The Green Wave Gazette January/February 2014 | Page 10

Page 10

The Green Wave Gazette
Opposing Viewpoints

Edward Snowden: Whistleblower Extraordinaire
Victoria Chiocchio
Contributor

Chris Ware caricature of
NSA leaker Edward
Snowden. (MCT)

How can one man in Russia be the
cause of so much debate in the
United States? He may be in Russia
now, but before he was living life
on the run, he had done something
in America which not many people
dared to do. Some call him a traitor; some say that he was only just
doing the right thing. But how does
one decide their opinion on him
when both sides make clear and
thoughtful points? After reading
―Edward Snowden, Whistleblower‖
by the editorial board of the New
York Times, one may consider
Edward Snowden as a hero, who
was only trying to inform the public
of the actions that their own government was keeping from them.
Hiding from the public that they
were hearing phone calls, lying to
Congress, and violating the Constitution, all seem like things the
public should be aware of.
He should not be considered a
―scoundrel‖ when Snowden has
done nothing but do the country a
great service. In the work ―Edward
Snowden is no Hero‖ by Jeffery

Toobin, he writes ―The question of
course, is whether the government
can function when all of its employees (and contractors) can take it
upon themselves to sabotage the
programs they don‘t
like‖ (paragraph 6) Snowden did
not shut down the government, he
shared information. Many new
rules come about because of personal feelings too. If Rosa Parks
hadn‘t personally felt so tired on
the bus, she wouldn‘t have opened
everyone‘s eyes. Today, many
rights have come about because of
her. It has nothing to do with how
this touched him personally, but he
knew that as an American citizen
he would not want to keep something this big from the public.
The excerpt ―Edward Snowden,
Whistle-blower‖ lists the rules,
violations, laws, and lies that the
NSA have gone against and done.
One specifically, ―…James Clapper
Jr., the director of national intelligence, lied to Congress when testifying in March that the NSA was
not collecting data on millions of
Americans‖ (paragraph 9, bullet 4)
shows that the NSA has not been
truthful. These lies open the eyes
of many. What else could they be

Edward Snowden: Scoundrel
Eva McCormack
Contributor
Edward Snowden, a former C.I.A
government contractor, illegally
leaked information of the National
Security Agency (NSA) spying on
citizens and allies. At 29 years old,
he is controversially known as
either a scoundrel or whistleblower.
The article “Edward Snowden is no
Hero” by Jeffrey Toobin makes a
compelling and p