Does anyone besides me have an issue with Obama criticizing Sony? Not saying Sony made the right or wrong decision; though when there was the "Batman" movie massacre a few years ago the Studio caught heat for their "violent" movie. But you have a private company faced with international terror threats. And none of this was a secret. Don't you think a "strong" leader would have proactively gotten involved and lent a guiding hand rather than criticizing a movie studio after the fact? This is national security - take a stance and be responsible rather than commenting afterwards when the decision is out of your hands.
In this case, it was the movie theater chains that actually pulled the plug. But I do think Sony was somewhat compliant in all this - to some degree. President Obama was probably just doing what presidents do (either party) and that is to just rattle a sword or to say something presidential. I agree with his statements that we (the U.S. public) should not be dictated to -by a dictator of an unfriendly nation.
The really strange part of all of this is that in 100 years, school kids will be reading about Seth Rogen and a controversial comedy movie in their history books. Probably in a chapter following the Monica Lewensky episode! We live in strange times!
I wish that Sony would release the film to the independent "art house" type cinemas like those that had the stones to show films like "the Last Temptation of Christ" and others. They won't make any money, but I think free-thinking folks should have the opportunity to see the movie.
No I have a real problem with the movie chains that panicked and Sony. Period.
I'm not saying Sony/Theaters did the right thing; but they were in a no win situation. Just saying that with a Cyber as well as real terror threat the government should have been involved from the beginning - not just critical on the back end. What if the owners of the WTC had a terror threat prior to 9/11. Should they have been allowed to shut the building down; and then have been criticized afterwards? I don't think so. This threat was not known only to SONY>
There is no real threat! That is the problem in a nutshell. North Korea engages in all kinds of ridiculous hyperbole.
It is kind of like those people who wanted our borders sealed because of an ebola panic. Oh wait.
Again; this is not so long after a movie theater was shot up by a local madman. If one person died at the movies SONY would have caught hell. I just don't think they should have been left to make the decision (right or wrong) to then be criticized. This was a very sophisticated cyber hack. I didn't say the movie should have been shut down - but if the gov't now speaks out that this was a credible threat and is considering what type of action they will now take against N Korea they should have been involved sooner. I think they sort of threw SONY under the bus
my understanding is that sony had nowhere to show the movie since all of the theaters canceled showing it. i also heard sony say they were trying to get netflix to show it but they declined too. right now sony is trying to figure out how to show the movie.
with that said, i also think the hackers have alot of very damaging data that could hurt sony badly (possibly legally). sony is not a government they are a business, protecting the business is #1 priority, not free speech.
last year or this year sony was trying to spin off the entertainment group but they put it on hold. that also could be part of the reason sony has acted the way it has.
edit
as far as the threat, i had told a buddy i interpreted the quote as a threat to sony not to the movie chains or the usa. it seems today there are quotes coming out that that is the case.
[Edited on 12/20/2014 by LeglizHemp]
Does anybody have issue with Sony producing this movie in the first place?Threatning the leader of a hostile nation?They could have easily made up the character,and the country.
Maybe it's just me,but I see fault right from the get go.
[Edited on 12/20/2014 by rongabbard]
Does anybody have issue with Sony producing this movie in the first place?Threatning the leader of a hostile nation?They could have easily made up the caracter,and the country.
Maybe it's just me,but I see fault right from the get go.
You must be joking? Please tell me you are! It is a frickin comedy farce film. Threatening the leader of a hostile nation? Oh brother that is silly.
I kind of changed my mine on that aspect when I found out that Kym gets killed in the movie. I can get the N Koreans feeling this is a truly hostile gesture. If Korea made a movie and Obama was lynched and hung I think their would have been a lot of anger in America
I can hardly take you seriously that is for sure.
WASHINGTON - If you're having a hard time keeping track of the multitude of threats issued by North Korea in the last few weeks, you're not alone: Kim Jong Un's young regime is on a seemingly endless tear of warnings and provocations.
