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You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Enhanced Protest Techniques / “Spy” Stories Are Boffo Boxoffice

“Spy” Stories Are Boffo Boxoffice

by Anne Laurie|  August 5, 20134:06 pm| 44 Comments

This post is in: Enhanced Protest Techniques, Security Theatre

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snowden in russia thompson
(Mike Thompson via GoComics.com)

Salon‘s Andrew O’Hehir, who usually reviews movies, calls for some cinematic political action:

In an op-ed for the Guardian earlier this summer, Máiread Corrigan Maguire, an Irish activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 and has devoted her life to working for peace in Northern Ireland and around the world, explained why she is nominating Bradley Manning for this year’s prize. American activist and journalist Norman Solomon followed up on this in a USA Today article this week, just after Manning’s conviction on espionage charges. Solomon announced that he will go to Oslo with a petition signed by more than 100,000 people urging the Nobel committee to award Manning the peace prize.

I think it’s a great idea, and if the Nobel committee weren’t so cautious and lily-livered – and were actually interested in furthering the cause of peace – it might actually happen. Since the real goal here is a worldwide public education campaign or an act of resistance, it might be even better if we folded in Swedish academic Stefan Svallfors’ nomination of Manning’s fellow leaker Edward Snowden, who was just granted temporary asylum in Russia. The Nobel committee could undo years of boring and/or insulting choices, just like that. Give the Nobel Peace Prize to Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden…

You don’t have to believe that Manning and Snowden handled their lonely ethical dilemmas with perfect grace, or that every single document they leaked should have been released, to see that they opened a kind of Pandora’s box, unleashing a series of larger historical questions that feed on each other. Some of these are pretty basic, if not always easy to answer. Is transparency preferable to secrecy, in general, and who gets to decide? If the United States military has committed war crimes, or our government has decided to spy on the cell-phone conversations and Web-surfing habits of the entire world, do we have a right to know?…

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Reader Interactions

44Comments

  1. 1.

    gogol's wife

    August 5, 2013 at 4:14 pm

    Give me a break.

  2. 2.

    geg6

    August 5, 2013 at 4:16 pm

    I never thought I’d say this, but anyone who signs onto this stupid shit is a hippie that deserves punching. Holy fuck, what a bunch of idiocy.

  3. 3.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 5, 2013 at 4:17 pm

    This thread’ll be fun.

  4. 4.

    ericblair

    August 5, 2013 at 4:24 pm

    Some of these are pretty basic, if not always easy to answer. Is transparency preferable to secrecy, in general, and who gets to decide?

    Yeah, like nobody has considered this sort of thing before in the history of ever until Manning and Snowden showed up. Yes, we do in fact have a system of who gets to decide: it’s called representative democracy, and since nothing that Snowden has released looks actually illegal, you may want to talk to Congress about changing that. However, Congress is full of idiots who are more interested in throwing rotten eggs at the President and “repealing” the PPACA for the fortieth time, so perhaps get people to elect representatives that are actually interested in governing. Pro tip: these sorts of people are located in the Democratic party.

  5. 5.

    Ash Can

    August 5, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    LOL

  6. 6.

    ranchandsyrup

    August 5, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    This is good news for Rand Paul.

  7. 7.

    cleek

    August 5, 2013 at 4:30 pm

    Manning ???

    Snowden i could understand (while disagreeing with), but Manning???

    idiocy

  8. 8.

    Ben Cisco

    August 5, 2013 at 4:36 pm

    You don’t have to believe that Manning and Snowden handled their lonely ethical dilemmas with perfect grace

    Good thing too.

    or that every single document they leaked should have been released

    According to whom, exactly?

    to see that they opened a kind of Pandora’s box

    What they opened was a feeding frenzy for idiots both inside and outside of the US Government.

  9. 9.

    Keith G

    August 5, 2013 at 4:37 pm

    You don’t have to believe that Manning and Snowden handled their lonely ethical dilemmas with perfect grace, or that every single document they leaked should have been released, to see that they opened a kind of Pandora’s box, unleashing a series of larger historical questions that feed on each other. Some of these are pretty basic, if not always easy to answer. Is transparency preferable to secrecy, in general, and who gets to decide?

    This type of an opinion requires a thought process that is more flexible than many in a tribal society are able to utilize. A very complex process had been under way for a while that is substantially changing established notions of personal liberty, due process, and rule of law.

    Since we live in a democracy, those changes are okay if there is an enlightened debate and subsequent votes where the will of the citizenry can be heard.

    The Manning/Snowden method was not the best way to go, but no one else was taking the lead.

  10. 10.

    Chyron HR

    August 5, 2013 at 4:37 pm

    They opened a kind of Pandora’s box

    Analogy fail.

  11. 11.

    Obliterasti

    August 5, 2013 at 4:38 pm

    who gets to decide?

    Twentysomething IT nerds, apparently.

