The movie "Snowden" by Oliver Stone tells a story that is too well known to be "spoiled," but that every American should see to understand what it means to stand for principle. The main narrative covers the exciting period from the day Edward Snowden met the journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Evan MacAskill at the Mira Hotel in Hong Kong to the day he found himself trapped in Russia. Flashbacks tell a more important story of how he went from would-be special forces soldier to whistleblower risking his life to reveal the truth about U.S. government policies. As a thriller, the stakes are high enough to satisfy the casual viewer, but the ideas are what make this a significant movie.
Oliver Stone is better known for courting controversy rather than for any consistent philosophical stance. Restrained storytelling is not his norm, but "Snowden" is an exception. The danger was real, and he portrays it realistically. Even though we know the outcome of Snowden's decision to turn over classified documents to the journalists, the tension in the situation is enough to keep us engaged. Excellent acting also keeps us emotionally committed. Joseph Gordon-Levitt disappears into the role, thanks partly to his uncanny vocal imitation of Snowden.
The mainstream media has framed the controversy around Snowden as a mystery about whether he is a hero or a traitor. However, there are enough facts available outside this movie to make it clear that Snowden is a man of principle who gave up a comfortable life to do what he thought was right for the country he loved. It has always been obvious that the U.S. government and the compliant media have been systematically demonizing Snowden ever since June 2013. Most of the accusations have been patently ridiculous--like the claim that he is a Russian spy or a low-level disgruntled employee or even a plant by the government he has so effectively discredited.
The more interesting question is why Snowden came to believe that he had to take such drastic and dangerous action to serve his country. The movie presents a restrained and believable narrative that makes his journey both moving and understandable. He witnessed the U.S. government and the intelligence industry committing crimes--crimes that most Americans find so incomprehensible they don't want to believe they happen. The justification--national security--would be laughable if it weren't so tragic, and believed by so many.
As a voluntaryist, my question is how much the real Edward Snowden sees about the state of our world. Perhaps he actually believes that the government has legitimate authority to steal, murder, torture, and coerce, as long as it follows its rules as laid out in the constitution or interpreted by the courts. In that case, the matter of principle, as stated in the movie, is that the government is NOT following its own rules, and the American people need to know that their government is lying to them. On the other hand, Snowden is a brilliant man who may have overcome his family teaching and government school indoctrination to realize that there is nothing legitimate about an "elite" group of people claiming the right to rule. If I could do it with my limited experience of the evils of coercive government, I believe that he could do it with his exposure to the secrets of covert criminality by coercive government. I am intrigued by the thought that he might be trying to change the world in an even bigger way than stated, and for an even more important principle.
The problem of the loss of freedom in America is widely recognized by statists, not just by those of us who see the larger problem of coercive government. Neither reform nor revolution can solve either problem. Changes will come through ideas and principles and the rejection of the myth of authority. Anything that delegitimizes the authority of the state helps toward that evolution of thought. Whatever Oliver Stone's or Edward Snowden's philosophies may be, the movie "Snowden," like the release of the classified documents it describes, helps to illustrate the criminality of coercive government.