A post from Chuck Wendig, who is absolutely right:
Hackers, which may or may not be connected to North Korea, found Sony’s new film, The Interview, quite disagreeable — so much so that they hacked the unmerciful shit out of Sony (thus releasing emails and scripts and other internal company information, which our news media flocked to like a pack of starving vultures) and threatened terror attacks in the style of 9/11 if the film was released. Some big theater chains understandably capitulated, and then Sony folded like a paper airplane, too.
Were you all aware of that? I was aware of the hacking bit, but not that Sony rolled over like a scared puppy. Chuck then goes on to excoriate Sony for caving to threats, and taking apart arguments that they were justified. He is, as I say, right about all of that.
I also want to pick out commenter Megan:
December 18, 2014 at 10:10 AM // Reply
I agree with [the previous commenter] about the content of the film…probably…but the fact is, this pressure was not a peaceful or democratic protest aimed at Sony. It was not a capitalist decision. The hackers threatened to bomb theaters and KILL the audience that sees the movie. (Yes, they hacked Sony, and while that’s a huge invasion of privacy, I was less concerned about that.) Sony’s decision not to release the movie is capitulating to terrorists. It is letting another nation, a VIOLENT OPPRESSIVE nation dictate what our country, our citizens are allowed to see, or risk actual death by their hands. And not just the audience of that film, but potentially any film viewed in a theater that day. It is a threat to our freedoms.
Shame on Sony, [and] shame on us for not fighting back.
Yes, what she said. I also am ashamed of the Sony executives, and ashamed of our political leaders, whose behavior has led North Korea — North Korea, of all places — to think they can get away with this. And, apparently, be right.