
Edward Snowden’s Long, Strange Journey to Hollywood - sndean
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/magazine/edward-snowdens-long-strange-journey-to-hollywood.html
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ethanhunt_
The NYT is doing hit pieces on wikileaks and friends, and this is part of that
(the previous one was:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-
jul...](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-
assange-russia.html)).

The NYT operates in coordination with the U.S. government (c.f. DNC email
leaks that show them coordinating a Bernie article with the DNC). It is
helpful to consider them as the U.S.'s own state owned media (c.f. Chomsky),
and these its press releases. Read them, but be skeptical.

Their likely is something very big coming from wikileaks in the next few
weeks. The political elites in Washington have been working hard to discredit
wikileaks.

~~~
nullc
I was fortunate enough to get to see an early screening of Snowden. I thought
it was great-- following the facts, but telling a compelling and human story.
Some of the people I saw it with

People that found themselves wondering why they should care about Snowden and
the programs he disclosed will find their answer in this movie.

I expected to see a full on campaign against it, this NYT piece is mild. It
spins up some conspiracy with russian involvement, _yawn_ but even it can't to
deny: The movie is good. It's riveting-- just as a movie-- and the subject
matter is of importance to all of us. I can't see anyone being bored by it,
and I think even the most hard core of the tech people will forgive the one or
two "movie-computers" moments in it. :)

It's opening a couple days before its full release (the 16th?) at something
like 800 theaters (on the 14th? I believe). I would recommend going to see it
on the 14.

------
tanderson92
It's remarkable to me the certitude with which the NYT commenters state that
Snowden is a traitor. The trust they place in the Intelligence Community that
he compromised national security. This despite the proof that in at least one
other case, that of Chelsea Manning, the IC _lied_. This was confirmed
yesterday, with the release of Clinton's FBI report[1].

[1]: [http://www.vocativ.com/356350/fbi-clinton-spent-long-
hours-i...](http://www.vocativ.com/356350/fbi-clinton-spent-long-hours-
insisting-manning-leaks-werent-a-threat/)

~~~
eli
Traitor is obviously a loaded term, but Snowden surely broke the law and then
fled the consequences. Maybe you think it's a bad law and he had good reasons,
but it's not unreasonable for people to believe he should be in jail.

~~~
dvt
To add to that, he fled to a country whose legislative and political
transgressions far outnumber the United States'. Which, imo, hurts his
credibility as a serious seeker of justice.

~~~
jabbernotty
I've never understood why so many Americans believe that Snowden fled to
Russia. It is simply not true and it never has been.

Are we already witnessing the rewriting of this part of history?

~~~
dvt
No one's rewriting history, Russia offered him asylum and he accepted; _that
's_ the salient point. Let's not be unnecessarily pedantic and dramatic.

~~~
jabbernotty
There is a thin line between bold statements that lack nuance, and plain lies.

Order of events are relevant. It is important to know how he ended up in
Russia in the first place, long before this asylum. And was declining the
asylum really an option?

~~~
pastProlog
The US government canceled his passport at some point between him being in
Hong Kong and the Moscow airport. So the claim he "fled to Russia" is a lie.
He was exiled to Russia by the US officials who actively removed his ability
to leave the Russian airport.

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tracker1
For those interested, it looks like some theaters are selling advanced seating
for September 15th and the following weekend. In my case AMC's Esplanade
theater in Phoenix. It may be worth a quick google search to see what theaters
in your area are showing in case you want to catch it that first weekend.

------
dmfdmf
I wish he was in Hollywood.

~~~
strictnein
Does Hollywood have a prison?

