chose to literally "play dumb" when presented with a
>room
>full of people who wanted a shot at implementing his ideas (vs.
>memorized talking points) in real life.
>
>The more I look at Snowden, the less sense he makes:  Both in terms of
>what he says (see above), and in terms of a biography and current
>public
>presentation that more or less defy explanation.
>
>To date, the only Snowden scenario that makes sense to me portrays him
>as a spokesmodel:  In effect a sock puppet passed from hand to hand.
>Did he have anything at all to do with "borrowing" certain documents
>and
>handing them off to Glen Greenwald?  I have no opinion on that.  The
>documents Greenwald released triggered a massive controversy over a
>small set of political / legal issues that all ended with decisive wins
>for the U.S. intelligence community.  In my view whether that means
>Snowden failed or succeeded remains an open question.
>
>Pending additional information, I would more likely trust a guy named
>"Mendax" than him.
>
>:o/


> "The documents Greenwald released triggered a massive controversy over a
small set of political / legal issues that all ended with decisive wins for the U.S. intelligence community."


Publicly. Snowden PUBLICIZED it.

That seems to have been his role. Publicist.

Rr
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