As a lifelong journalist, I hold special regard for freedom of the press and freedom of speech. With those freedoms, however, comes responsibility and that — right from the get-go — is where Sony Corp. blew it.

Why would any sane person think you could make a buddy flick about the assassination of the North Korean dictator — by name — and get away with it? They had enough sense not to make a movie about assassinating Putin or even the Castro brothers. But they couldn’t resist taking on the wacko leader of a nuclear-armed hermit kingdom.

What could possibly go wrong?

Because Sony screwed-up, we now have to pretend to like what is, by all reports, not a very good movie as a matter of standing up for The American Way. We do that because we don’t want to be seen being pushed around by cyberterrorists.

Which cyberterrorists are pushing us around is a little iffy. We are only guessing — and believing the FBI — that the attack on Sony actually came from North Korea. There are also those who think a disgruntled (ex-) employee at Sony is to blame. That in some ways makes a lot more sense than the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The reality of who actually made the attack matters not at this point. We’ve hooked up with the North Korea story and we’re sticking with it. Even if the attack isn’t North Korean in origin, it was made and timed to look that way.

Bailing on the movie was the right call

I think it was a good idea for the big chain theaters to not premiere the movie on Christmas Day. Forget that the “official” terrorism threat was considered non-credible by people who are supposed to know those things. Yet, I can easily imagine some sick person locking onto the event as an excuse for their very own personal war and 15 minutes of fame.

Kind of like the guy who traveled to NYC to kill two cops using killings by cops as his excuse. (My deepest sympathies to the officers’ families and the New York Police Department.)

Suppose the movie had opened on 3,000 screens and one of them exploded? How would you explain that, Mr. Theater Operator? So bailing on the movie was a perfectly valid decision. If art houses want to go ahead — as they did — that’s their right, too. I wonder if any theater insurance got canceled?

I understand that some will say a moron movie is the perfect example of why speech should be protected. We protect even bad and tacky speech that damages international relations and destabilizes the world.

Still, I am not saying that government should stop the movie. Rather, I think Sony should have weighed the possible costs and benefits and made a better choice. That’s not even self-censorship, except in the sense that lots of bad movies don’t get made.

And, yes, I do think our freedoms deserve a more worthy test than a Japanese corporation pissing off their enemy across the Sea of Japan and then hiding behind American power for protection.

photo credit: Photographing Travis via photopin cc