From threats ofa nuclear holocaust to artillery strikes near disputed borders, here are the latest shots across the bow from the Hermit Kingdom, beginning with those that followed international sanctions over Pyongyang's third nuclear test in February:
1. We now have "lighter and smaller" nukes, and we're not afraid to use them against the United States.
2. Are you ready for the silent treatment? We just cut our military hotline with South Korea.
3. We also just tore up all previous non-aggression pacts with South Korea.
4. In response to these U.N. sanctions, we're going to "exercise the right to a pre-emptive nuclear attack."
5. We're ready for "all-out war."
6. We just invalidated the 1953 amristice, so anything's fair game.
7. Seriously, that armistice agreement has been invalidated.
8. Now we're sharply increasing the number of training flights for our fighter-jets.
9. Not impressed? How about we turn South Korea's Baengyeong Island into a "sea of fire"?
10. Now we're conducting live-fire drills near a disputed maritime border.
11. Just FYI, our military personnel are standing by to "annihilate the U.S. imperialist aggressors."
12. At this very moment, all of our citizens are singing a song about wiping out the "U.S. imperialists."
13. We're so serious about going to war that we conducted a practice drone strike.
14. That's it: We're conducting air-raid drills.
15. We will order "strong military counter-action" if the U.S. conducts more B-52 bomber sorties.
16. Seriously, we'll destroy your military bases in Japan and Guam if you fly one more B-52 bomber around here.
What I posted above is from nearly 2 years ago. I could post a whole host of other crazy rantings including them calling Obama a wicked black monkey, their response to Bush calling them part of the axis of evil, their threats in July of 2013 and on and on. You do realize that we somehow survived Team America mercilessly skewering North Korea in 2004?
Does anybody have issue with Sony producing this movie in the first place?Threatning the leader of a hostile nation?They could have easily made up the caracter,and the country.
Maybe it's just me,but I see fault right from the get go.You must be joking? Please tell me you are! It is a frickin comedy farce film. Threatening the leader of a hostile nation? Oh brother that is silly.
No it's not silly. SONY is at fault for making a movie about a topic that should be off limits completely, unless they wanted to create a fabricated country and fabricated president. Do you think any of our NATO ally countries would think it was funny if the movie was about assassinating one of their leaders, ie Angela Merkel of Germany? Or one of the British Royals, or France? Would they think it was funny? I doubt it.
It is insensitive, inflammatory, inappropriate for any country to have a theme of assassinating another country's leader. If any other country made the film and used one of our leaders as the subject, would it still be funny? Oh no it would then be a national security issue. Well that's what it is to Korea.
With regards to the cyber threat, the Koreans have a clandestine group called Bureau 21 which is like one of our clandestine cia rogue groups that you never hear about. However, Korea has offered and wants to help find out who did it, WHY won't the US work with them to help find out who the perps were? No their answer is oh Sony lost money at the box office, so Korea should reimburse them that.
It is almost like a national declaration of war against Korea. Make a movie threatening a current President's life? What's wrong with these people?
[Edited on 12/21/2014 by gina]
Does anybody have issue with Sony producing this movie in the first place?Threatning the leader of a hostile nation?They could have easily made up the caracter,and the country.
Maybe it's just me,but I see fault right from the get go.You must be joking? Please tell me you are! It is a frickin comedy farce film. Threatening the leader of a hostile nation? Oh brother that is silly.
Exactly! Not only is this film a farce-comedy, but the two "assassins" are portrayed as bungling and inept morons!
Had this film BEEN a dramatic narrative, that would have been protected in the U.S. under freedom of expression. Our own government tolerates films that promote dissension towards it. Further - we do not initiate cyber attacks of nations that produce anti-U.S. expression.
Kim Jung Un should sit down with Seth Rogen and Dennis Rodman and burn a fatty while watching this movie! 😉
Rusty you are missing the point, it is the subject matter of the film that is wrong. The movie calls for an assassination attempt on a current world leader, doesn't matter if the people they would send are idiots and could never accomplish it, to suggest an agency or group would try to recruit people to carry out such an act is what the issue is, and again, if it was about any NATO ally President, they would not find it funny. If another country did a movie suggesting something like that for this country, nobody in the Pentagon would find it funny.
It's this one way street, if we do not like a country, it's leader or people, we feel it is fine to humiliate them, threaten them etc. etc. It is just plain wrong.
