Four takeaways from John Oliver's interview with Edward Snowden
In the latest episode of HBO鈥檚 satirical news show 'Last Week Tonight,' comedian John Oliver takes on complicated issues such as government surveillance and national security with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
In an episode dedicated to helping viewers understand government surveillance and national security issues, straight from the latter鈥檚 exile in Moscow.
Mr. Snowden, through journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, leaked classified documents about the NSA鈥檚 surveillance programs in June 2013. The information shed light on the depth and breadth of the US government鈥檚 foreign and domestic spying abilities.
Alternating between lighthearted and serious 鈥� an interviewing style some have called 鈥溾�� 鈥� Mr. Oliver asked Snowden about everything from to the exact scope of the NSA鈥檚 surveillance on the American people.
Here are four takeaways from the exchange, which aired Sunday on HBO鈥檚 satirical news program, 鈥淟ast Week Tonight.鈥�
Plenty of Americans don鈥檛 know who Snowden is.
Since The Guardian published Snowden鈥檚 revelations nearly two years ago, the man has been unable to return to the United States. He鈥檚 sought asylum in Russia and has been called a persona non grata and a traitor.
Despite that, Snowden said his decision was worth the consequences.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e seeing something amazing, which is that if you ask the American people to make tough decisions to confront tough issues to think about hard problems, they鈥檒l actually surprise you,鈥� he told Oliver.
But Oliver had some bad news.
鈥淥K, here鈥檚 the problem,鈥� the host said. 鈥淚 did ask some Americans, and boy, did it surprise me.鈥� He went on to show clips of baffled Americans incorrectly answering questions about who they thought Snowden is and what he did.
Government surveillance is a confusing issue聽鈥� which is why we need to talk about it more.聽
Even among those who do know Snowden and have an accurate picture of the man and his actions, the concept of how a government's agencies spy on its own citizens is a difficult one to comprehend, Oliver said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so complicated. We don鈥檛 fundamentally understand it,鈥� he said.
Snowden tried to explain it in layman鈥檚 terms: 鈥淭he NSA has the greatest surveillance capabilities that we鈥檝e ever seen in history,鈥� he told Oliver.
鈥淣ow what they will argue is that they don鈥檛 use this for nefarious purposes against American citizens. In some ways, that鈥檚 true,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut the real problem is that they鈥檙e using these capabilities to make us vulnerable to them, and then saying, 鈥榃ell, I have a gun pointed at your head. I鈥檓 not going to pull the trigger. Trust me.鈥欌��
At the same time, Oliver noted, 鈥淭he public debate so far has been absolutely pathetic."聽
To prove it, he showed a year-old clip from MSNBC in which a news anchor, discussing the NSA鈥檚 capabilities with a former congresswoman, cut short the interview in order to air updates about pop star Justin Bieber.
鈥淚鈥檓 not saying this is an easy conversation,鈥� Oliver said, 鈥渂ut we have to have it.鈥� He later pointed out that everything Snowden has done and said will matter only if 鈥渨e have this conversation properly.鈥�
There are ways to make a complicated issue understandable.
How then to make the American public both understand and care about such abstruse subject matter? Oliver had Snowden explain the NSA鈥檚 various surveillance programs through the lens of something the average person would not want the government meddling with: Revealing personal photos.
In other words, , 鈥淐an the government secretly access Americans' naked selfies?鈥�
According to Snowden, the answer is yes.
"If you have your email somewhere like Gmail, hosted on a server overseas or transferred overseas or at anytime crosses outside the borders of the United States, your junk ends up in the database,鈥� he said.
"Even if you send it to somebody within the United States, your wholly domestic communication between you and your wife can go from New York to London and back and get caught up in the database,鈥� he added.
Online, the interview was praised as an entertaining way to make a difficult subject understandable, without condescending to the public. 聽
We shouldn鈥檛 change our online behavior because of government surveillance.
Having satisfied his 鈥� and his audience鈥檚 鈥� curiosity about the government鈥檚 access to private digital communications, Oliver asked Snowden if Americans should therefore stop taking racy photos and sending them via the Internet.
The former contractor was clear: Absolutely not.
鈥淵ou shouldn鈥檛 change your behavior because a government agency somewhere is doing the wrong thing,鈥� Snowden said. 鈥淚f we sacrifice our values because we鈥檙e afraid, we don鈥檛 care about those values very much.鈥