In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. ~Mark Twain
It seems that the only staunch supporters of Edward Snowden, the brave gentleman who exposed the massive spying of American citizens by the nefarious NSA, are those who actually believe in and actively support freedom and liberty. That of course rules out most in this country, as the apathetic American populace and the state supporting mainstream media are almost completely void of criticism of heinous government policies.
A witch hunt is on, and those in power would like nothing better than to silence Mr. Snowden, and in my opinion, by any means necessary. The real heroes and patriots are those who would risk all in order to expose the criminal and tyrannical government apparatus for what it truly is. Those like Daniel Elsberg, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and of course Edward Snowden immediately come to mind. These men simply told the truth about government corruption and its evil deeds, and governments, especially the U.S. government, fear the truth more than anything else.
Those in the U.S. government rarely if ever tell the truth, but that is not the problem one would expect it to be because the resident sheep can’t handle the truth! This is a recipe for total government tyranny, because little is questioned about the criminal behavior of the state by the people, and those who are brave enough to reveal government secrets are subject to hatred, capture, indefinite detention, torture or worse for their trouble.
As the wonderful Butler Shaffer pointed out today in his article on Lew Rockwell’s site:
“Manning, Assange, and Snowden have challenged each of us: will we, as the hacks and their owners continue to insist, do as we have been trained to do, namely, mind our own business and do as we are told by those in authority? Or shall we, like these courageous men – and the White Rose members before them – have the individualized “arrogance” to believe that the fate of mankind is our business, and that we have a responsibility to act, with focused and peaceful energy, to help extricate ourselves from the collective arrogance of power that is destroying us?”
As the young German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said before he was sentenced to death by a Nazi kangaroo court: (From this article today by John Whitehead)
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Those who fail to expose the truth or to tell the truth in the face of evil deeds, are in fact also guilty, just as those who are committing those same evil deeds. Those who support state tyranny in the name of safety or apathy are to blame for the tyranny itself. Those who remain silent, who do nothing, and who knowingly allow evil and cower in fear while liberty is compromised and the innocent are brutalized, are just as responsible as those committing those horrendous crimes.
That my friends is the proverbial “bottom line.”