John Oliver went to Moscow to interview Edward Snowden. In this video, Oliver shows himself to be ‘real’ journalist. I mean, he didn’t hold back on the punches. But he also was able to really reflect the American people (kinda sadly) and have Snowden break down the IT technobabble into something that the average American can deal with, “Can the government see my junk?”
The public comments on the youtube video and various other sources were very telling. The comments were basically “Edward Snowden is a traitor” or “Edward Snowden is a true American”.
The answer, of course, is Edward Snowden is a traitor. But he is a traitor in kinda the same way that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were traitors to England. They (and Snowden) rejected a government that was not responsible to the people.
I would like to illustrate this with a story. It’s from one of my favorite science fiction authors.
“I would like to tell you a story, Admiral Laaantu,” he said quietly, and Lantu looked up in astonishment sufficient to penetrate even his despair as, for the first time ever, Kthaara spoke directly to him.
“Centuries ago, on Old Valkha, there was a khanhar—a war leader. His name was Cranaa’tolnatha, and his clan was sworn to the service of Clan Kirhaar. Cranaa was a great warrior, one who had never known defeat in war or on the square of honor, and his clan was linkar’a ia’ Kirhaar, Shield-Bearer to Clan Kirhaar. Clan Tolnatha stood at Clan Kirhaar’s right hand in battle, and Cranaa was Clan Kirhaar’s shartok khanhar, first fang of all its warriors, as well as those of Clan Tolnatha.
“But the Khanhaku’a’Kirhaar was without honor, for he betrayed his allies and made himself chofak. None of his warriors knew it, for he hid his treachery, yet he spied on those who thought themselves his farshatok, selling their secrets to their enemies. And when those enemies moved against them, he called Cranaa aside and ordered him to hold back the warriors of Clan Tolnatha while he himself commanded Clan Kirhaar’s. Clan Tolnatha was to lie hidden, he told Cranaa, saved until the last moment to strike the enemy’s rear when their allies—including Clan Kirhaar—feigned flight.”
He paused, and Lantu stared at him, muzzle wrinkled as he tried to understand.
“Now, Cranaa had no reason to think his khanhaku’s orders were a lie, but he was a skilled warrior, and when he considered them they made no sense. His forces would be too far distant to intervene as ordered, for by the time messengers reached him and he advanced, the feigned flight would have carried the battle beyond his reach. And as he studied his khanhaku’s commands, he realized that a ‘feigned flight’ was no part of their allies’ plans. The battle was to be fought in a mountain pass, and if they yielded the pass they would be driven back against a river and destroyed.
“All but Clan Kirhaar,” Kthaara said softly, “for they formed the reserve. They would be first across the river’s only bridge, and it was they who had been charged with mining that bridge so that it might be blown up to prevent pursuit. And when Cranaa realized those things, he knew his khanhaku had betrayed him and all his allies. Clan Tolnatha would advance but arrive too late, and it would be destroyed in isolation. Clan Kirhaar would fall back, and his khanhaku would order the bridge destroyed ‘to hold the enemy,’ and thus deliver his allies to their foes. And when the battle was over, there would be none alive to know how his khanhaku had betrayed them.
“But Cranaa had sworn hirikolus to his khanhaku, and to break that oath is unthinkable. He who does so is worse than chofak—he is dirguasha, outcast and outlawed, stripped of clan, cut off from his clan fathers and mothers as the prey of any who wish to slay him. There is no greater punishment for the Zheeerlikou’valkhannaieee. Before we suffer it, we will die at our own hand.
“Yet if he obeyed, Cranaa’s clan would die, and its allies, and the traitor would wax wealthy and powerful upon their blood. And so Cranaa did not obey. He broke his oath of hirikolus—broke it not with proof he could show another, but on the truth he knew without proof. He refused to lead his clan into battle as he was commanded, but chose his own position and his own time to attack, and so won the battle and saved his clan.
“And in doing so, he made himself dirguasha. He could not prove his khanhaku’s treachery, though few doubted it. Yet even had he been able to do so, it would not have saved him, for he had thrown away his honor. He was cast out by his own litter mates, outlawed by the allies he had saved, deprived of his very name and driven into the waste without food, or shelter, or weapons. A lesser warrior would have slain himself, but to do so would be to admit he had lied and cleanse his khanhaku’s name, so Cranaa grubbed for food, and shivered in the cold, and starved, and made his very life a curse upon his khanhaku’s honor. And so, when he was sick and alone, too weak to defend himself, his traitor khanhaku sent assassins, and they slew him like an animal, dragging him to death with ropes, denying him even the right to die facing them upon his feet.
“Thus Cranaa’tolnatha died, alone and despised, and his bones were gnawed and scattered by zhakleish. Yet all these centuries later, the Zheeerlikou’valkhannaieee honor his courage . . . and not even Clan Kirhaar recalls his khanhaku’s name, for they have stricken it in shame. He was a traitor, Admiral Laaantu—but our warriors pray to Hiranow’khanark that we, too, may find the courage to be such traitors if we must.” from Crusade (Starfire Book 1)
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If only we all had the courage to be traitors to our oaths, for the greater good.
edit to add: A few comments on the story. In this story, Kthaara is a member of a cat-like species. Admiral Lantu, early in the story, led a treacherous attack on Kthaara’s people (and his nephew). That’s something against the honor of Kthaara. As shown in the story he tells, the Zheeerlikou’valkhannaieee (what Kthaara’s people call themselves) are a highly honor bound species.
Chofak means, literally, “dirt-eater”. It has come to mean one who is so lost to honor that they do not even recognize it as a concept. Lantu’s people, at the beginning of the book are considered chofak by the Khan’a’khanaaeee (the ruler of all the Zheeerlikou’valkhannaieee). But after Lantu betrays his own people, because they were manipulated, as a species, by one of their own people in the past, Kthaara recognizes that he is not chofak, but honorable in the same fashion as Cranaa.
