Here come the Edward Snowden truthers

[DonViejo]

Some think he's a CIA plant, others say he's a useful idiot. But they all agree: Something stinks to high heaven!

BY ALEX SEITZ-WALD

Every time there’s a shooting at an elementary school or a bombing at a marathon, people harboring an obsession with — or financial interest in — conspiracy theories will jump on inconsistencies to tear down the “official narrative” and replace it with their own, no matter how far-fetched. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before the conspiracists set their eternally skeptical eyes on another target. Meet the Edward Snowden truthers.

What’s surprising about the Snowden theories is that one might think he’d be a sympathetic figure to people deeply skeptical of government power. But instead of holding him up as hero (or even a traitor), some are intent on labeling him a co-conspirator.

Perhaps the most prominent Snowden truther is Naomi Wolf, whom Al Gore reportedly paid $15,000 a month to advise his presidential campaign. People were a little surprised Friday when the prominent feminist author and activist posted a lengthy essay on her Facebook page wondering if Snowden may actually be a plant from “the Police State.”

Wolf wrote that she has a “creeping concern” that Snowden “is not who he purports to be,” mostly because Wolf expects leakers to be disheveled, inarticulate and litigious (apparently based on her experience with Jullian Assange), and Snowden is none of these things. “To me this reads as someone who has learned his talking points,” she wrote. And his girlfriend “happens to pole-dance?” — very suspicious! “It is actually in the Police State’s interest to let everyone know that everything you write or say everywhere is being surveilled,” she wrote. Ergo: Snowden is likely a government stooge.

The missive was rightly mocked online, and predicated on a number of factual misunderstandings. Still, Wolf is hardly alone. On the fever swamps of the Internet’s conspiracy sites, plenty of posts dissect Snowden’s biography and find gaps that can only be filled by CIA dirty tricks, apparently.

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/here_come_the_edward_snowden_truthers/

[Zorra]

1. Some people take time to cautiously and carefully examine situations before they make decisions.

This is known as being prudent.

[Major Hogwash]

2. Greenwald used to work at Salon dot com until they fired him last summer.

Joan Walsh was not a fan.

[el_bryanto]

3. Link? nt

[leftynyc]

7. Maybe has something to

do with this:

http://www.laprogressive.com/glenn-greenwald/

[el_bryanto]

9. that's possible, but that's not definitive. Speculation isn't evidence nt.

[leftynyc]

11. I did say maybe

and never claimed it was evidence so you can stuff your self righteous bullshit.

[el_bryanto]

12. I apologize for having offended

I suppose that should have been directed at Major Hogwash who made a definitive claim about Greenwald and Walsh. You made no such claim so I apologize for unintentionally insinuating you did.

Bryant

[leftynyc]

13. Accepted

and appreciate your graciousness (I'm not sure that's a word but I hope you get my meaning).

[DonViejo]

6. That's a fairly heavy duty allegation, Major...

can you provide us with some back-up information about it?

[backscatter712]

5. I'll treat these troofers with the same respect I give to other troofers. n/t

[Junkdrawer]

8. Re: Snowden, who he is and who he works for....

Too many questions still outstanding and, I'm afraid, not all the shoes have dropped. So...

I'll take him at his word, for now, but I'll also hold on to that proverbial grain of salt.

If that makes me a Truther, well, it won't be the first time. I'm starting to wear it as a badge of honor.

[Jarla]

10. Actually, it's in the Police State's interest

to convince the conspiracy theorists that Snowden's revelations are a controlled leak.

Just like they're convinced that OWS, Wikileaks, and Anonymous are all CIA operations.

It's a good way to help keep the conspiracy theorists pacified.

[Buns_of_Fire]

14. I want to see his birth certificate!

Not because it proves anything one way or the other -- or matters in the least -- but it seems to be the "in" thing to do these days.

[starroute]

15. I think it's time for some "truther truthers"

I've got a brand-new conspiracy theory ready to launch on the world -- one which insists that all these "truther" movements are hatched by sinister forces with the intention of discrediting any serious attempts to question official stories that really do need questioning.

My only problem is that it's almost plausible.

So for starters -- Naomi Wolf, who's paying *you* to sow FUD?