David Brooks’ column today, “The Solitary Leaker”, describes the lone wolf personality of Edward Snowden, the infamous “leaker” of NSA secrets. In the opening sentences, Brooks describes Snowden as follows:

From what we know so far, Edward Snowden appears to be the ultimate unmediated man. Though obviously terrifically bright, he could not successfully work his way through the institution of high school. Then he failed to navigate his way through community college.

Later in the essay, he decries the state of our culture and the way technology is contributing to that trend:

Though thoughtful, morally engaged and deeply committed to his beliefs, (Snowden) appears to be a product of one of the more unfortunate trends of the age: the atomization of society, the loosening of social bonds, the apparently growing share of young men in their 20s who are living technological existences in the fuzzy land between their childhood institutions and…