Thursday, June 13, 2013

Cult of Personalities

As I suspected, the story about the N.S.A. leaks by Edward Snowden has turned from what he did to who he is, who are the people who reported the story, and what is the reaction from the people in charge of oversight and so on and so forth.

We’re supposed to take sides — he’s a hero/he’s a traitor — and we’re supposed to look into the depths of the souls of the players as if that would somehow explain things.

It’s at that point that I lose interest in wondering whether or not Edward Snowden did it for the notoriety, for some misplaced idea that he alone could decide what’s secret and what’s not, or whether he was finding a really different way to break up with his girlfriend.  Save it for the movie.