No one is perfect. But overall his actions were brave and he paid a terrible price. The worst part is probably that what he published ended up making no real difference.
It is difficult to see the difference but very few people are privy to the planning of the programs revealed. Only those who oversaw the entirety of the programs can really grasp the scope due to the compartmented nature of the programs. I think these disclosures helped arrest a rapid decay into a dystopian surveillance state. However the motivations and irrational belief systems behind these programs persist so the fight is not over. Instead the proponents of unchecked surveillance powers are increasingly on the defensive and face more scrutiny than their arguments and results can justify leading to a continued reigning in of their powers that seems likely to continue for the foreseeable future. I’m not satisfied with this state of affairs but I am unsure how to reach a better one with the power systems and officials at hand. If you have any ideas please share.
I don't think there's any way to "fight the system" or w/e without becoming the system, or a part of it, as the system will consume whatever is useful and generates more power for itself. It co-ops everything. It's a useful lesson from the book Gravity's Rainbow. The only thing you can do is to fly under the radar and not participate, or participate as little as possible, and build your communities and relationships outside of it.
While your point is not without merit, some people can work within a system while resenting its existence, covertly rebelling, and fighting for change. I’ve known many to do just that - but they also tend to be intelligent enough to that broadcasting their subversive intentions would be harmful to their livelihood so they don’t. People like this aided in destroying the Nazis.
> The only thing you can do is
I’ll stop you there - reductionist arguments can be dismissed with the same casualness they’re made with.
>to fly under the radar and not participate, or participate as little as possible
So you’ve invented communes and the barter system. Tax time must be interesting.
>build your communities and relationships outside of it.
Pardon? Do you have a spaceship or space station? Wholly independent ship-city in international waters? If not you’re apart the system wholly and completely.
Agree. But that’s the issue with modern discourse: no sense of values. We cannot discuss nuance without feeling desperate to reduce everything to safe binary moral surety
