By Garrick Hoffman

The name “Edward Snowden” was once virtually unknown. The man behind the name lived in Hawaii with his wife and kids and worked as government contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA). He was perhaps just an average Joe, an ordinary family man who toiled away, like any American, in the banalities of the daily grind to support himself and his family.

Then in June 2013, like an overnight YouTube star, he capriciously became an international figure. His face appeared on news broadcasts and his name was tossed around in a tug-of-war of characterization between heroism and treason. The media frenzy that followed came as a result of his now-famous (or to some, infamous) act: Snowden leaked thousands upon thousands of classified U.S. intelligence documents. He now sits in the league with other recently distinguished whistleblowers like himself, such as Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange.

What Snowden revealed is a world eerily reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, a dystopian novel in which the government oversees every minute bit – even the most private – of civilian activity. 1984, published in 1949, proved to be acutely prophetic, and in reading the novel now, one might feel they themselves reside in the book’s world. Our government, our “Big Brother,” as Orwell dubbed it, can now liberally monitor your life down to the most trivial fabric, and Snowden took it upon himself to expose this truth.

Snowden had met with two journalists in Hong Kong to reveal the documents, and in this location he was filmed to explain his acts, who he is, and why he did what he did. He also used the time to explain what was and still is happening behind the curtains of the NSA.

Since then, Snowden has been living in exile in Russia, where he has been given three years of asylum. He is now an extremely wanted “fugitive from justice,” as John Kerry put it. He has been dubbed a traitor and is charged for violating the Espionage Act and for theft of government property. Many political commentators, politicians, and civilians have fervently discussed Snowden in the most unflattering of terms, saying he is a traitor who betrayed his country and that he should face his (ostensibly) warranted justice – which could be up to thirty years in prison. Perhaps, with the pronounced exasperation of the U.S. government, the punishment could be worse.

On the flip side of the same coin, Snowden is heiled as a hero and patriot, a revered martyr for his country who was willing to sacrifice his own freedom (not to mention his stable, joyous life in the paradise that is Hawaii) to stand up for America and its people. Many people – American and non alike – have extolled his efforts, lauding him for being brave enough to go through with such an act, and for exposing the insidious truths of the U.S. government that the public would otherwise be veiled from ever knowing.

Snowden has now appeared on numerous broadcasts, from interviews with The New Yorker and with Brian Williams from NBC, to a discussion on a featured TED Talk. In each appearance the viewer gets a glimpse of Mr. Snowden, learning what his intentions were and what sort of change he wants to see unravelled. He invariably affects a quality of modesty, dismissing the debate of his hero-traitor characterization and saying this is improper discussion; constructive discussion, he asserts, is found in the more pressing of issues.

But he also affects a disposition of graveness, thereby informing the viewers not only that we are in a situation of considerable gravity, but that Snowden himself is sincerely concerned about the country that, he, in fact, admires.

What led to his decision? What were his intentions? Why did he seek refuge in another country, leaving his family behind without word? What was he trying to accomplish, and what kind of message did he want to convey to America, to the world?
In the next issue, these topics will be broached.