Traitors: Made in the USA

In Dante’s Inferno, the traitors occupied the final circle of hell, as betrayal was considered to be the worst sin of all. This was because, unlike other types of wrongdoing, it’s necessary to gain the victim’s trust and friendship first in order to betray him or her. The Roman consul Quintus Servilius Caepio was right when he said, “Rome does not pay traitors.” He said this to show his disdain for the allies of Viriatus, who, capitalizing on their closeness to the leader, assassinated him in his sleep and later sought to be rewarded for it.

A lot is being said about Edward Snowden lately. The now famous ex-CIA programmer has exposed the United States’ embarrassing secrets to the world, revealing a wide-reaching plot to tap phones and intercept emails. I must confess that, initially, I believed his reasons. Mr. Snowden said that he did what he did to condemn the government for reading emails without permission and listening in on private conversations. No doubt about that. Of course, when the guy in charge is a real good guy like Obama, right away there’s going to be a certain air of understanding.

No doubt about that either. Can anyone imagine what would have happened if such a scandal had blown up in George W. Bush’s face? The calls for public crucifixion would have been swift. The thing is, Obama is a Democrat, and the world’s self-declared progressives aren’t going to abandon their icon over just a little bit of spying. On the other hand, we might see things differently if we put our common sense to good use. The world hasn’t been the same since 9/11. The attacks on New York’s twin towers made it clear that the old ways of fighting organized crime had become just that — old. It was time for a new way of thinking.

The United States defends its actions by arguing that it is protecting its national security, and thanks to those little things that Snowden blew the whistle on, they’ve been able to stop potential terrorists and maybe even prevent a new 9/11. Obama adds that every country in the world has an interest in knowing what’s going on in other countries, “seeking additional insight beyond what’s available through open sources.” So, they’re spying. Obviously they’re spying. These things are known in the United States because it’s a democracy and it respects human rights. Nobody will ever find a Chinese, Russian or North Korean version of Edward Snowden because, over there, controlling citizens has been a deeply rooted custom since socialism — or its bad boy cousin, communism — came into power.

Bradley Manning leaked hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks out of resentment. His frustrations with never reaching the levels of his colleagues — among whom he was never the least bit popular — and a somewhat traumatic process of coming out of the closet led him to blow the lid off Iraq and Afghanistan. And what the United States had under its lid has disgusted just about everyone. Snowden’s motives seemed different, nobler. So why hasn’t he stayed in his country to stand up for what he believes is right, instead of flirting with China and Russia, offering himself to the highest bidder? If this guy thinks his country is spying, just let him wait and see how things work with true champions of human rights like the Russians or the Chinese. Dante was right: Traitors are the worst.