The Interview, Sony Hack and North Korea

[Cap'n Hobbes]

Le sigh.... They only have as much power as you let them... And Sony giving into their threats makes me sad....

 

[Vulpes]

From what I'm reading, it's not just the big premiere, but all theaters.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

My quick thoughts.

While threatening 9/11 on movie theaters and hacking isn't exactly a proportional response, nor should we condone it, North Korea does have some right to be upset, in my opinion. The movie looks like it's probably very racially-charged and culturally-insensitive. It also looks really ****ing stupid. So one way or another, we're probably better off as a culture without having The Interview being a thing. However, that can't overlook the free speech issues, as dumb as the speech in question may be.

And when it comes to the leak, I would also much rather we focus on more important things than a North Korea temper tantrum or what Amy Pascal thinks about Angelina Jolie. For example, the fact that we've seen legitimate news leak out like Project Goliath, which is yet another Hollywood attempt to control what happens on the internet.

 

[Cap'n Hobbes]

NK really has no sense of humor... None at all.... At least the Kim's don't in any case....

 

[TWD26]

Looks like Sony is pushing SOPA, I was reading that they are actually fighting back, by DDOSing torrent sites. I'll find the article.

 

[Logan]

Looks like Sony is pushing SOPA, I was reading that they are actually fighting back, by DDOSing torrent sites. I'll find the article.

Maybe Sony was secretly behind piratebay getting shut down.

Shifty bastards.

 

[Phil]

I'm mostly concerned that this will just serve as an example for other groups that take offense to future movies.

"A movie being released we find offensive? Let's get hackers and threaten them with acts of terrorism! It worked for "The Interview", it'll work for us!"

 

[Blaxican]

I had come in here to fight Brandon, but upon reading his post a second time I actually agree with his sentiment for the most part.

I don't know what to say now. Waffles.

 

[Joy Carleec]

My quick thoughts.

While threatening 9/11-

I stopped reading here. Please do not compare 9/11 to anything shy of events like 9/11. It devalues the meaning of the date. Just like CNN using it to compare to the school shooting recently in Pakistan. It's stupid. A closer comparison would be the Boston Bombing. You don't need to make 9/11 a household word to use with everything "bad", it's disrespectful and inaccurate.

/rant over.

Back to the thread.

Giving in to terrorist threats and backing off from your freedom of speach is stupid. Either everything is okay to talk about. Or nothing is. Now that North Korea has excerised its muscle, it's going to feel empowered against US holdings (don't forget they don't seperate state from anything - so it'll be a percieved victory against America/Japan as a whole, not just one company). Not to mention it could encourage other powers to do exactly the same thing.

"Oh a film about China? let's threaten them."
"Oh a film about Vladamir Putin? let's threaten them."
"Oh a film about celebrity y, let's threaten them."

It sets a prescidence that its okay to use violence or blackmail to get what you want.

Even if Sony could have sensitive things released - moreso than usual, they should've bitten the bullet, given the middle finger and lkely gotten praise for standing up to terrorists.

The only other option would be to replace the Kim Jong Un character with some "similar" character, not unlike the Dictator. Oh i wonder who *he* was meant to be.

 

[Andrewza]

Terrorism only works of you let it. It has just worked.

 

[Blaxican]

I stopped reading here. Please do not compare 9/11 to anything shy of events like 9/11. It devalues the meaning of the date. Just like CNN using it to compare to the school shooting recently in Pakistan. It's stupid. A closer comparison would be the Boston Bombing. You don't need to make 9/11 a household word to use with everything "bad", it's disrespectful and inaccurate.

/rant over.

Uh... He's referring to the cyber-terrorists themselves referencing 9/11 in their threat to Sony.

"Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you keep yourself distant from the places at the time."

If you want to blame anyone for evoking 9/11, it should be them.

 

[Joy Carleec]

Uh... He's referring to the cyber-terrorists themselves referencing 9/11 in their threat to Sony.

"Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you keep yourself distant from the places at the time."

If you want to blame anyone for evoking 9/11, it should be them.

Derp. Well CNN have refferenced it repeatedly in situations that are nothing like 9/11. So you could see how i drew this similarity. My bad.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Well, you discovered my secret. I am Wolf Blitzer, so I should be held accountable for CNN's actions.

We'll have more on this on The Situation Room.

 

[EnderM5]

"All the world will denounce the SONY."

I burst out laughing at the above line, I just couldn't hold it in any longer.

That was just like "All your base are belong to us," and "Somebody set up us the bomb." That's the only thing I could think of when reading this threat.

 

[Nameless]

Here in Texas the Alamo Drafthouse theaters will be playing Team America in place of The Interview so my holiday plans have just been upgraded.

 

[BLADE]

As a country and a people we refuse to get pushed around by bullies making idle threats.

lolno

ISIS, Al-Qaeda, The Weathermen (for a more hippie-esque flavor), Baader-Meinhof, the CIA and our own government, sharks and natural disasters (for when the commies were gone.)

We are cowards.

@OP: People here don't have a lot of historical context, do they? Movie premieres like The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ were actually firebombed. Granted this happened in perfidious Gaul, but this hand-wringing about those shifty Norks or whatever says more about our own cultural preoccupations with a rather pathetic and pitiable people than it says about some prospect of a renewed assault on civil liberties --and of course North Korea is the biggest threat to our freedom of speech and not some other stuff that's lately been on the news, amirite?

 

[Blaxican]

--and of course North Korea is the biggest threat to our freedom of speech and not some other stuff that's lately been on the news, amirite?

Agreed, and this really gets my goat.

I mean, come on guys. Don't you know that we can only discuss and be indignant about one topic per year? You have all these people whining about things like... police brutality, the economy, our shitty foreign policy, women and brown peoples' rights, almost as if any of these are as much of a threat to our security as some of the other stuff that's lately been on the news, like climate change.

I vote that, as long as climate change is the #1 threat to mankind, no lesser threats should be discussed or emotionally invested in. Stay focused ya'll.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Theaters are not allowed to show Team America. No reason given: http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2014/12/18/paramount-bans-showing-team-america.html

Agreed, and this really gets my goat.

I mean, come on guys. Don't you know that we can only discuss and be indignant about one topic per year? You have all these people whining about things like... police brutality, the economy, our shitty foreign policy, women and brown peoples' rights, almost as if any of these are as much of a threat to our security as not some of the other stuff that's lately been on the news, like climate change.

I vote that, as long as climate change is the #1 threat to mankind, no lesser threats should be discussed or emotionally invested in. Stay focused ya'll.

The point is, North Korea is not a threat to American freedom of speech. This is another in a long line of American pants-shitting over nothing, while there are actual legitimate free speech issues in America to deal with.

 

[Blaxican]

No one's really made the claim [in here] that they are. This is what people have been more or less concerned about:

However, that can't overlook the free speech issues, as dumb as the speech in question may be.

But since we're on that topic now, I'll go ahead and assert that the precedent of their tantrum is certainly a threat to freedom of speech.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I was referring more to the overall issue of suppression of dissent in North Korea while also acknowledging that the movie looks stupid (and apparently I didn't do a good job at it). The North Korean government really represents no threat to freedom in the United States.