Congratulations to the brave Guardian as well as the Washington Post for winning the Pulitzer Prize for reporting the NSA revelations provided to them by Edward Snowden, who should also win some kind of “Patriot” award for defending the Constitution at all cost.

You may have noticed that the medal states on it: “For disinterested and meritorious public service rendered by an American newspaper during the year….”  That “disinterested” means “unbiased, unprejudiced, impartial, neutral, nonpartisan.” It DOES NOT MEAN “uninterested”, which is a common mistake people make these days.

Now, someone posted this news over on Reddit, and, as is always the case, the comments from Reddit are yielding some fantastic responses to this news.

The top comment by pixelprophet being:

Just so everyone is aware:  “Awarding the Pulitzer to Snowden enablers is a disgrace” — Rep. Pete King (@RepPeteKing)

Followed by: DefinitelyNotANinja with:

Peter King is like an inverse morality litmus test. Whenever I have a difficult decision I ask myself ‘What would Peter King do?’, and do the exact opposite with confidence.

And: ceuug with:

Exactly. When I heard Congress was doing NSA reform recently, my first thought was “What does Peter King think about it?”. Turns out he likes it, so the current NSA reform going through Congress is complete BS.

We’ll have to keep an eye on Rep. Pete King in the next election, looks like he’s not looking out for the people that employ him.

Now the ultimate comment is by marcustorelius with:

Edward Snowden is following the classical trajectory of some of the most important and disruptive historical figures of all times. The people who criticize him typically use one of two slurs: that he is a “traitor” or a “criminal.” But history is a funny thing.

Who else was called a traitor by the figures in power of their time? How about:

  • George Washington
  • Benjamin “We must hang together or we will surely hang separately” Motherfucking Franklin
  • Paul Revere
  • Nathan Hale
  • Oleg Penkovsky, the “Spy Who Saved The World”
  • John Brown, who was executed for treason, but not before sparking the movement that abolished motherfucking slavery.
  • Goddamned SOCRATES, who drank the hemlock after being accused of “corrupting the youth” and treason against Athens.
  • Gaius Gracchus, whose (wildly popular) reforms to restrain the power of a corrupt Roman Senate to the benefit of the lower classes resulted in that same Senate accusing them of treason. They offered to pay whoever brought them his head its weight in gold, which they got, then refused to pay. h/t /u/redditor_on_lsd

Every single one of those bitches was literally a traitor. But they were also some of the greatest moral heroes humanity has ever witnessed.

What about “criminals”? Who “broke the law” and should have “faced the music,” but said, “no, fuck you and your laws, I’m going to do what’s moral rather than what’s legal,”?

  • People who helped slaves along the underground railroad to freedom in the north, like Harriett Tubman, which was such a horrific crime it would get you the death sentence.
  • People who helped Jews escape death and persecution, like Oskar Schindler. Another heinous crime worthy of the death penalty.
  • Everyone who participated in every revolution ever. More treason, for a double-points bonus.
  • People who burnt draft cards during Vietnam.
  • Black people who sat at the front of the bus (although the penalty here was very light, sparking the “go to jail to prove a point” idea) during “separate but equal.”
  • People who told King George’s tea to go fuck right off into Boston Harbor.

Criminals. Every goddamned one of them. But righteous criminals. Heroic criminals. The kind of criminals that create the kind of enlightened society that goes “Jesus, these laws are fucking ridiculous. Where were we thinking? We’ve got to repeal this shit.”

If somebody ever calls Snowden a traitor or a criminal, whether they’re a congressman or a classmate, tell them they need to learn their history. Copy this post and show it to them, and tell them if they could be half the criminal Edward Snowden is, they would be a motherfucking hero.

Well said marcustorelius , remember, almost every MAJOR hero of the past that we all look up to today, was considered a TERRORIST or CRIMINAL by the people in power at the time.  So, anyone who is against a person today who exposes corruption, must be part of the corruption themselves.  There is no other logical explanation.

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