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Civil Rights Icon John Lewis Praises Edward Snowden? THEY LIE

I had a real WTF moment yesterday.  The old twitter stream lit up with stories regarding civil rights icon John Lewis praising Edward Snowden, covering him with the laurels of the civil rights movement comparing him to Gandhi.  

The story originated from The Guardian the source of  Edward Snowden’s public relations media so I should have taken it with the same grain of salt I have when they’ve dropped bombshell after debunked half true old story bombshell. http://www.theguardian.com/wor…

I should have but I didn’t I actually believed it for a day, until John Lewis himself had the chance to speak about the statement.

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/pol…

“News reports about my interview with The Guardian are misleading, and they do not reflect my complete opinion. Let me be clear.  I do not agree with what Mr. Snowden did.  He has damaged American  international relations and compromised our national security.  He leaked classified information and may have jeopardized human lives.  That must be condemned.

“I never praised  Mr. Snowden or said his actions rise to those of Mohandas Gandhi or other civil rights leaders.  In fact, The Guardian itself agreed to retract the word “praise” from its headline.

“At the end of an interview about the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, I was asked what I thought about Mr. Snowden’s actions.  I said he has a right as an individual to act according to the dictates of his conscience, but he must be prepared to pay the price for taking that action.  In the movement, we were arrested, we went to jail, we were prepared to pay the price, even lose our lives if necessary.  I cannot say and I did not say that what Mr. Snowden did is right.  Others will be the judge of that.”

The Guardian has since changed their headline and done minor adjustment in the thrust of their story from yesterday.  A curious ability internet reporting has over print in that the evidence of your gross manipulation of the story is only in those who cared enough to take screen shots.  What can I say?  Let’s make an over under on who will be the first to say John Lewis was influenced by the evil Obama?  

Namaste Friends.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 13 Comments

13 comments

  2. Nurse Kelley

    I saw the reports yesterday and, while 99% disbelieving, I felt very sad that they might be true.

    John Lewis is a hero, a man I respect above most others, and he deserved better from me than sadness. He deserved my entry into the fray with a “SYFPH until John Lewis himself responds to this so-called news.”

  3. kishik

    Kinda like the Michele Catalano big (not) story of spy reporting through google and anti terrorist task force knocking at her door (not) just because she googled Pressure Cooker and her son looked up Backpack.

    Really great REAL factual (not) reporting going on of late….

  4. Mets102

    that is more Snowden’s agent and press manager:  Glenn Greenwald.

    Besides, why be accurate when you can just bash Obama?  It’s the favorite hobby of both the fringe right and the fringe left.

  5. DeniseVelez

    and it certainly tuned out to be a set of distortions.

    Glad John Lewis spoke up (which was assured)

    Now we all have to suffer through him being attacked by some of the same people lauding him after the Guardian’s bullshit.

  6. Portlaw

    I said he has a right as an individual to act according to the dictates of his conscience, but he must be prepared to pay the price for taking that action.  In the movement, we were arrested, we went to jail, we were prepared to pay the price, even lose our lives if necessary.

  8. michelewln

    You don’t see these kind of diaries over at GOS. My late Dad worked all his life in security trying to keep people safe. I can’t look at Snowden without wondering how many lives has he put in danger. The hero worship over there has driven me away from the front pages and only into areas where I have writing commitments like Street Prophets and Monday Murder Mystery.

    People need to wake up. They gave their freedoms away to Bush and Company. They are now realizing the consequences of not paying attention at the time. I think Obama is doing the best he can towards some accountability but he sees things as President that we don’t.

    Living with my Dad, even though he never talked about his classified job, I know that there are genuine threats to people’s safety. We must keep a balance in our perspective of what really needs to be done to keep us safe and what is being paranoid and over zealous.  

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