I Have Been To The Darkest Corner Summary

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In his essay “I Have Been to the Darkest Corners,” Glenn Greenwald attempts to convince the reader that Edward Snowden did not betray the U.S by leaking top-secret government documents proving that the government is spying on its citizens. He even goes as far as aiming to persuade people into believing that Snowden is actually a hero and martyr for enlightening the general public by focusing on the clear distinction between those in the know (the government) and the common people, who did not know they were being spied on. Charles Duhigg on the other hand, while still dealing with spying, focuses on companies spying on their customers while also touching on a (not so clear) distinction between the companies the consumers. While both essays seem to be about the power struggle between the spy-er and the spy-ee, they are truly about institutions manipulating …show more content…

In both examples, manipulation comes from the extreme control that these institutions exert over the people. Greenwald states that among the files provided to him by Snowden there was a ruling of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court, which is “one of the most secretive [government] institutions” (10). The government kept it a secret that they could and were collecting data from all of its citizens. Government officials already have control and power over citizens, but when they begin to hide their power is when they become manipulative. As Snowden states, the same level of privacy should be share by everyone and it should be one that is “enforced by the laws of nature, rather than the policies of man” (10). When man, and in this case the government, becomes the enforcer of policy an inequality of power becomes evident which may lead to an unjustified control of the less powerful, or

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