“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

– Benjamin Franklin

Edward Snowden has created quite some stories in the news. The discussion on these topics is good and important, but I am missing two major points:

The United States hypocrosy has long been obvious when it came to human rights, torture, and freedom. Especially when facing its Asian counterpart China, the US has always applied two standards. While a lot of people seem to have gotten used to this double standard, a very big hypocrisy became public when Edward Snowden leaked information about the NSA and its data collection methods. Even more so, when officials in and outside the US defended those programs. Obama himself stated that, “you can’t have 100 per cent security and also then have 100 per cent privacy and zero inconvenience”.  Like other leaders, he acknowledges that a certain degree of intrusion into private lives is necessary for the society’s safety.

Is that not, what China has been preaching for years now? That in order to secure prosperity and peace, some individual rights might be limited? I want to make clear, that I do not claim for intrusive government to be the better choice. This is just something that we should keep in mind, next time when we talk about Human Rights and authoritarian countries such as China. The news agencies seem to me more interested in hunting Edward Snowden, than seeing this hypocrisy. Acknowledging the similarities of the USA and authoritarian countries might after all help to improve their relations and with more trade and influence, might help to solve conflicts.

The second point, I have been asking myself: Have we already surrendered to terrorists? This should not be taken the wrong way; I do see the need for security measures. But is giving up our privacy not letting the terrorists win? Is putting our lives completely in the hand of our government not a step away from democracy and discourse? In our safe and comfortable life, are we getting lulled into the government’s hands, where we stop asking questions and wondering why? These are questions from an extreme perspective, but regarding the massive spying on society, it is worth thinking about them. But giving up my life to the government, because terrorists scare me, is the terrorist’s goal. And I do not plan on letting the terrorists win.