I think most people are confused at how someone could expect to have their freedom of speech protected in a country controlled by China. Territories controlled by mainland China are not usually the first places you think of when you think "need to flee the US government".
Similarly, I think most people are surprised at the ability of someone in his stated position to gain as much access as he said he has, and also at the reported size of his salary - because they are not familiar with what the salary scale is like in the world of government private contractors.
Having questions is not the same as smearing character.
Sure, they're fair questions in and of themselves. That doesn't mean they're not used as part of unreasonable or just nonsense rhetoric.
Does the person asking them want to start a real discussion about skill- and merit-based hiring practices? I'm sure much of HN is familiar with the argument there is an over-reliance on formal education as prerequisites to employment.
Armchair quarterbacking someone's leak and escape plan is the same sort of story. There is a lot more to consider in that discussion too (maybe he's got a Chinese hookup for forged travel identification), but I don't think the blowhard on the radio actually wants to have either of those discussions.
Having questions is not the same as smearing character.
And 9/11 truthers would tell you they've just asking questions. Blowhard punditry relies on couching their ramblings in "questions" so much an entire south park episode was dedicated to it: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/255329/preview-im-aski... This might be a bit of an odd link for HN, but we're discussing conversational tactics couched as meaningful discourse and I'm always reminded of this as a quintessential example of the difference.
My point is that there's clearly a narrative. Every news station is saying "high school dropout" and "seeking refuge in a communist nation." Those exact words. This is what they always do. Talking points are distributed via the email lists for the democratic and republican parties. The "media" takes these talking points and runs with them. If you really pay attention to the news, it's eery how quickly they all start speaking in unison. Typically, it's one sided, but in this case, both right wing and left wing media are using the same talking points!
When you want to describe someone as a high school dropout, how else do you describe them? Someone who failed to achieve a successful release from a high school?
As for "seeking refuge in a communist nation," it must only be spoken, and not quoted anywhere, because doing a search for "seeking refuge in a communist nation" turns up nothing in Bing, DDG, and Google.
Of course, every new stations was also talking about the "NSA spying" on you, but that's okay.
It isn't very relevant whether a person nearing 30 graduated from high school or got a GED. Actually it's not even that relevant for a 20 year-old. Unless the story is about college admissions or something related, what reason is there to "want to describe someone as a high school dropout"?
The questions betray a high level of ignorance, however.
Clearly, if you have a beef with the US Govt, you have to flee to a communist-country, not because you are a communist, but because those government can better resist the gravitational power of the US government.
People tend to forget that "enemy of the US government" != "enemy of the USA".
China, for all its problems, is not Hell unders dominion of Satan. Neither is the USA heaven under dominion of God.
It's likely your computer runs an OS made by a company founded by a college drop out.
Hong Kong has been more protective of free speech tha n China. I also bet free speech that puts the NSA under a less than favorable light is heavily protected in China.
It's likely your computer runs an OS made by a company founded by a college drop out.
Despite some amazing success stories, I suspect that the public perception of someone who drops out of college (or high school) tends to lean toward assuming marginal intelligence and little aptitude for skilled labor.
I would attribute dropping out of HS/college more to laziness, apathy, or not wanting to be part of the traditional system, not anything related to intelligence. Its not because I know a lot of intelligent HS dropouts, but because I know TON of stupid people with college degrees. I mean like people working minimum wage crap jobs and not trying to change their life, despite having a bachelors degree.
Curiously, in the past few days I have seen several articles about the "hidden economy of unschooled people". I guess the fact that those publications all chose to use the word hidden in the headline echoes what you say, but now that it has been widely reported and is equally fresh in the minds of the public, it is strange to see that they still hold on to those legacy ideals.
It's not curious, it's called "pinning": Articles that are tangentially related to some popular interest topic get readership for that topic as well as the subject of the article itself.
I think most people are confused at how someone could expect to have their freedom of speech protected in a country controlled by China. Territories controlled by mainland China are not usually the first places you think of when you think "need to flee the US government".
Similarly, I think most people are surprised at the ability of someone in his stated position to gain as much access as he said he has, and also at the reported size of his salary - because they are not familiar with what the salary scale is like in the world of government private contractors.
Having questions is not the same as smearing character.