Why I Cannot With Edward Snowden

In his latest bit of trolling, Edward Snowden appears on the cover of Wired magazine clutching an American flag. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t read the interview in the magazine because I cannot with Edward Snowden anymore.

I do not care whether you think Edward Snowden is the most important whistleblower since Daniel Ellsberg or the greatest threat to national security since the Rosenbergs, the reality is that someone who wants to wrap himself in the flag while a fugitive from justice hiding in Vladimir Putin’s Russia can politely go fuck himself. If Edward Snowden is so enamored of the United States and the many liberties and freedoms he enjoyed while living here, he should get on the next plane from Moscow and hoover up all the due process protection our legal system affords someone accused of a crime and defend himself. Trust me, he would have his pick of the most eminent and qualified defense attorneys in the country to defend him.

But in the meantime, please stop treating this man like some sort of hero – most of what he leaked was known (or suspected) since the New York Times broke stories about the so-called “Terrorist Surveillance Program” way back in 2006 and the fact that he is living in a country that just illegally annexed another country’s territory and whose record on press freedom is, let’s just say, less than stellar, just adds to the hypocrisy. I am tired of Edward Snowden being provided a media platform to inflate his ego and self-righteously proclaim his innocence while avoiding justice.