  12. 12.

    jayjaybear

    August 5, 2013 at 4:39 pm

    Manning being nominated isn’t a travesty (considering that Kissinger and Arafat have actually WON the NPP, the prize itself hardly has any room to stand on any kind of inherent prestige (or accuracy, for that matter)), but it’s really silly. The bar is awfully low nowadays…hey! I once posted a video of me badly singing “Oops, I Did It Again!” on LiveJournal. Do I get some consideration for the NPP?

  13. 13.

    gussie

    August 5, 2013 at 4:44 pm

    What a fucking idiot. They’re both traitors and criminals. They’re worse than James Risen. Fucking leftie scum. Love it or leave it, bitches.

  14. 14.

    Soonergrunt

    August 5, 2013 at 4:46 pm

    Salon is trying to drive up traffic again.

  15. 15.

    cathyx

    August 5, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    @gussie: I agree. We need to have the government snooping in our underwear drawers if it will make even just one person safer.

  16. 16.

    Ben Cisco

    August 5, 2013 at 4:49 pm

    @jayjaybear: Pics (or is it clips in this case) or it didn’t happen.

  17. 17.

    fuckwit

    August 5, 2013 at 4:58 pm

    That cartoon is more deep and hilarious than I think most people realize.

    ALL governments, for the most part, do shit like this, at some scale or another. ALL corporations do it, on a much more pernicious scale (your work email is being snooped and your web browsing tracked and it’s totally legal becasue you’re at work).

    Where do you go to hide? Where do you go to be totally anonymous and have total privacy? You can’t really. It’s very ironic that Snowden flees the USA because of our police state and goes to take refuge in… a worse police state (hey, at least he tried to go to China first… oh wait…). It’s laughable. Or he could have gone to England, where they really DO have cameras on every streetcorner like in that cartoon.

    If you are a citizen of one of these modern states, you are being watched. If you leave the first world to go to a po-dunk little backwards ass third world country, you are being watched (by the villagers at very least, and their governments are often even more restrictive too). There is no anonymity: you are part of a community of people who know you, no matter where you go.

    It’s kind of like the general sophomoric, almost teenage libertarian problem: the privileged and naive illusion of true independence and liberty being actually acheivable. It’s not. You live on a planet with other people. You have to deal with them. You can choose WHO you want to deal with, to some degree, but, as the cartoon shows, they’re really not all that different no matter where you go. People are people, groups are groups, business is business, and governments are governments. The libertarians need to grow up and face that.

  18. 18.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    August 5, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    @jayjaybear:

    I once posted a video of me badly singing “Oops, I Did It Again!” on LiveJournal. Do I get some consideration for the NPP?

    No, you have to sing it really well (is that possible?) in order to be nominated. Duh.

    @fuckwit:

    The libertarians need to grow up. and face that

  19. 19.

    Amir Khalid

    August 5, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    @jayjaybear:
    Which raises the question: What prize should Richard Thompson win for this?

  20. 20.

    Mino

    August 5, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    Is anyone surprised by this development? http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-u-directs-agents-cover-program-used-investigate-091643729.html

  21. 21.

    mattminus

    August 5, 2013 at 5:11 pm

    @gussie:
    What a fun sexy time for you!

  22. 22.

    gussie

    August 5, 2013 at 5:11 pm

    @cathyx: What’s ironic is that the naive hippies don’t understand what more Serious people such as myself have known for years: ‘secretly legal’ means ‘doubly good’, and Booz Allen is better than the FSG. C’mon, this shit is simple. The Nobel Peace Price, my monitored ass.

  23. 23.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    August 5, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    @fuckwit: Oh please. The notion that Snowden went to Russia because it was “more free” than the US, or that his going there was essentially a statement about the relative freedom from authoritarianism or invasions of privacy is one of the more idiotic floating around. He’s there because in this particular situation, with what he’s revealed about his own country, it’s a place that’s not threatening to throw him in jail or worse, nor is it handing him over to his own former country, which would.

    The idea that needing to share society with others means that you should just accept any abuses whatsoever is no better.

    There are legitimate arguments about all this, but some of the things written here are just amazing. Did you see where Bill Keller came out supporting both Snowden and Manning the other day? As a general rule, when you find yourself to the right of Bill Keller, you might want to ask yourself how you got there.

  24. 24.

    cathyx

    August 5, 2013 at 5:19 pm

    @gussie: I could see Booz Allen getting the Nobel Peace Prize for all the snooping. And for me, the icing on the cake of all this spying on my every internet transaction is better advertising targeting to give me better deals on my purchases.

  25. 25.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    August 5, 2013 at 5:21 pm

    @gussie: No kidding. If there were ever a way out there radical extremist it’s James Risen. His slapdown of the Britney Spears-like Jeffrey Toobin on CNN was priceless.

  26. 26.

    taylormattd

    August 5, 2013 at 5:23 pm

    Gee. Yet another 9 page long blockquote. And bonus: it’s a quote of one of the most stupid things ever written.

