Should anyone care about the personality quirks of Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, or Glenn Greenwald? Last week, the New Republic published an article that attacks the three by examining old blog entries, their early careers, and other information that has nothing to do with NSA mass surveillance. For Switzerland’s News, Patrik Etschmayer calls the the New Republic article a ‘lesson in ad hominem attacks’ – divorced from what really counts: the wrongdoing they exposed.
For Switzerland’s News, Patrik Etschmayer starts out his refutation of the New Republic this way:
Last week, the New Republic published a scathing article on Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Glenn Greenwald, questioning their motives in disseminating data stolen from the NSA and other government agencies.
Imagine the following scene: It’s Sunday, and you’re taking a stroll along a river with your family or partner. The snow begins to melt and the water level of the river is high. Your child or partner slips and falls into the raging water, and is immediately carried away. A hundred yards down river, the event is observed by another passerby, who immediately jumps into the water, risking his life and saving your loved one – who you had already given up for lost.
You hold a banquet in honor of your savior, and ask him to say a few words to those present – but the speech turns into a disaster: The rescue wasn’t motivated by a desire to save the life of someone who was drowning, but rather by a desire to save the lake below from a stinking, bloated corpse – and besides, the man thinks everyone at the banquet is disgusting, but will eat anyway, because if anyone is dumb enough to invite him, he has no one but himself to blame!
Shocked silence all around, but … does it matter? Your loved one is sitting at the table because this vile individual – who has now taken his seat and begun to eat without another word – saved him or her. The alternative would have been a funeral.
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