Mike Myers might be next on the hit list...
http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/21/7430205/watch-dr-evil-mock-sony-pictures-and-north-korea-on-snl
Does anyone besides me have an issue with Obama criticizing Sony? Not saying Sony made the right or wrong decision; though when there was the "Batman" movie massacre a few years ago the Studio caught heat for their "violent" movie. But you have a private company faced with international terror threats. And none of this was a secret. Don't you think a "strong" leader would have proactively gotten involved and lent a guiding hand rather than criticizing a movie studio after the fact? This is national security - take a stance and be responsible rather than commenting afterwards when the decision is out of your hands.
It's his natural way. To blame others in a condescending manner while deflecting either blame or responsibility.
Rusty you are missing the point, it is the subject matter of the film that is wrong. The movie calls for an assassination attempt on a current world leader, doesn't matter if the people they would send are idiots and could never accomplish it, to suggest an agency or group would try to recruit people to carry out such an act is what the issue is, and again, if it was about any NATO ally President, they would not find it funny. If another country did a movie suggesting something like that for this country, nobody in the Pentagon would find it funny.
It's this one way street, if we do not like a country, it's leader or people, we feel it is fine to humiliate them, threaten them etc. etc. It is just plain wrong.
Naturally you, as a Muslim, do not highly value the notion of freedom of expression.
Anyone remember the opening of Naked Gun in 88? Oh gosh, how did we ever survive this? They did not even change the names. Should have been a world crisis for sure.
Anyone remember the opening of Naked Gun in 88? Oh gosh, how did we ever survive this? They did not even change the names. Should have been a world crisis for sure.
Good times; funny movies. Just a different time then when nuclear weapons weren't proliferating to the third world and terrorism wasn't as rampant
I get that hacking Sony is not an act of war, but how is threatening a 9/11-esque attack on theater-goers anything less than terrorism?
When it comes from North Korea, that's how. They issue threats EVERY DAY, most recently against the White House itself, and the US in general...
I suppose the Sony bosses are now huddled in a bunker somewhere considering relocating their US-based operations outside the country and not doing any business in the US at all after this recent threat:
"Whoever challenges justice by toeing the line of the biggest criminal U.S. will never be able to escape merciless punishment."
Do we know if the good people of Mexico have seen this threat? Might solve the border issues...I'd be surprised if anyone still wants to come to the US and live under that kind of threat from North Korea. Scary stuff.
[Edited on 12/23/2014 by gondicar]
I kind of changed my mine on that aspect when I found out that Kym gets killed in the movie. I can get the N Koreans feeling this is a truly hostile gesture.
I don't. The movie is a comedic farce. It was made by an entertainment company, and the US gov't had no role in its making or in developing its content. There is no reasonable justification whatsoever for a nation to think that a movie of this nature is a "truly hostile gesture". That is ridiculous on its face.
If Korea made a movie and Obama was lynched and hung I think their would have been a lot of anger in America
Well, they do threaten destroy the White House and nuke the entire US on a daily basis. So I guess making a movie about it instead of issuing official statements would make them scarier? Heck, there are plenty of people right here in the US posting pictures and videos of Obama and other US presidents being lynched and hung, no need to import that kind of thing from North Korea in order to make people angry.
[Edited on 12/23/2014 by gondicar]
Does anyone besides me have an issue with Obama criticizing Sony? Not saying Sony made the right or wrong decision; though when there was the "Batman" movie massacre a few years ago the Studio caught heat for their "violent" movie. But you have a private company faced with international terror threats. And none of this was a secret. Don't you think a "strong" leader would have proactively gotten involved and lent a guiding hand rather than criticizing a movie studio after the fact? This is national security - take a stance and be responsible rather than commenting afterwards when the decision is out of your hands.
It's his natural way. To blame others in a condescending manner while deflecting either blame or responsibility.
And for others the natural way to to criticize and blame Obama no matter what. SSDD
Do we know if the good people of Mexico have seen this threat? Might solve the border issues...I'd be surprised if anyone still wants to come to the US and live under that kind of threat from North Korea. Scary stuff.
Sarcasm noted, point taken, but let's at least acknowledge that, this time, it was much more than empty threats and typical rhetoric. The cyber attack was very successful not only at face value but also in terms of legitimizing the threats that followed. So what's the formula we use here, say if 1 in every 1000 threats from DPNK are acted upon do we stop dismissing them as hollow? I think the fact that they acted this time changes everything.
