The Snowdenites are winning the argument over government surveillance

On Sunday, Hollywood feted Citizenfour, a documentary feature that portrays Snowden as an earnest patriot. Then Snowden joined Poitras, the director of the film, and Greenwald for a Reddit AMA, during which the former NSA contractor said his only regret about disclosing various national security secrets was that he hadn’t done it sooner. Later this year, director Oliver Stone will release a fictionalized portrait of Snowden that will no doubt further burnish his legend.

Of course, Snowden’s brand of guerrilla civil libertarianism hasn’t been embraced by everyone. As recently as last month, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 63 percent of Americans said they were willing to sacrifice privacy to give the federal government stronger surveillance powers. Yet 32 percent opposed giving up privacy in the name of greater security, a pretty substantial minority. Among adults younger than 30, meanwhile, the split was a tight 48 to 47 percent, with a slight edge to the pro-surveillance camp. In a similar vein, a Pew survey from January 2014 found that 57 percent of younger-than-30 adults felt that the Snowden revelations did more good than harm.

Just as hunting and target shooting are ways gun owners cement social bonds, gaming and following Reddit could serve the same function for surveillance skeptics.