Movie Review SSJ

Snowden comes from a military family, his ancestors have been in the military since the Civil War, his grandfather was a general, his father served in the Coast Guard, and Snowden himself was spurred to join the military in his early years by 9/11, hoping to serve his country in the Iraq War.

At that time, he was a patriotic man. While he and his girlfriend walked the streets occupied by anti-war activists and she spat at him about the government, he said he didn’t like to criticize his country and referred to Bush as the commander-in-chief out of the corner of his mouth.

Patriotic young Snowden turned to join the CIA after quitting the army due to injury, and then worked for a contractor under the CIA. For several years he was involved in many big projects and made great contributions to the U.S. intelligence business, and even had the honor of taking a photo with the Secretary of State Security alone; he and his girlfriend were almost ready to get married after years of relationship development. But just as he was participating in a major project in Hawaii that was at the heart of something classified, he defected from his country.

Why would such a patriotic young man in his 20s, with good roots, a strong family, a thriving career and a well-developed love affair, willingly leave everything behind, even risking his life, to commit treason against the world’s most powerful intelligence agency? When the reporter asked him do you know what happened to Chelsea Manning and why are you willing to risk so much to do this, Snowden looked melancholy and after a long silence said it was hard to express in words.

For the vast majority of people, patriotism is a virtue, and is one of the most noble virtues. From this point of view, from the point of view of the United States, he is undoubtedly shameful. Such a person would have been unanimously denounced by the whole nation if he were in China. National Security Director Mike Hayden, who was photographed with him, said that Snowden was extremely arrogant and that he put his so-called moral judgment above his job and above his colleagues and leaders. In fact, this has a point, politics, the military, these national events, it is not black or white, who has not done some unseemly deeds? Just the vast majority will not be exposed. U.S. intelligence agencies may have gone a little too far, but they start from the point of view of protecting the interests of their own country, in the process of touching some personal privacy, is it really unforgivable? If they do not do so and lead to a major terrorist attack, then who will take the blame?

But Snowden believes that the United States was founded on the foundation of freedom and democracy and the rule of law, and what the intelligence agencies are doing now is contrary to the principles and original intent of the founding of the country. When a person or a country has gone a long way along the path of a dream, but unknowingly has forgotten why they started and their original intention, is there any meaning in such a forward movement?

Snowden is undoubtedly an idealist, ideal over the top and even a little middle-aged, he was called “Snow White” by his colleagues, because he can not cold-blooded to ignore the torture of conscience. In the end, he chose this extreme path to practice his ideals, to their own efforts to bring the darkness to the public, trying to pull the United States out of the abyss of degradation. Snowden has said that if this illegal surveillance situation is not changed, perhaps in a few years the government will become more reckless and turn into a dictatorship.

Whether he is right or not, whether he is worried about the sky or not, he is a man with a dream, and a man who dares to throw his blood for his dream. He is a man to be admired compared to us who are living in this era.