John Oliver and Edward Snowden on surveillance

15 comments on “John Oliver and Edward Snowden on surveillance ”

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1. not DONGHUA LIU 1

   7 April 2015 at 11:52 am

   [r0b: Please pick one name – not this one – and stick with it]

   Did my ears deceive me, or did Radio NZ this morning present this interview as a news story along the lines of “John Oliver put that traitor Snowden on the spot and proved that he hasn’t actually read any of the documents he leaked!”

   On the plus side, I thought “SURELY NOT…” and sought out the entire show online to see for myself, and sure enough a) that didn’t really happen and b) it’s essential viewing.

   I may be completely wrong about Radio NZ’s headline though! I only half-heard it while dejectedly flicking through Freeview channels looking for an alternative to Paul “WHY DO WE NEED POLICE STATIONS ANYWAY????” Henry.
   • peterlepaysan 1.1

     7 April 2015 at 8:41 pm

     To whomever you are, you heard the RNZ headline correctly. The content was meaningless. It was not repeated (VERY unusual for MRpt). Headlines are repeated ad nauseam on RNZ all day.
   • Iron Sky 1.2

     8 April 2015 at 8:52 am

     not DONGHUA LIU,

     You said “Did my ears deceive me, or did Radio NZ….”

     Morning Report with Suzie and Guyon should just be re-branded.

     “The National Party Muppet Show”

     And as for Maggie Barry… opps I mean Kathryn Ryan, maybe they could call that the nine to gloom show. She comes across as all sweet etc but after last elections performance I have a very different view of her…

     The rights have RNZ “nearly” all sown up.

     You can almost here their synapses crackling & calcifying as they the follow the head of news BS NZ free market meme…(just occasionally will they pretend to be “fair”, it keeps us native NZers pacified and happy). Its like listening to children with ADHD. They couldnt string pearls together let alone facts (unless of course its for the cause)

     I suppose thats the penalty of having a cushy job….. actually… how much do they get paid to be parrots that can occasionally ad-lib
2. Arthur 2

   7 April 2015 at 12:47 pm

   Surprise, surprise, Americans don’t know who Edward Snowden is.
3. Alethios 3

   7 April 2015 at 2:45 pm

   I completely lost it when msnbc cut the congresswoman off to cut to the breaking news of Justin Beiber’s arrest.
4. TheContrarian 4

   7 April 2015 at 3:24 pm

   To be honest that was one of my least favourite Oliver pieces.

   I wanted to hear it taken with a little more gravity and a little less levity…given the subject matter.

   (but yeah – the Beiber bit was priceless)
5. Murray Simmonds 5

   7 April 2015 at 3:58 pm

   Absolutely brilliant – thank you so much for the pointer to the post.

   Everyone with a half hour or so to spare should watch this.
6. coaster 6

   7 April 2015 at 4:52 pm

   one of my favourite last week tonight shows. although it explains what is happening in very crude terms this is what people need to here. im not doing anything wrong so have nothing to hide response just doesnt cut it when put this way.
   • Anne 6.1

     7 April 2015 at 8:11 pm

     Unbelievable isn’t it. The interviewees didn’t react until the were fed the story of the Dick Pics. One fella admitted he sent a pic. of his dick to his girlfriend. He wasn’t a happy chappie. 😀
   • McFlock 6.2

     8 April 2015 at 4:51 pm

     Agreed. Even people who don’t understand why other people might send a dick pic to a lover (sucks to be them), everyone can understand that someone with voyeuristic intention might want to sneak a peek or share them around the office.

     People might not get why metadata or routine emails should be free from “benevolent” government surveillance, but the circle of folks who enjoy the thought of their particularly adventurous dick pics being shared around some government office is significantly smaller than the circle of folks who like to send intimate photos to lovers.

     And Snowden’s answer to the “just don’t send dick pics” also sums up the entire concept of freedom and privacy: freedom means freedom to do things you personally might not want to do, and if surveillance stops us doing it then we’re not actually free to do it.
     • McFlock 6.2.1

       8 April 2015 at 4:55 pm

       I also loved the entire “that collects your dick pic if it’s routed through an offshore server. That’s how they extract your dick pic from the database to look at it.” routine. It really forced him to put it in much simpler terms than usual – even if he drops the “dick pic” example, I hope he keeps the clearer language.
7. Jones 7

   8 April 2015 at 7:44 am

   In a population ODing on circuses in the Age of Debauchery, it’s the right context to get the message through. This is a clever piece and an important one to watch.
8. Paul 8

   8 April 2015 at 5:05 pm

   Very disappointing by Oliver.
   Lost a lot of respect for him.
   Snowden is a hero.
   Americans have been dumbed down to pitiful ignorance.
   • McFlock 8.1

     8 April 2015 at 5:36 pm

     yes. And Oliver helped Snowden spell it out for them. He started hard, and got the faux news “hates america” crap debunked, then provided a different angle that is understandable for people who think Snowden runs Wikileaks.
9. Jessica Parsons 9

   8 April 2015 at 8:41 pm

   Brilliant to watch – not sure if it makes me feel better or worse to confirm that the people in the US fail to value Snowden’s contribution and sacrifice as blatantly as the NZers did recently.

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