I would certainly NOT acknowledge any such thing. They have zero capability of being a threat to movie theaters in the United States. That is quite silly.
I have been thinking about suggesting a boycott of North Korea. But I can't think of one single thing that they make or export! 😉
Do we know if the good people of Mexico have seen this threat? Might solve the border issues...I'd be surprised if anyone still wants to come to the US and live under that kind of threat from North Korea. Scary stuff.
Sarcasm noted, point taken, but let's at least acknowledge that, this time, it was much more than empty threats and typical rhetoric. The cyber attack was very successful not only at face value but also in terms of legitimizing the threats that followed. So what's the formula we use here, say if 1 in every 1000 threats from DPNK are acted upon do we stop dismissing them as hollow? I think the fact that they acted this time changes everything.
I would certainly NOT acknowledge any such thing. They have zero capability of being a threat to movie theaters in the United States. That is quite silly.
Ditto.
Does anyone besides me have an issue with Obama criticizing Sony? Not saying Sony made the right or wrong decision; though when there was the "Batman" movie massacre a few years ago the Studio caught heat for their "violent" movie. But you have a private company faced with international terror threats. And none of this was a secret. Don't you think a "strong" leader would have proactively gotten involved and lent a guiding hand rather than criticizing a movie studio after the fact? This is national security - take a stance and be responsible rather than commenting afterwards when the decision is out of your hands.
It's his natural way. To blame others in a condescending manner while deflecting either blame or responsibility.
And for others the natural way to to criticize and blame Obama no matter what. SSDD
Not no matter what. Just when he does things worthy of being criticized. Which is unfortunately all the time.
[Edited on 12/23/2014 by dougrhon]
Does anyone besides me have an issue with Obama criticizing Sony? Not saying Sony made the right or wrong decision; though when there was the "Batman" movie massacre a few years ago the Studio caught heat for their "violent" movie. But you have a private company faced with international terror threats. And none of this was a secret. Don't you think a "strong" leader would have proactively gotten involved and lent a guiding hand rather than criticizing a movie studio after the fact? This is national security - take a stance and be responsible rather than commenting afterwards when the decision is out of your hands.
It's his natural way. To blame others in a condescending manner while deflecting either blame or responsibility.
And for others the natural way to to criticize and blame Obama no matter what. SSDD
Not no matter what. Just when he does things worthy of being criticized. Which is unfortunately all the time.
[Edited on 12/23/2014 by dougrhon]
Hey, I see what you did there. You agreed and disagreed all at the same time! So clever. 😉
Silly? I wish I could have asked you guys a week ago if you thought it was silly the idea of North Korea pulling off a cyber attack of the magnitude they did? Followed by threats -- empty or not -- that ultimately resulted in the losses that it did?
I don't want to come off as any less patriotic as you guys, but I think you're being a bit naive to think that North Korea is so crippled with respect to their capabilities. And what they can't do themselves, I'm sure they can afford to outsource.
"the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims."
Call it what it is.
Well seeing they had a well publicized cyber attack on South Korea back in March of 2013 and cases of simliar stuff before that your assumption that I would have presumed they were incapable of a cyber attack on Sony would be misguided. There is nothing new here. They are not a threat to movie theatres here. I would go see the movie in an instant without the slightest of hesitation.
Silly? I wish I could have asked you guys a week ago if you thought it was silly the idea of North Korea pulling off a cyber attack of the magnitude they did? Followed by threats -- empty or not -- that ultimately resulted in the losses that it did?
I don't want to come off as any less patriotic as you guys, but I think you're being a bit naive to think that North Korea is so crippled with respect to their capabilities. And what they can't do themselves, I'm sure they can afford to outsource.
"the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims."
Call it what it is.
Well seeing they had a well publicized cyber attack on South Korea back in March of 2013 and cases of simliar stuff before that your assumption that I would have presumed they were incapable of a cyber attack on Sony would be misguided. There is nothing new here. They are not a threat to movie theatres here. I would go see the movie in an instant without the slightest of hesitation.
Ditto.
