Edward Snowden is not only a hero but he’s a pretty witty hero as well. After being accused of working as a Russian spy Edward Snowden made and excellent point:
Snowden, in a rare interview that he conducted by encrypted means from Moscow, denied the allegations outright, stressing that he “clearly and unambiguously acted alone, with no assistance from anyone, much less a government.” He added, “It won’t stick…. Because it’s clearly false, and the American people are smarter than politicians think they are.”
If he was a Russian spy, Snowden asked, “Why Hong Kong?” And why, then, was he “stuck in the airport forever” when he reached Moscow? (He spent forty days in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo International Airport.) “Spies get treated better than that.”
It’s true, if Snowden were a Russian spy he would have been met at the airport by several state agents and escorted to whatever headquarters he worked for. Instead he sat around in an airport while he awaited news of whether or not he would be granted asylum in Russia.
He also makes a valid point about the intelligence of the average American. The great state propaganda machine assumes we’re all idiots that will happily lap up anything it publishes. While there are quite a few people who do trust the propagandists they are, I believe, in the minority.