The whistleblowers are the new generation of American patriots

[marmar]

The whistleblowers are the new generation of American patriots
The violation of civil liberties in the name of security has had a profound impact on those who came of age after 9/11

Gary Younge
The Guardian, Sunday 16 June 2013


When Darrell Anderson, 22, joined the US military he knew there was going to be a war, and he wanted to fight it. "I thought I was going to free Iraqi people," he told me. "I thought I was going to do a good thing."

Until, that is, he realised precisely what he had to do. While on patrol in Baghdad, he thought: "What are we doing here? Are we looking for weapons of mass destruction? No. Are we helping the people? No, they hate us. What are we working towards, apart from just staying alive? If this was my neighbourhood and foreign soldiers were doing this then what would I be doing?" Within a few months, he says, "I was cocking my weapon at innocent civilians without any sympathy or humanity". While home on leave he realised he was not going to be able to lead a normal life if he went back. His mum drove him to Canada, where I met him in 2006 at a picnic for war resisters in Fort Erie.

Anderson's trajectory, from uncritical patriotism to conscious disaffection and finally to conscientious dissent, is a familiar one among a generation of Americans who came of political age after 9/11. Over time, efforts to balance the myth of American freedom on which they were raised, with the reality of American power that they have been called on to monitor or operate, causes a profound dislocation in their world view. Like a meat eater in an abattoir, they are forced to confront the brutality of the world they are implicated in and recoil at their role in it – occasionally in dramatic fashion.

It is from this generation that the most recent prominent whistleblowers have emerged: Edward Snowden, 29, the former National Security Agency contractor, now on the run after passing evidence of mass snooping to the Guardian; Bradley Manning, who at 22 gave classified diplomatic and military information to WikiLeaks and now faces a court martial; the late Aaron Swartz, who by 24 was a veteran hacker when he was arrested for illegally downloading academic articles from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later took his own life; and Jeremy Hammond, 28, who is facing federal criminal charges for allegedly publicising the internal files of a private spying agency. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/16/whistleblowers-new-generation-american-patriots

[dkf]

1. My God, what we have done is F-ing criminal.

Shame on us for putting our young people in such a position where they need to put everything on the line to do what is right and decent.

You wonder why things are so screwed up? Because the people who have been around don't blink an eye and are willing to excuse it all.

It permeates our society.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. "One sin leads to a deeper sin."

01:17:42 One sin leads to a deeper sin.

01:17:44 - Now you sound like Papa. - Adultery, fornication, lies, killing.

01:17:49 - Shut up already. - Or you'll have your friends shut me up?

Woody Allen, Crimes and Misdemeanors

>>"I thought I was going to free Iraqi people," he told me. "I thought I was going to do a good thing." >>>>

[WillyT]

2. Off To The Greatest Page !!!

& Rec !!!

[xchrom]

4. Du rec. Nt

[Fuddnik]

5. Too bad so many around here want to send them to the gas chambers.

They've pretty much given up their lives and livelihoods to warn us of an encroaching police state.

[MrMickeysMom]

6. WE need to listen to that generation...

We've seen the writing on the wall, but it's not big enough, apparently.

We've also seen the enemy and the enemy is US if we don't snap out of it!

[davidn3600]

7. A lot of the youth see themselves relating to Snowden

If you did a poll asking if Snowden is a hero or traitor, and break it down by age groups, i'm willing to bet most older folks (50+) will consider him a traitor and most younger folks (under 40) would call him a hero.

The youth is becoming more and more socially liberal and anti-establishment.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

8. nothing new there

and of course they deserve our respect for carrying on the tradition

[marions ghost]

24. And I'm glad to see that

however you should remember that the millennials are the boomers' children. Boomers deserve a little credit for the great kids they have turned out.

Also a whole LOT of people over 50 are applauding Snowden and the other whistleblowers. It's just that Snowden did this in such a dramatic way that the younger generation is following, getting the message and weighing in strongly. If he is a hero to them...excellent! But he's applauded by more older folks than you realize.

[Catherina]

9. I can't rec this enough. n/t

[flamingdem]

10. What about the part where he helped the Chinese with specific

information? I don't quite see that as patriotic.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

12. He told the world, not just China, that the US Gov is spying on EVERYONE

[reusrename]

15. China is our partner, not our enemy.

I understand this reaction to the China thing, but it's probably the wrong way to look at things.

Sure, there is a kabuki dance where China is demonized by the same folks who are shipping jobs over there (Mitt Romney comes to mind), but China is still not a declared enemy of the US.

[flamingdem]

17. They just stole plans for the next generation of

military weapons from the US.

They are a military threat regardless of what I agree is a love affair of debt and consumption compatibility

[L0oniX]

20. Fascism by any other name is not as sweet.

[flamingdem]

21. whose?

[backscatter712]

19. Do you have evidence?

All I hear is innuendo and speculation. If you think Snowden's given secrets to China that he hasn't given to the public, prove it.

Otherwise, you're nothing but another character-assassinating asshole.

[NightWatcher]

11. That's pretty sad. Forget doing something good

I guess pointing the finger at those doing bad is enough these days.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

13. When putting your life and liberty at risk to inform your fellow Americans of gov wrong-doing

not only is that 'good', but very brave, selfless, and patriotic.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

14. An excellent article that gets to the core motivation of these young whistle blowers

Makes me wonder if I will see such an article in any of our M$M papers?

K&R

Thanks for sharing

[Caretha]

16. I came across this quote

on my daughter's Facebook page. She is of the generation in your OP. I found it very interesting - at the end, she states she doesn't know who wrote it:

" What they did not want you to ever find out is that your generation, the generation born between 1980-1995, actually outnubmers the Baby Boomers. They knew that if you ever turned your eye towards political reform, you could change the world. They tried to keep you sated on vapid television shows and vapid music. They cut off your education and fed you brain candy. They took away your music and gave you top ten pop stations. They cut off your art and replaced it with endless reality shows for you to plug into, hoping you would sit quietly by as they ran the world. We as a society are only as strong as our weakest link. Give 'em hell kids."

I didn't write this, trying to figure out who did. Resonates deeply though, wake up and take back our planet, our home and live without fear.

[L0oniX]

18. Now all we need is a mass rebellion.

[Harmony Blue]

22. The dissapointment

and the anger against the establishment and MIC is really high with my generation. We may have a poor future economically, but we refuse to give up our fundamental rights

My generation has nothing to lose ($$$) as we have very little wealth, so we will fight for little we have left. People call us a lost generation, but we refuse to be labeled this way. We are not lost, but rather we know where we need to go to reach prosperity that isn't tied to a dollar sign.

[Catherina]

23. Need anyone ask why they're blowing the whistle?

Because this kid should never have been put in this situation



And this is unconscionable




Everything about the criminal conspiracy surrounding 9-11 is in those NSA vaults.
All the illegal trading that took place
The blackmailing to support the wars
The Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X assassination...
Think about it.


"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked..."

[Harmony Blue]

25. It is a bad direction for our country

I don't care if corporate dems label us as crazy leftists or radical liberals with hair on fire. This is just wrong for our party, and for our country.

[avaistheone1]

26. Good for the 9/11 generation!

Courageous and patriotic!

[Zorra]

27. Whistleblowing is the first step. The second step is us taking direct action to

eliminate the corrupt practices that are exposed by heroic whistleblowers.