Edward Snowden and the Matrix

In the cult film trilogy “The Matrix,” directed by the Wachowski brothers, the protagonist is a programmer named Thomas Anderson, who works for a large company by day and dabbles in hacking by night. One day he finds out that his life is an illusion brought about by an artificially intelligent supercomputer and that humans are nothing more than living batteries that are imprisoned in pods to provide a source of energy for machines.

Neo Comes to Sheremetyevo

From that moment on, Mr. Anderson is known to everyone but Agent Smith as Neo — the Chosen One who has come to deliver mankind from its disgraceful fate.

The programmer Edward Snowden, who is currently stuck in the transit zone at Sheremetyevo Airport, resembles the protagonist in “The Matrix,” and all of the events surrounding him remind one of plot twists from that movie.

Once upon a time there was a programmer named Edward Snowden, who worked for the U.S. government in the National Security Agency and the CIA. He was no James Bond, and he didn’t go around brandishing guns; he had a somewhat mundane job and from time to time denounced people who leaked government secrets.

But in 2013, Edward Snowden the Average Citizen disappeared and in his place materialized Edward Snowden the Whistle-blower, whose actions have caused no less noise than Neo’s endless tangles with the agents of the Matrix.

Edward Snowden exposed the existence of the PRISM program, which entails mass surveillance of the telephone and Internet communications of American citizens and foreigners. He made it known that Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube, Skype, AOL, Apple and many others were in on the program. He alleged — and backed up his charges with evidence — that American intelligence agencies are not only spying on their own citizens, but also taking similar measures with respect to politicians and everyday citizens among their allies — in particular, the European Union.

In other words, “You are trapped inside the Matrix.”

A Rebellion against ‘Big Brother’

As tradition goes, the American authorities got up in arms and accused Snowden of stealing government property, uncovering classified national security information and consciously transmitting this secret information to third parties. They promised that he would spend 30 years in prison. Well, for now the former CIA agent is somewhere far away from home; when he is apprehended, Snowden could very well have an electric chair or a lethal injection in his future.

It goes without saying that Snowden, as a rational person, took flight and eventually ended up in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport, where he discovered that countries around the world aren’t burning with desire to grant him political asylum.

Had Edward Snowden been a spy from a foreign country, everything would be much simpler — his handlers would meet him with flowers, give him a medal and guarantee him a calm, carefree old age.

But the problem is that the rebellious programmer doesn’t belong to anyone. Moreover, it’s not correct to say that he delivered a blow to U.S. national security or boosted the security of the nation’s foes. Snowden’s revelations won’t lead to the unmasking of any secret agents, won’t somehow add to the problem of international terrorism and won’t undermine any country’s economic situation.

Snowden made clear what many had been talking about already: The notorious “Big Brother” is encroaching on the private lives of citizens of even the most advanced democracies and putting them under his microscope.

It’s one thing when a story like that comes from a conspiracy theory lover, whom you can always just pat on the shoulder and refer to a good shrink. It’s another thing when it comes from a former agent of the NSA and the CIA who has incontrovertible evidence to back up his words.

Actually, Snowden’s revelations don’t undermine U.S. national security: They compromise the stability of the entire international political system.

Illusion vs. Reality

The fall of the Soviet Union gave birth to a misconception: Countries can be divided into the categories of “totalitarian” and “democratic.” In the former, the government has a firm grip on the lives of citizens; in the latter, the citizens themselves define their own fates and live in freedom. In addition, sometimes the so-called “free” countries exert pressure on the “un-free” countries, compelling them to change their image.

In reality, in the modern world there are no alternatives. Even in the world’s most democratic countries — like the United States — keep their citizens under absolute control of the powers that be.

In that sense, the U.S. and North Korea are only different in that each country’s “government Matrix” implants a different illusion in its citizens’ minds.

And Snowden, with all his leaks and revelations, isn’t having any luck receiving political asylum because countries from Russia to Ecuador understand that, thanks to some homegrown Snowden, they, too, could end up in America’s place.

Edward Snowden’s real crime is that he stood before the billions of people who live in an imaginary world of “freedom and democracy” and gave them a glimpse behind the curtain into the real world — a world in which citizens who proudly sing their national anthems and place their hands over their hearts when their flag is raised are really nothing more than living batteries that generate energy for the powers that be.

And those who have been burned by Snowden are furious with him for having interrupted the typical flow of life in the Matrix. It’s precisely for that that Agent Smith — excuse me, I meant Barack Obama — is itching to punish this disturber of the peace.

But there will be no revolution. The well-oiled illusion-machines will start working again at full throttle; the fleetingly distressed masses will forget about the elusive CIA agent’s discoveries as soon as the next pop diva bares her chest at a concert or Kate Middleton gives birth to a child. Everything will settle back into equilibrium, almost as if Edward Snowden had never existed.

In this world, anything is possible — but we are all trapped inside the Matrix ….