  27. 27.

    taylormattd

    August 5, 2013 at 5:24 pm

    @Soonergrunt: With a little help from Balloon Juice.

  28. 28.

    peggy

    August 5, 2013 at 5:51 pm

    This comment thread is unbelievable. Does the Balloon Juice community truly feel in their hearts that sending Manning to the brig and/or jail for an endless number of years and Snowden into permanent exile is protecting our precious liberties? Or are the rest of the subscribers wiser than to engage trolls? Or too worried about their IP addresses showing up on a subversive thread?
    Reuters and the NYT (well known enemies of the US imperium) are reporting that the DEA wants and to and has used NSA information to target ordinary American citizens. See Kevin Drum (8/5/2013)

    edit= I started writing when the thread had only 5 entries.

  29. 29.

    cathyx

    August 5, 2013 at 6:00 pm

    @peggy: Peggy you clearly are new here.

  30. 30.

    Corner Stone

    August 5, 2013 at 6:03 pm

    Hmmm, recent NPP winners…

    and if the Nobel committee weren’t so cautious and lily-livered – and were actually interested in furthering the cause of peace – it might actually happen.

    Damn. For some reason it’s right on the tip of my tongue…

  31. 31.

    Corner Stone

    August 5, 2013 at 6:05 pm

    @gussie:

    What a fucking idiot. They’re both traitors and criminals. They’re worse than James Risen. Fucking leftie scum. Love it or leave it, bitches.

    I am appalled at your comment here. Is it really the way of this country now to have a “with us or against us” mentality? You disgust me, you fucking liberal scum.

  32. 32.

    Corner Stone

    August 5, 2013 at 6:07 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    The notion that Snowden went to Russia because it was “more free” than the US, or that his going there was essentially a statement about the relative freedom from authoritarianism or invasions of privacy is one of the more idiotic floating around.

    He went there because he endorses Putin! And disavows Pu$$y Riot! And is single-handedly murdering gay babies in their cribs and eating of their flesh!
    Pathetic motherfucker probably ran a pit bull dog fighting ring too.

  33. 33.

    Corner Stone

    August 5, 2013 at 6:08 pm

    I bet if Snowden jumped in the water off S. Africa the Air Jaws would probably run and hide in warmer climes.

  34. 34.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    August 5, 2013 at 6:25 pm

    I think it’s a great idea, and if the Nobel committee weren’t so cautious and lily-livered – and were actually interested in furthering the cause of peace – it might actually happen.

    If they had guts, they’d give the 2013 Peace Prize to someone else – and take away the 2009 Peace Prize from its recipient to give to Manning.

  35. 35.

    peggy

    August 5, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    Eric Blair #4 might note that when the Directors of the NSA lies to Congress it does interfere with that body’s ability to legislate. As for electing a more responsive body, Southern gentlemen in 1787-9 made sure that Northern liberals would face obstacles, beyond the three fifths rule.

  36. 36.

    The Sheriff's A Ni-

    August 5, 2013 at 7:09 pm

    I’ve come to the conclusion that the only difference between Ed Snowden and Johnathan Pollard is that one knew he’d get caught and, as a result, planned ahead.

  37. 37.

    Ahh says fywp

    August 5, 2013 at 7:14 pm

    Wow, now Manning is getting smeared with Snowden’s dick.

    Imo, Manning dud tge right thing. His crime was being so naive as to put faith in narcissistic user Julian Assange, who dumped everything online with no regard for anyone’s safety.

    Fuck Edvard Dzhozef Snouden with a rusty garden weasel.

  38. 38.

    Commenting at Balloon Juice Since 1937

    August 5, 2013 at 7:36 pm

    @Ahh says fywp: His crime was talking to the shit stain from Wired who blew him in.

  39. 39.

    Commenting at Balloon Juice Since 1937

    August 5, 2013 at 7:38 pm

    Wikileaks didn’t ‘dump everything on line’. They worked with journalists to release it, NYTimes, the Guardian, others.

  40. 40.

    Thlayli

    August 5, 2013 at 7:59 pm

    @jayjaybear:

    … considering that Kissinger and Arafat have actually WON the NPP, …

    People say stuff like this all the time, and it’s getting tiresome. Kissinger won it for his work on the treaty that ended the Vietnam War, and Arafat won it for the Oslo Accords. You might think it looks silly in the context of their entire lives’ work, but that’s not the standard.

  41. 41.

    tybee

    August 5, 2013 at 8:22 pm

    @fuckwit:

    living in a small town will bring home that “you are watched continuously” feeling.

  42. 42.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 5, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    There have been dumber ideas, but most of them were prefaced with the statement “Hold my beer and watch this.”

  43. 43.

    boss bitch

    August 5, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    ZZZZZZZzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

    Did I mention..YAWN!!?

  44. 44.

    ruemara

    August 5, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    This is why one should never huff glue, drink, toke and pundit.

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