John Oliver's Interview of Edward Snowden

That started out painful to watch as John Oliver kept interrupting Snowden, but as I reflected on it Oliver was making a fantastic point. Even though I'm a computer programmer and I generally understand everything I read from Edward Snowden, It's early in the morning and my eyes started to glaze over when he spoke in the interview. I can only imagine my parents or my grandmother being completely dismissive and shutting down when they're told any of this.

Then Oliver framed everything in terms of the "dick pic program," and suddenly captured my attention. I knew all this stuff already and his reframing put it all in a new light. That was both a really clever move and very funny.

Worth a watch. It is painful and seemingly stupid at times but it's worth trying to see it from the perspective of someone who, thus far, hasn't noticed or cared about any of it. I can't quite do it, but the underlying intelligence of Oliver's argument and performance illuminates the lack of traction he's had at the societal level and hints at a possible way forward. Kudos, I suppose...

That was absolutely awesome - very impressing how fast Edward Snowden adapted to John's agenda. At the same time it's sad b/c even though John Oliver is most likely sympathetic towards Edward Snowden he did a good job illustrating that the majority of the American people (and same for most populations around the world) simply do not understand the implications and the seriousness of the subject.

Surely it's worth a few citizen's dick picks being seen to stop terrorism, right?

https://youtu.be/XEVlyP4_11M?t=953 is a better link

video taken down on "copyright claim"