A Nation of Cowards? Meet
the New CEO of Sony Pictures: Kim Jung Un
19 December 2014
Global American Series
Have we become a nation of cowards? This week marks the death of courage and
common sense in America. Kim Jung Un, the leader of North Korea is apparently
the new CEO of Sony Pictures since he wanted to bar release of “The Interview” --
and Sony complied. It is a victory for malicious
hackers who can now censor what the rest of us see, even if it is another
mindless flick that uses the same “shoot ‘em up” Hollywood formula that has become
stale standard movie fare.
This mess was self-inflicted. The decision by Sony to make a
movie about an existing leader as an object of an assassination by American CIA
operatives was beyond stupid. Can you
imagine how Russia’s President Putin would react if he were the subject? Who in their right mind thought this was
clever? It was basically “Dumb and
Dumber Go Global.”
Couple that with the fact that Sony was warned to improve
its computer defenses but took no action despite countless reports of global
hacks by Russians, Chinese and even North Korea. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know
that Sony was asking for trouble. It was
poor judgment plus reckless disregard of its proprietary information that led
to the exposure of social security numbers and embarrassing, private
emails. Their CEO should be fired for
gross negligence as well as cowardice.
But it gets worse. When the hackers (which the U.S. thinks
was North Korean but private experts believe that they had inside help from
disgruntled Sony employees) demanded that the movie not be shown, and invoked “9/11”
Sony caved and pulled it from theaters. Never mind that the prospect of a North
Korean actually attacking a theater is about as remote as Ted Cruz becoming the
King of England.
American theater owners who were afraid to show the film –
and Americans who said they would be afraid to go see it -- make me think we
have become a nation of cowards who are easily intimidated by these
criminals. It will only encourage the
bad guys to do it again, and demand even more. We have made ourselves an even
more inviting target.
Even if Sony had chosen to release this mindless “C” movie online
(which is about all they produce these days) —which would have threatened no
one--it would have made the point that we will not be bullied into submission.
As for retaliation against North Korea, there are few
options as they are already under sanctions. Military action would be insane
since North Korean artillery could level Sourth Korea’s capital instantly. In
fact, they would invite a reaction since that would prop up Kim Jung Un, whose
people lack electricity and food, but would support their “dear leader” in
event of a U.S. reprisal.
Sony dug itself into this hole. It will have to live with the
consequences. The message to other companies is simple: Upgrade your computer
security and don’t make mindless movies depicting the death of real people who
can strike back. Because they will.
Next: Looking at the lifting of Cuban sanctions after 50
years….
Michael Fjetland
Author, Better Times Ahead April Fool
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