2fer Revision

Edward Snowden went from a loyal NSA contractor to a United States Traitor. Many people knew him to be politically conservative, very intelligent, and he was also a gun owner. No one expected this man, the most trusted man in the United States of America to be behind the biggest intelligence leak in history. Even after Edward Snowden leaked thousands of classified documents he still considers himself a patriot, and he is not the only one who agrees with this statement. Most people have agreed with Edward Snowden and his actions, but many others are deeply divided and worried by government surveillance. According to the Huffington Post Fifty-one percent of Americans said that Edward Snowden was “something of a hero” who should have been rewarded for his actions, while fifty-four percent of Americans agree that “security and anti-terrorism efforts mean we may sometimes have to infringe on civil liberties such as personal information privacy”. It is an issue that currently makes the American people question their privacy and the actions of the government. Edward Snowden’s actions have made the American people question the government and people’s safety relating to the privacy that American citizens are entitled to.

Many Americans are conflicted in what they think of Edward Snowden and his actions. The Huffington Post states that “fifty-one percent of Americans said that Edward Snowden was something of a hero who should be commended for letting the public know that the governments are running electronic surveillance programs that threaten people’s privacy”. While 49 percent labeled him more of a traitor who should be condemned for publicizing security activities and threatening western intelligence operations, along with the NSA. Edward Snowden’s actions have clearly surprised many Americans in a positive and a negative way, the previous example shows a statistic that proves that not only did part of the American government label him as a traitor but many Americans also suggested that he should have been condemned for leaking thousands of classified documents.  In response to my previous statement this situation causes people to have a hard time making sense to it because it clearly threatens western intelligence agencies that help protect security activities, but not one U.S. citizen was aware this was going on in the government.

Hero or no hero he has brought to light important information that deserved to be in the public’s reach, while doing no harm to the national security of his country. Many Americans today are genuinely and understandably torn by Edward Snowden’s actions. Even though he revealed many U.S. government actions and is now classified as a criminal, many Americans find it troubling that their privacy does not exist. It makes sense that people feel grateful to the person who brought this information to us, but is calling him a hero appropriate? In a recent interview with Edward Snowden people now have cause to doubt how much privacy they are entitled to. In this interview Edward Snowden stated, “The N.S.A. has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife’s phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.” This example not only shows the little privacy American citizens have but it also shows how easy it is for the government to access people’s important information that not only affects us as individuals but  families as well.

Today Edward Snowden remains a hero to some, to others he is a common criminal and wouldn’t characterized him as a hero of any kind. I believe this topic is very interesting because in though this is a issue currently going on in the United States, many people from different countries have expressed their feelings about Edward Snowden and his actions, for example in in The Huffington Post it is stated that 67 percent of the people living in Canada and 60 percent in the U.K. viewed him as a hero. Even after Edward Snowden leaked thousands of classified documents to public domain, it has come to the conclusion that the U.S. government currently uses intercepts to hack into emails, phone records, credit cards, etc. The reality of it is that American citizens have a very small amount of privacy than people think they are entitled to, which shows to point how the government contains personal information and why it is needed.

Work Cited:

Edwards-Levy, Ariel. "Americans Still Can't Decide Whether Edward Snowden Is A 'Traitor' Or A 'Hero,' Poll Finds." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 08 Nov. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/edward-snowden-poll_n_4175089.html>.

"Edward Snowden: 'I'd Volunteer for Prison' to Return to US." TODAY. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

Why Edward Snowden Is a Hero - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. Http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/edward-snowden-says-motive-behind-leaks-was-to-expose-surveillance-state/2013/06/09/aa3f0804-d13b-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

"Quora." Why Do Some Americans Believe Edward Snowden Is Not a Hero? -. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

Improvements:

I first edited the mistakes that Ms.Pahomov had commented onto my google document, after I resolved the comments I looked for words that I know are not allowed in 2fer essays. Secondly, I had one of my peer's peer edit my essay just in case there were any mistakes that I couldn't see, there were a couple that my peer found but I fixed them just in time. I then clicked my sources cited to make sure that they were the right ones, I used a couple of sources but they weren't in the right order at first. I also tried to fix some of my paragraphs that repeated, I think I did a pretty good job trying to make it more sightful. If I could change anything I would change the sentence structures of my essay.