Manns Medium

For those who call Edward Snowden a hero, I’d like to hear if that is still the label you wish to use when describing him.  Beginning with the Guardian placing Snowden upon a pedestal because he exposed the National Security Agency (NSA) capture of computer information.  He was labeled as a hero because he exposed the secrets and brought their operation out into the open.  While some may have a point that no government agency shall operate in secret and that those they represent, the American public, should be aware of what any agency is doing in their name, it appears that they did not take in consideration of the results of his stealing of secrets and releasing them. One of the most dangerous results that was argued can now be proven from an article titled “ Russia and China broke into Snowden files to identify western spies, says MI6 ” as presented by The Observer.  The article reports that “ Downing Street believes that Russian and Chinese intelligence agenc...

The number one question is all of media centers around Edward Snowden who some say, bravely risk his life to bring us this revelation that our government has been spying on us in a most horrendous way.   The question of hero or traitor is being banned about like a tennis ball with each side presenting their takes and depending on whom you talk to or who is interviewed, one may walk away wishing to believe each separately.   News flash, Edward Snowden is no hero. Check you history America before you go tagging Mr. Snowden with the title of hero.   My fellow military members are heroes.   Firefighters, police officers, teachers, whistleblowers-on occasion, employers, employees, single moms and dads, unselfish givers and activists are but a few examples of heroes and Edward Snowden is nothing like any of them.   You see, heroes run toward the battle not away from it.   Heroes stand up and make attempts at fixing the problem; they do not sneak or sell th...

Turn on your television to any national news channel and all you may hear is this argument about the need for security pitted against the desire for privacy or the roles of journalist versus the attention span of the public.   Each argument has its merits and each has its flaws but the one thing that each of the warring factions seem to ignore is that nether has to suffer complete defeat and a compromise is well within reach.   Stop with all of your “the world is ending” drama, step back and think and be amazed at how easily all these issues can be resolved. Case in point, first we must all be willing to re-define the definitions of these words that we wreckfully toss about as if we are auditioning from some bumper sticker.   We must look to our past not to repeat but to learn from.   With all of the intelligence being wasted on just chasing our tails, going around in circles and never solving anything, surely that intelligence could be used to once again solv...

The debate today is the balance between keeping America safe from terrorists to honoring the privacy of all Americans.   With the NSA now being exposed to have mined billions of data which can be considered extremely private by some are now being looked at as being only personal by many.   The questions now are how to and what would you call a real balance between the two. For those who might think this is criminal and should be stopped immediately, the first question must be what do you have to hide?   Are you cheating on your wife or partner and wish not to be discovered?   Are you afraid that if you say anything negative about your government, you would soon be followed by the Men in Black or hear black helicopters? Or are you just an average person who feels that the government should be prohibited from mining your data without your permission?   What would you say if I told you that all the government receives are a group of phones numbers and no con...