Tag Archives: BOOK

Edward Snowden is an enigmatic figure, especially given the torrent of conflicting media coverage we’ve all experienced in the past year, but Greenwald’s new book–No Place to Hide–does little to clear up the ‘enigma’ part. Presumably, Snowden did not want his early life explored in this book, but that makes readers wonder why. What doesn’t he want us to know? If you’re on the Traitor side of the debate, you’re saying, “Well, he was probably an untrustworthy little twit growing up.” If you’re on the Hero side of the debate, you’re asking, “What happened to him as a child that would make him risk his very life to reveal Top Secret information to the world?” And believe me, after you read this book, you will be convinced he was risking his life. The things the U.S. government can do, and is doing, are frightening in the extreme. And moral questions abound. For example, imagine yourself sitting before a computer screen watching, in real time, a U.S. drone as it monitors the person it might kill, and you can stare into the eyes of the man’s three children, ages three, eight, and ten, smiling beside him, and you know the children are going to die, too…how do you feel? What’s the status of your “utilitarian ethics?” Is the greatest good for the greatest number the correct path? Is it the only path? Let us know your thoughts.