Was Aaron Sorkin a traitor for what he included in HBO's The Newsroom series last August?

[Electric Monk]

Life imitates art, or is it the other way around?

The word "traitor" is being thrown around a lot here lately since Snowden blew the whistle on what the NSA has been really doing. Sorkin scooped Snowden by almost a year, but under the cover of it being 'fiction'.




edited to add: The Newsroom season two starts July 14, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where that story arc leads

[geek tragedy]

1. No, just guilty of being a hack who peddles fairy tales as the way politics works. nt

[Electric Monk]

2. I love how you watched a 5 minute video clip in under a minute. That's quite a skill!

[geek tragedy]

4. I watched a couple episodes of the West Wing and sat through The American President.

Sorkin's place in the hack hall of fame was guaranteed long ago.

[Electric Monk]

10. That's funny, because I remember The West Wing being quite popular with liberals and democrats

and so do:

imdb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200276/ Rating: 8.5/10 from 25,896 users
tv.com http://www.tv.com/shows/the-west-wing/ user rating 8.9/10
metacritic http://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-west-wing 78%

and I'm sure that includes freepers and other conservative assholes voting against it.

[Logical]

13. LOL, grumpy? n-t

[elleng]

15. Or something like that!

[Tx4obama]

3. Sorkin did NOT steal classified records and equipment like Snowden did. n/t

[progressoid]

8. So did Daniel Ellsberg.

[MgtPA]

14. Thank you.

[frazzled]

5. Um, Sorkin didn't abscond with 4 computers full of documents

that he stole from the government, after signing an oath. He didn't steal anything. He read the newspapers.

He simply narrativized everything we already knew about NSA intelligence gathering -- what we've all known for years. Oh, and he didn't run to China, either.

[backscatter712]

11. So Snowden betrayed an organization of traitors.

The NSA willfully violated the 4th Amendment and destroyed the civil liberties of American citizens.

Excuse me for having all the sympathy in the world for Snowden, and none for the real criminals.

[frazzled]

12. Be careful, your chest is going to get all black and blue

from beating it.

[progressoid]

6. yep. k/r

[still_one]

7. Did Sorkin sign documents to maintain intelligence? I don't think so. Did Sorkin go to China and

Tell them how we were hacking Hong Kong?

I don't think so

If you do not see the difference, then you do not understand what government clearance is about

[elleng]

9. No, because Sorkin presented it as fiction.