Yeah, that’s the eww part :( I hate when I find great memes and I know exactly the friend to share them to… and I can’t DM them.

Especially if it’s animated. Easy enough to change the extension on PC to a PNG without issue yet. But anything too large to screenshot, or with multiple frames? Many a DND meme have I let pass by

Sure, it sounds like he has your approval, and the approval of people in the privacy movement, who would use the term Hero. I accept that.

As for what the word ‘hero’ means to you, and whether I value those same things, then the answer is yes:

Do I think he did a moral act that aligned with his principles, motivated by compassion for others? Did he forsee what it would cost him and do it anyway because he believed it was the right thing to do, no matter how hard? Yes, and yes.

…I just don’t use the word ‘hero’ to describe this, which is what OP asked.

The word has become a simplified symbol to me, and if anything, feels less powerful than acknowledging the real sacrifice he made in the name of his principles.

Without acknowledging that nuance, ‘Hero’ apparently puts him in the same category as housefire-puppy-rescuers, and what he did was much more deliberate. He wasn’t emotionally impulsive; he was fully cognisant of the risk he was taking and made the decision to do it anyway.

‘Hero’ is a word other people give you, in reverence. He may be a hero of the privacy movement, sure. But the audience at large that he was speaking for does not consider him a hero (and I don’t use the term myself), thus for both I say no. I’m not from the US, so I’m not one of the people he sacrificed for; so I answered with his audience’s response (or lack thereof) in mind.

‘Do you think there are people who consider Snowden a hero’ is not the question I was answering, because the answer to that would always be yes, of any public figure.

I think the difference in your hypothetical is that people would care that he tried. But inventing a scenario to put words in the mouth of a stranger has no relevance to the reality I’m commenting on.

Think of me as you wish. I answered the question in good faith, and that’s enough for me.

I don’t personally believe in ‘heroes’ and ‘villians’. I think it’s a very rudimentary way to view the world, as if through the lens of a storybook. We have deeply corrupt and selfish people causing harm, we have considerate and compassionate people fighting for their principles. Most people are some measure of both.

Reducing people to Hero and Villain frequently excuses us any responsibility of self-reflection, as we can simply call ourselves ‘Good’ and justify unethical acts in the name of Goodness. It reduces the world down to in-group and out-group binaries, and then devastates us when we learn that a Hero has, as a fallible human, also done harmful things. It also denies Villians any opportunity to change for the better.

If you believe that Hero is an objective trait one can achieve, but that social approval is not how one achieves it, we have very different views on humanity and ethics.

‘Hero’ is a term of social worship for those that enact change.

Do I think he did a moral act that aligned with his principles, motivated by compassion for others? Did he forsee what it would cost him and do it anyway because he believed it was the right thing to do, no matter how hard? Yes, and yes.

But he’d only be a ‘hero’ if anybody actually cared enough to do anything about it, making him a symbol of social change that people would be grateful for him instigating.

Instead, he falls victim to the same traps as those who self-immolate outside buildings to make their point: a spectacle of sacrifice, exchanged for confused apathy from those he claimed to stand for.

That really sucks. He was trying to make a real difference. He had to flee his home forever, because of the cost of him trying to save it.

‘Common sense’ usually means ‘I was taught this young enough that i don’t remember learning it, and therefore treat the knowledge as instrinsic’

Like the only reason it’s Common Sense not to put metal in a toaster is because of warnings from others about it. It’s not like our species evolved al9ngside toasters.

A lot of kids out there are neglected and taught to obey instructions, but not why those instructions matter, what they do, or the comprehension needed to optimise them.

The trick is that ‘w’ represents an actual double-U vowel sound in Welsh. Not remotely surprised that’s what was picked up

4 hours paid work, 1hr unpaid lunch, four hours paid work, home. Paid for 8hr, but on site for 9hr.

Unpaid 1hr lunchbreak. Pretty common today to work 8-5 in a 4:4

My favourite is when sheets are tucked in tight and straight and even and flat; with NO WRINKLES and NO EDGES and I slip into bed like a letter into an envelope. Especially if I just showered and the sheets are clean too

Mail me to dreamland snnzzzzzzzzzz

Yes I also get mad about thin floppy empty duvet

…because I also have sensory issues