NSA Coworker Remembers Edward Snowden: "A Genius Among Geniuses"

Re:NSA Coworker Remembers Edward Snowden: "A Genius Among Ge... by SkyMarshal on Monday December 16, 2013 @11:12AM (#6915613)

That's the ad hominem fallacy - shoot the messenger, discredit the message by discrediting the messenger even though the two have no logical relation. It's a testament to our educational system that so many people fall for it. Though part of it, I'm sure, is that it simply gives many people a rationale for believing what they already want to believe.

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Re:NSA Coworker Remembers Edward Snowden: "A Genius Among Ge... by mattlutze on Monday December 16, 2013 @12:05PM (#6916066)

The problem, though, is exactly what fidotron describes: without independent validation, we must trust the credibility of the source of a leak, for that leaked information to be considered valid.

If Snowden were a character if ill-repute or questionable morality (outside the question of the morality of leaking intelligence secrets to foreign countries), it requires that you question whether any of the leaked information may have been tampered with.

Once the relevant leaked-upon agency admits to the validity of information, then definitely the messenger's credibility becomes decoupled from the truthiness of the message.

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Re:NSA Coworker Remembers Edward Snowden: "A Genius Among Ge... by sliverstorm on Monday December 16, 2013 @01:51PM (#6916910)

Even if the information can be verified, there can still be questions of things like lies by omission, so knowing if the leaker has an undisclosed agenda can still be valuable.

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