A P.O.V on "The Interview" an off the cuff declaration of war against N.Korea

12/17/14

OpEd Submission to LA Times.  (Not Accepted)

The LA Times has a running theme,"Company Town," which is an acknowledgement that much of the paper's audience is connected to this industry.  There is an irony in the term, in that it has historically applied to blue collar industries far removed from international, even civilization shaping, impact. This unfolding story has yet to find a simple identifying phrase IE, "The Dreyfus Affair" or "The Cuban Missile Crisis."  Let's try a few provisional ones:  The Interview, Sony Hack, North Korea Blackmail, Sony capitulation, U.S. President escalation, and possibly known by the last chapter, International Cyber Warfare cripples world economy. 

As events unfold, various narratives vie for acceptance, as which prevails affects the course of actual events.  Hollywood has been at this this since its inception.  "Birth of a Nation" was a blockbuster, a breakthrough in technology and artistry, which could have been the headline of the local paper; but it also promoted the most vicious racism of southern states for a half century.  It took time for films to engage in the great debate in this country on taking sides in the developing fascism of the late 1930s, perhaps caused by the major studios not wanting to appear biased by the Jewish ethnicity of owners and often Marxist philosophy of writers.

As "The Interview" story continues it has transformed from what is agreed by critics to be about a third rate farce into a defense of the Western world's most cherished principle, most expansive in our country, that of unfettered freedom of expression.  Yet, lost in the play-by-play reporting is the larger implications of how this will affect our world. Kim Jong un, while not killed, has been transformed into a caricature, one defined by the Sony decision makers whose single interest was a profitable film that promotes the "franchise" of "Stoner sensibility."  Our vaunted freedom of expression is really not as unfettered as advertised; as a comedy about the gang rape of a woman head of state would probably never be "green lit,"

With President Obama's ominous threat against a country possessing both traditional WMD and a capacity to begin a cyber war - where it is our country that is the most vulnerable - we are about to enter uncharted waters. Part of the "stoner mentality" that the film epitomized is that laughter is the ultimate reality, a modern solipsism to avoid actual consequences of inaction,  which as it becomes the dominant cultural norm of the most powerful country, at the very least "attention must be paid."    --------------
12/31/14

To the Letters Editor: LA Times

 

In response to this article:   A Sony Insider, Not N.Korea,  likely responsible for the hack"

Objectively, from the perspective of the DPRK, the government of North Korea, these words of the Commander in Chief of this country that we will"... respond proportionately ... in a place and time and manner that we choose," placed them in imminent* threat of attack by the worlds most powerful country - predicated on a computer breach of a private company that evidence, in doubt then, now shows they did not initiate.  The war mania became widespread, including this newspaper that ignored the President unilaterally taking the world closer to the brink of cyber warfare.  Based on our own standards, military action against us by North Korea would be justified.

The focus of your coverage was the effect on Sony Pictures and the movie industry, fulfilling your role of covering the "Company Town" of Hollywood.  Sadly, this entailed a lack of incisive coverage of the  broader prospective of this unfolding incident that is incumbent on one of our few remaining responsible newspapers.  

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*"Imminent" has been redefined by the CIA as a threat that could be implemented without further action that is observable by the target - This link summarizes the meaning in the context of the U.S. legitimizing a drone attack,  "the memo “redefines the word imminence in a way that deprives the word of its ordinary meaning.”