December 25th was to be the release of the Seth Rogen, James Franco comedy The Interview. A dark but slapstick look at a fictional assassination attempt on the life of Little Kim…I mean Kim Jung Un, the chubby and somewhat dumpy looking, exalted leader supreme of the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea.
The movie would have probably been a box office bust. However, it offended the despotic leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. Thus it appears that he unleashed his hackers to attack a pretty deserving target, the international media conglomerate Sony. Hackers who appear to be linked by method, software signature and target to the North Korean regime.
The hackers threatened Sony as well as any theater that dared to air the film with attacks and referred to the attacks of September 11th 2011. Of course Sony and every major theater chain pulled the film. It will not be released.
Sadly Sony and the film industry has folded under the threats of a terrorist regime, not for any real humanitarian, ethical or higher motive, but in order to protect their profit margin and investments.
Of course today when certain theaters announced plans to screen the decade old Team America: World Police, a film that was an outstanding parody of Lil’ Kim’s father’s North Korea, Paramount, which holds the rights to that film, like Sony, said no.
The complete surrender of the multinational corporations to terror threats is pathetic. What next? Do we stop showing Tom Hank’s Captain Phillips because Somali pirates threaten us? Do we not show Argo Because Iranian sympathizers threaten us? Do we not show Zero Dark Thirty because Al Qaida threatens us?
Hell, what’s to say that any terrorist with a gripe can now shut down any movie for any reason? After yesterday and today they can do so with impunity, and silence the dissent of the cinema. Imagine if Adolf Hitler had been able to shut down Charlie Chaplin’s The Dictator, or any other film that made comedic satire or fact based interpretation that challenged any terrorist enemy?
I say the hell with them all. The North Koreans. The Islamists, and the media corporations. The first two for just being evil, soulless and terroristic. The last for being soulless, gutless and having no balls. For them even the threat of a loss of profit is enough to shut down a project.
Sadly they have done so for what probably would have been a forgettable flop. But precedent matters and now terrorist, be they state based or other will have no hesitancy to tell any media source what they can produce, or report on.
Worse than 9-11-2001, without a single death the terrorists have won.
Thank you Sony. Thank you Paramount, and thank you all the major American theater chains the refused to air The Interview. You lost the information war and now if anyone choses to defy a terrorist innocent people will die.
Sorry Sony, sorry Paramount, and sorry to all the theater chains that cowardly refused to show either The Interview or Team America. Fuck you. You are cowards more concerned with protecting your profits than anything. Who and what else will you sell out for your profits? Let me guess… nothing. But that was a rhetorical question.
But then, maybe this should teach all of us something about you corporate whores and your ilk. When push comes to shove you have no balls. Thank you for selling all go us out for the sake of profits over principle.
So for tonight that is all…
Peace, if there ever is any, and by the way, since Sony, Paramount, Regal, and so many other film interests have no balls, there won’t be.
Padre Steve+
The Inglorius Padre Steve's World 