[bargl]

You are doing the same thing by assuming that Snowden's influence is as vast as that of Christianity. If you compare the percentages of people on the internet VS those who are Christian (at this point in time) you get approximately the same amount sitting at 32-34%. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_by_country http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2012/dec/23/...

Now I know that the internet is going to continue spreading to the point that it is at a much higher population than this, however, we are talking about 2013. Snowden did something awesome, and deserves to be up there in the finalists, but I don't like this sort of attitude that anything Christian has no relevance.

Francis has had a huge affect on many Christians and non-Christians alike because he is attempting to depolarize the Catholic church and better integrate them with the rest of the world. Both people deserve renown for what they've done. So lets not diminish the work of either Snowden or Francis.

[phryk]

You are doing the same thing by assuming that Snowden's influence is as vast as that of Christianity.

It's not "just" about the internet, or even IT - it's the revelation that we are forced into a panopticon, that all of us are spied upon.

Christianity has nothing real at it's base. It's just mythology. Yeah, there are a huge number of people who "believe" it.

In contrast IT shapes just about every damn aspect of our lives. Just about all financial transfers, personal communication, news, etc. etc. are stored on computers of some shape and travel the internet. The internet has enabled the arab spring, international scientific collaboration and many, many, MANY other things.

As a little example of the real impact the Snowden Leaks have, just look at the number of Christians[1] vs. the number of cellphone subscriptions[2]: There's about 2 billion Christians. And about 6 billion cellphone subscriptions. So please don't go yapping about how fucking important some half-dead fairytale is.

[1] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=number%20of%20christia...

[2] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=number%20of%20people%2...

Addendum: Please also note, that the Pope doesn't even represent all Christians but just catholic Christians, of which there's even less than a billion.

Meanwhile, the Snowden Leaks are important to just about everyone. The only people who are unaffacted by this are people who live without any computers.

But hey, if you live with some indigenous tribe in the jungle, you're (probably) in the clear; Until realtime surveillance with satellites becomes cheap enough at least.

[bargl]

>Christianity has nothing real at it's base. It's just mythology. Yeah, there are a huge number of people who "believe" it.

It has historical relevance, the influence of the church throughout history not the stories in the Bible. AKA Inquisition, influence on the Monarchies, crusades, etc.

It has a huge base of believers who listen to a clergy man every Sunday and some (not all) take to heart what he has to say, this is passed down from the head of the church (the pope and cardinals).

It has huge political sway. Just like the revelations that Snowden did.

In contrast, Snowden revealed something of great importance to the First World (which is probably why you are all fired up about it). He pointed out something that really could be disastrous for our nation. However, the adoption and acceptance of Homosexuals in the third world is also important and Francis could have an affect on that.

>There's about 2 billion Christians. And about 6 billion cellphone subscriptions.

And if the poles are to be believed only 50% of Americans care about this. I can guarantee you there are less Bolivians and Haitians (who have cell phones too) that give a crap about NSA Surveillance. Rest assured, I'm in the percentage that cares, but I'm also not going to write off the contributions of Pope Francis. But this isn't as relevant to EVERYONE as you seem to assume. Also, these are very bad metrics for the affect EITHER Snowden or Francis will have on history.

>So please don't go yapping about how fucking important some half-dead fairytale is. This is inappropriate and you were being a dick. Yapping? Seriously? I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are just being silly here...

Edit: TL;DR; Even if you take away the belief system in the Catholic church and the Pope has an affect on a huge number of human beings, and that is really what this is all about...

[phryk]

Even if you take away the belief system in the Catholic church and the Pope has an affect on a huge number of human beings, and that is really what this is all about...

Yes, and it's about how many people are affected, not how many "care" about it.

You don't have to care about the Leaks in order for the revealed programs to affect you. And it's not only the first world, as every spy agency freely siphons any and all "foreign" data they can get their hands on. So third world countries are considered fair game by pretty much all spy agencies and are obviously spied upon (German authorities for instance often repeat the mantra that they spy on Afghani data traffic because terror). Even now the largest part of the third world population has a cellphone and is getting ever more connected.

The catholic church might have a good deal of political sway and lots of followers, but the Snowden Leaks affect as close to 100% of the global population as you'll ever get.

Edit: I'd also like to point out that the influence of the church is dwindling while the influence of digital communication is going to continue to soar.