'State of Surveillance' with Edward Snowden and Shane Smith [video]

The corporate media in the U.S. that dominates most coverage is about anything that holds audiences' attention to get them to look at ads. That means more noise and theatrics than signal. Their owners even benefit from the power structure in the U.S. that financially and politically favors elites. Their media organizations, if they play ball a bit, even get interviews with elites in government or on boards of those in business. Finally, they maximize attention span and engagement by creating echo-chambers where people see what they want to see with minimal deviation.

Against this backdrop, it's no surprise change will rarely happen. There's a pattern that emerges, though, where events make waves. There's a rise where event spreads to many media outlets. They each modify their presentation to reflect views of their target audience. Occasionally, if it threatens elite status quo, they'll self-suppress it in favor of talking points that please their viewers but are ultimately harmless. Much shouting happens, politicians might introduce bills which might go somewhere (or get neutered), and eventually the wave subsides to let next story and its wave flow in. Interestingly, we often see lots of focus on sensationalist crap nobody can do anything about during key moments like treaty negotiations or bills eliminating citizen's rights that makes people miss those things.

Altogether, Snowden shouldn't have expected any effect in the U.S. in terms of laws or change except a temporary reaction. He and others would've had to have all the talking points mapped out with counterpoints and even alternatives that various parties would compromise on. They'd have to drop it immediately when the wave hits. Otherwise, Americans either wouldn't give a shit or would look at things through the lens their media outlet presented them. That's the majority.

You don't need to make him more heard. He's too weak in this area to be effective anyway. There's groups like EFF and independent bloggers doing a great job writing up the risks, showing alternatives, illustrating ineffectiveness, exposing incompetence, and so on. Just promote them with Snowden's work being cited as reference material and examples where it's most effective. Whatever you do, though, needs to be written with laypeople in mind to bring it to the level they care about.

John Oliver interview shows nicely Snowden's disconnect plus a fictional programs that excellently brings the points home to laypeople. Need more stuff like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M