I am a big fan of The Young Turks internet news cast. It offers great commentary and a lot of stories other news services ignore. Its hosts, Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, manage to be insightful and funny at the same time.
There's just one problem: they're both fans of Edward Snowden.
I was initially somewhat supportive of Snowden, or at least willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I was glad to see the PRISM program exposed. However, even at the beginning, I was somewhat disturbed by his decision to flee to China. Seeing him throw in his lot with such a well documented human rights abuser was disconcerting to say the least, particularly given that the Tienanmen Square Massacre is the first international event I can remember with any clarity. Any sympathy I had vanished when he fled to the Russians.
On tonight's broadcast, Uygur got pissy because Melissa Harris-Perry, another journalist I highly respect, had the temerity to criticize Snowden. He dismissed her critique as Obama worship and said he had lost all respect for her. However, she never mentioned President Obama in her comments on Snowden. She discussed the hypocrisy of someone professing to be fighting for freedom traveling to a totalitarian country. She mentioned the fact that he chose to flee rather than face the music like a real whistleblower, like Daniel Ellsburg or Bradley Manning. Harris-Perry had a point, and Uygur basically ignored it.
Don't get me wrong. I'm still part of TYT Army, and will be listening in tomorrow. I agree with Uygur and Kasparian on every other point. That doesn't mean I'll ignore when they get something wrong.
There's just one problem: they're both fans of Edward Snowden.
I was initially somewhat supportive of Snowden, or at least willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I was glad to see the PRISM program exposed. However, even at the beginning, I was somewhat disturbed by his decision to flee to China. Seeing him throw in his lot with such a well documented human rights abuser was disconcerting to say the least, particularly given that the Tienanmen Square Massacre is the first international event I can remember with any clarity. Any sympathy I had vanished when he fled to the Russians.
On tonight's broadcast, Uygur got pissy because Melissa Harris-Perry, another journalist I highly respect, had the temerity to criticize Snowden. He dismissed her critique as Obama worship and said he had lost all respect for her. However, she never mentioned President Obama in her comments on Snowden. She discussed the hypocrisy of someone professing to be fighting for freedom traveling to a totalitarian country. She mentioned the fact that he chose to flee rather than face the music like a real whistleblower, like Daniel Ellsburg or Bradley Manning. Harris-Perry had a point, and Uygur basically ignored it.
Don't get me wrong. I'm still part of TYT Army, and will be listening in tomorrow. I agree with Uygur and Kasparian on every other point. That doesn't mean I'll ignore when they get something wrong.