Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance, Interview with Edward Snowden
April 6, 2015 5:39 PM - Season 2, Episode 8 - Subscribe
This week:
An extra-long episode of Last Week Tonight.
Iranian nuclear talks, with John Kerry, the Beau Rivage Hotel and the Inglorius Fonkers. Real democracy makes inroads in Nigeria. President Obama goes to Utah, but hasn't been to South Dakota, so LTW produced a tourism video featuring "hobo George R.R. Martin." Main story: Government surveillance (YouTube 33m), plus interview with Edward Snowden. (Oliver: "HO-LEY SHIT. HE ACTUALLY CAME. EDWARD FUCKING SNOWDEN!") MeFi
The first part of the interview was cringe-inducing. It's the same feeling I got from watching The Office (UK). I get Oliver's tactic but, man, I hope somebody gave Snowden a drink afterwards. That must have been painful. Oliver did a good job.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 6:27 PM on April 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 6:27 PM on April 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
Oliver did a terrible job. His questions were mostly stupid and confrontational in a way that didn't make much sense. If I was Snowden, I would have told him to fuck off and left.
posted by Falconetti at 7:25 PM on April 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Falconetti at 7:25 PM on April 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think you guys are looking for a Meet the Press interview on a Daily Show kind of format, which seems like a recipe for disappointment.
posted by Justinian at 7:32 PM on April 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 7:32 PM on April 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
"The entire state of Florida?"
*SCRUNCH*
Seriously, I'm sure Snowden knew exactly what he was getting into, which is why John did the whole Will I Be Stood Up schtick. It was a real possibility.
But Snowden was a good sport and in the end, John was leading him like a pied piper leading on a small child, to see the real thing Americans care about. And the magic was that it was really visible in Snowden's eyes. There was a point where he got it, and he wasn't pissed off at all; he saw that Oliver really had a point. Gears started to turn.
It wasn't anything like the humiliation game Colbert staged for representatives foolish enough to appear for Better Know a District. Snowden lives in a sketchy space and that had to be met head-on. But then, sketchy or not, do you know where your dick pics are? Because Snowden has some ideas on that.
posted by localroger at 7:41 PM on April 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
*SCRUNCH*
Seriously, I'm sure Snowden knew exactly what he was getting into, which is why John did the whole Will I Be Stood Up schtick. It was a real possibility.
But Snowden was a good sport and in the end, John was leading him like a pied piper leading on a small child, to see the real thing Americans care about. And the magic was that it was really visible in Snowden's eyes. There was a point where he got it, and he wasn't pissed off at all; he saw that Oliver really had a point. Gears started to turn.
It wasn't anything like the humiliation game Colbert staged for representatives foolish enough to appear for Better Know a District. Snowden lives in a sketchy space and that had to be met head-on. But then, sketchy or not, do you know where your dick pics are? Because Snowden has some ideas on that.
posted by localroger at 7:41 PM on April 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
Rorgy's comment about the show from the Metafilter thread. Definitely worth reading.
posted by ericthegardener at 8:28 PM on April 6, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by ericthegardener at 8:28 PM on April 6, 2015 [7 favorites]
I thought that putting this debate in terms of dickpics was actually brilliant, and yeah, I agree with localroger that Edward Snowden understood the value of that. "I guess I never thought about putting it in the context of your junk." It's another example of John Oliver using his platform not just to make you laugh at the political process, the way Jon Stewart does, but to try to push it forward one small step.
I thought it was a lot of fun as well to see John Oliver doing some classic, Daily Show style correspondent work.
posted by malapropist at 8:29 PM on April 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
I thought it was a lot of fun as well to see John Oliver doing some classic, Daily Show style correspondent work.
posted by malapropist at 8:29 PM on April 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
Who needs Hot Pockets when there are peroshki ?
posted by ShooBoo at 8:56 PM on April 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ShooBoo at 8:56 PM on April 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
When Oliver says it's totally believable that Snowden would want to show the pic to the camera...insanely funny joke right there.
posted by dogwalker at 9:49 PM on April 6, 2015
posted by dogwalker at 9:49 PM on April 6, 2015
Oliver did a terrible job. His questions were mostly stupid and confrontational in a way that didn't make much sense. If I was Snowden, I would have told him to fuck off and left.
I think he held Snowden's feet to the flames really very well and for things that made sense. Like if he didn't read everything before turning them over to journalists, how can he be sure that what he's handing over can't hurt America? It's a fair question. If he gets the credit for the good, he has to accept accountability for the bad.
posted by inturnaround at 10:15 PM on April 6, 2015
I think he held Snowden's feet to the flames really very well and for things that made sense. Like if he didn't read everything before turning them over to journalists, how can he be sure that what he's handing over can't hurt America? It's a fair question. If he gets the credit for the good, he has to accept accountability for the bad.
posted by inturnaround at 10:15 PM on April 6, 2015
Telling Snowden he has to have read every single page of the material he stole is as silly as when people attacked representatives that voted for the PPA because they did not read every single word of the bill. It is not possible for a single human to read and process everything, which is why reasonable people understand that you sometimes need a team of reliable and informed individuals to help, act as your proxies, summarize material for you, etc. That is what Snowden did when he passed off the materials to a team of responsible journalists.
Oliver's damning piece of evidence was the NYT published one slide that wasn't redacted properly. Do you think that Snowden should have been personally overseeing whoever prepared that slide at the NYT? One mistake out of a mountain of material that has been slowly and deliberately released isn't much of a "gotcha," despite Oliver's crowing.
Oliver's rants seem to be shifting from attempting to move the viewership to react to a problem, to now instead pandering to his viewership. That is fine, if Oliver just wants to be an entertainer, but if he wants to be something more, which I think he is capable of, then he needs to lead and educate people, not cater to them.
posted by Falconetti at 9:39 AM on April 7, 2015
Oliver's damning piece of evidence was the NYT published one slide that wasn't redacted properly. Do you think that Snowden should have been personally overseeing whoever prepared that slide at the NYT? One mistake out of a mountain of material that has been slowly and deliberately released isn't much of a "gotcha," despite Oliver's crowing.
Oliver's rants seem to be shifting from attempting to move the viewership to react to a problem, to now instead pandering to his viewership. That is fine, if Oliver just wants to be an entertainer, but if he wants to be something more, which I think he is capable of, then he needs to lead and educate people, not cater to them.
posted by Falconetti at 9:39 AM on April 7, 2015
I found the interview surprisingly enlightening. I was surprised with how well considered Snowden's actions were, or at least came across in the interview. Which says to me that the media has done a terrific job of making Snowden seem like kind of a schlub who released the documents without really thinking things through. I have been in support of Snowden's actions all along, but had been under the impression he was at least somewhat hapless and in over his head. While the latter may still be true, I feel like the media led me astray in who was the person behind the leak.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 6:05 PM on April 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by [insert clever name here] at 6:05 PM on April 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Bonus clip: Snowden and Oliver discuss password security
posted by Gary at 8:34 AM on April 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Gary at 8:34 AM on April 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
ARGH I just noticed now I posted the wrong link! Here is the Government Surveillance piece from the official channel, with Snowden interview: YouTube.
posted by JHarris at 6:31 PM on April 11, 2015
posted by JHarris at 6:31 PM on April 11, 2015
The first half of that Times Square footage is just gut-wrenchingly depressing, especially when Jon showed it to Snowden.
posted by schmod at 9:03 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by schmod at 9:03 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by Dr. Zira at 5:59 PM on April 6, 2015 [1 favorite]