Thursday, December 18, 2014

It's only a movie--REALLY?

I would have supported Sony not bending to strong-arm computer hacking tactics of tyrannies which forced the company to cancel the film, The Interview -- a comedic spoof on the attempted assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un by two tabloid figures. How many spoofs of that caricature "leader" does one think are out there in public view? Answer: Many.

With the public and the theaters that could have shown it notified it seems to me adequate security could have been provided and adults could make their own decision whether to see it or not. Giving in to tyrants simply makes tyrannies want to do more tyrannizing. George Orwell (my favorite dystopian writer) could not have named the terrorist group perpetrator of the threat better "The Guardians of Peace" -- yeah right. Just like our George Bush war based on lies in Iraq called the war "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Has one taken a good look at Iraq today over ten years from the Operation? I might use a lot of words to describe it but free is not one of them. Don't you love it when the lions lie down with lambs at least on paper or one hears the fallacious oratorical mendacity of the political lies they speak? Isn't "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" just another euphemism for what it really is: torture. I digress. Let's not mince words. Freedom of speech is the oxygen of this nation that allows it to breathe and me to critique any policy and view anything artistic I want.

Of course, life must be protected but so does our Constitution as it is the life of our nation. When the Jewish Torah (the Law) is aged or burned it is buried in a cemetery as if it were a person. For some, it is considered life itself. I am not religious but that is exactly how I think about our First Constitutional Amendment. I loathe anything that abridges it. It is, I believe, the First Amendment for a reason as it gives life to all the other freedoms we are supposed to enjoy. Moreover, it gave birth to our nation wrapped within its protective amniotic fluid for all time. It is the most important Constitutional guarantee -- the pinnacle and the bedrock upon which all other freedoms exist.

If a human being can think there is nothing that should not be capable of artistic and opinionated expression unless one is yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. I figured out the genius of our Founders in 5th grade. Evidently for Sony that lesson was seemingly not learned very well or subject to conditional restrictions.

I agree with Aaron Sorkin, the producer of "Newsroom," shame on Sony for pulling this film. If I did not want to see it before the brouhaha I want to see it now. Is it really only a movie or is it the life of our nation itself that is at risk!

NOT ANYMORE

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