Snowden

The recent news about the Pulitzer Prize going to papers who published the government activities revealed by Edward Snowden brought to mind the Pentagon Papers from the 70’s. For those too young to remember, Daniel Ellsberg , a government contract employee much like Snowden released information known as the Pentagon Papers that embarrassed the government. The government had kept a running account of the Viet Nam War which was much different than the information they were issuing to the public. Ellsberg felt it was his duty to reveal the truth and he did so. It was 1971 and the war was still in full swing so many thought it was treasonous but by that time the war had become very unpopular with the press and the public so not much was said about the treason part. During WW2 propaganda movies were produced and the government filled the press with inaccurate details of the war and if someone at that time had revealed the false information it would have been a different story. It is not the revelation of falsehoods that determine the degree of the problem but rather the kind of war that is involved. In WW 2 we welcomed propaganda and we needed it.