Ok so first things first — I’m not trying to convince you of anything. I’m just trying to understand whether there’s something I can learn from your point of view. I totally understand people who think Snowden is a traitor…in fact I think legally he probably is which is why he’s stuck in Russia instead of somewhere nicer like Paris or London where he would likely be swiftly rendered to the U.S.

I’m not sure though that treason is in and of itself a reason for someone like me to dismiss or ignore the benefit that I reaped from his leak. Was George Washington a traitor to the Crown and the redcoats he fought with before the revolution? Was Claus von Stauffenberg a traitor for attempting to overthrow Hitler? Yes and yes. Washington was lucky things went his way otherwise he would have likely faced the same fate as Claus who was duly executed for treason (btw in no way am I a supporter of violent treason . . . and am probably too chicken shit myself to even contemplate non-violent treason).

Point being, the fact that Snowden likely committed treason doesn’t in and of itself seem like a convincing argument to diminish the justification for what he did or the benefit to millions of Americans of knowing for a fact that the executive branch was conducting mass surveillance on the public in secret. It led to enough public debate as to whether the executive should be conducting mass surveillance that in June this year congress passed a law to end this mass surveillance.

I understand people who question Snowden’s motivations (although it seems hard to argue that he did it for profit because there is simply no evidence that he tried to make a profit from his actions) . . .but at the end of the day it’s a bit of a philosophical question. Why does anyone REALLY do anything? Who knows. And in this case…why does it matter?