The greatness in what Manning did is that she knew that she was breaking a law and she knew that there was no way she'd be able to avoid punishment and she did so anyway. To say "she broke a law" and "I don't see why Obama should grant a pardon" is not anti-Manning in any way. If anything, it recognizes that she knew what the consequences are when deciding on her actions.
Also, quoting from the first comment by GuardianMod:
> In a note sent to the Guardian after publication of this story, Benedict Cumberbatch said:
> > "I feel my views have been misrepresented. Do I think Manning should be pardoned? Yes. Do I think that's likely to happen? Sadly no. Re Snowdon I said in the interview that the use of threats to life as a reason to erode civil liberties through intrusive government surveillance can also be as dangerous to democracy as the terrorism such actions claim to be preventing. This wasn't printed for some reason."
So I think we're either positing a massive conspiracy where Benedict Cumberbatch appears to be very pro-Manning/Snowden/Assange but isn't, and employs a PR manager (with a distinctive writing style) to keep up that appearance for some reason, or the state of the world in which he actually is.
> The greatness in what Manning did is that she knew that she was breaking a law and she knew that there was no way she'd be able to avoid punishment and she did so anyway.
Manning never intended to get caught. She was not outed on her own will, Adrian Lamo outed her.
> So I think we're either positing a massive conspiracy where Benedict Cumberbatch appears to be very pro-Manning/Snowden/Assange but isn't, and employs a PR manager (with a distinctive writing style) to keep up that appearance for some reason, or the state of the world in which he actually is.
You're suggesting this as if it's only a distant, far-fetched possibility. It isn't -- it is routinely what PR managers do. This is basic stuff. Hell, I've done PR stuff more remarkable than this at my dayjob.
I'm pretty certain that the note sent to the Guardian was for PR reasons too. Generally speaking readers of the Guardian are pro-Wikileaks, it would make sense for Cumberbatch people to send that note to that crowd at this time.
This sort of assumes Manning knew he would get caught, which might have been something he feared but nevertheless hoped to avoid. Another possibility is that he took action with the desire to get kicked out of the military role he was trapped in.
BTW I'm using the male pronoun because all this took place prior to Manning's announcement of changing gender identity. I don't see any logic in extending the new identity backwards in time to before it was adopted, an approach which has made Manning's Wikipedia page much harder to read.
It feels weird to me, too. The military way, when someone is promoted is to say " <current> ( then <former> )". Not sure if that is better than just saying she, unless there is a specific reason he former male identity is relevant. Is I. A given statement.
The greatness in what Manning did is that she knew that she was breaking a law and she knew that there was no way she'd be able to avoid punishment and she did so anyway. To say "she broke a law" and "I don't see why Obama should grant a pardon" is not anti-Manning in any way. If anything, it recognizes that she knew what the consequences are when deciding on her actions.
Also, quoting from the first comment by GuardianMod:
> In a note sent to the Guardian after publication of this story, Benedict Cumberbatch said:
> > "I feel my views have been misrepresented. Do I think Manning should be pardoned? Yes. Do I think that's likely to happen? Sadly no. Re Snowdon I said in the interview that the use of threats to life as a reason to erode civil liberties through intrusive government surveillance can also be as dangerous to democracy as the terrorism such actions claim to be preventing. This wasn't printed for some reason."
So I think we're either positing a massive conspiracy where Benedict Cumberbatch appears to be very pro-Manning/Snowden/Assange but isn't, and employs a PR manager (with a distinctive writing style) to keep up that appearance for some reason, or the state of the world in which he actually is.