Hacker News Reader

Comment by Grue3 | Hacker News Reader

Great, now he has more time to sit on his ass and say nothing about the terribly oppressive Internet laws that Russian government enacts over its citizens. So brave.

View on HN

Why do you expect him to be some sort of super hero that continuously risks his own life to expose information to the general public when you do nothing at all but whine on a forum?

Got a bit of entitlement there do we?

I'm just expecting him to not be a huge hypocrite as he was when he went on public record of praising Russia's commitment to human rights. [1] Apparently that only includes his rights, not us, regular people of Russia. I'm just doing my part of spreading awareness about his unforgivable hypocrisy.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/edward-snowden-asylum-stateme...

> I'm just doing my part of spreading awareness about his unforgivable hypocrisy.

He did his part to spread awareness about U.S. government's unforgivable hypocrisy so I suppose that just about cancels out in terms of impact on the world, eh?

That's the problem, nobody hears our plight and my voice is suppressed even on this very forum, while Snowden has all the media in the world to transmit his message. I don't. My message won't be heard because it doesn't concern the first world people. It's not a first world problem, so media doesn't give a shit about it, and Snowden doesn't give a shit about it either.

He cannot afford to come out against Russia while the US is attempting to lock him up an trow away the key.

He obviously knows that Russia is using all of this to limit freedom of speech and human rights on the internet and in the country however there's nothing he can do.

This is a fight the Russian people will have to fight for themselves.

Except you are not trying to spread the message about oppressive internet laws in Russia. Nor are you informing and complaining about Russian freedom. Instead, you are complaining about Snowden not instantly becoming Russia freedom activist and general expert on Russia freedom.

Because if he does not get himself involved in freedom of all countries in the world, then his own message about freedom in country he is actually citizen of does not count. Because he should voluntary spend the rest of his life in small box to prove his is not hypocritical, right?

This is a post about Snowden, so my comments are also about Snowden. Staying on topic is a good thing, right? I made plenty of comments about the censorship in Russia in other threads.

>Instead, you are complaining about Snowden not instantly becoming Russia freedom activist and general expert on Russia freedom.

Oh, I could compare him to actual Russian freedom activists who didn't run away from their country when things got tough, and went to prison for their beliefs. But that comparison would be unfavorable to Snowden. Did anyone in the world care when Russian whistleblower Alexei Navalny got arrested? Was it on Hacker News front page? Oh, and Snowden was around here when that happened. He most certainly knew it happened (it was big news here in Russia). He didn't even say a word about his fellow whistleblower. This is the shit that drives me up a wall.

Are you writing from prison in Russia? If not why haven't you supported Alexei Navalny and criticised Putin until you were arrested and thrown in prison for it? If you consider the reasons why you have not protested enough to be imprisoned in Russia, Snowden's reasons for not speaking out from his vulnerable position are probably very similar.

Also, for the record, he has openly criticised censorship in Russia -

I’ve been totally open about the fact that I disapprove of the majority of the recent laws in Russia on internet censorship and surveillance. I think it’s entirely inappropriate for any government in any country to insert itself into the regulation of a free press.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/18/-sp-edward-snow...

I understand where you're coming from. The US is the center of the world, while it seems everyone else only exists relative to them. It's a fair criticism, and I'm as guilty as the next person in my biased reading of news.

That said, that's not Snowden fault. Yes, he's an hypocrite, but so what? Are you judging him by the same standard as you judge yourself, or your friends? Or are you blaming him for the indifference of the whole Western population? He's just a guy.

Did anyone in the world care when Russian whistleblower Alexei Navalny got arrested? Was it on Hacker News front page?

Well, you didn't submit it. See my point about measuring others by a different standard? :)

Those who fight, have to pick their battles.

Those who don't, get to "fight" everything and everyone.

Have a good day "fighter"

I agree that his statement was hypocrite. So what? Who cares?

If you imagine Putin behind him with a gun pointed at his head you will understand his situation.

He's got him by the balls and can make him dance like a puppet if he wanted to.

That doesn't make his past actions any less heroic.

That's a little unfair, isn't it?

Whether you agree with his actions or not, he's certainly no coward. He's also unlikely to be in possession of any information about Russia that isn't widely known.

Surely it'd be crazy to risk his only refuge when he has neither power, nor information, nor responsibility.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com