Snowden should be protected, acting in the public interest is a noble choice

I was pretty disappointed to read a post from fellow Big Think blogger, Steven Mazie. The backlash has been substantial, he has already had to rehash. His post begins with a cute picture of a cat, but the post is anything but cute. Mazie makes the following argument:

“Imagine if every one of the nearly 5 million Americans with access to government secrets took it upon themselves to leak anything they liked when they thought the public interest had been violated.”

Mazie thinks chaos would ensue, I think the world would be a better place. We have learned from history what happens when good men stand by and do nothing, it is a terrible thing that whistleblowers can now expect to have their lives ruined and even be tortured, this is not democracy. We should also remember that how we treat our dissidents and whistle-blowers sets precedents for less democratic nations. To act on one’s conscience and leak information that is believed to be in the public interest is a noble choice. Mazie concludes “Snowden must be prosecuted”, I conclude, Snowden must be protected.

The debate is summed up poetically by rap news, “we’re going to prosecute you for reason, I mean.. treason”.

Update: Steven Mazie has posted a reply to this post here, I’ve replied in the comments.

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Andrea Danti

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