Sony Pictures in Hollywood has been hacked. Nevertheless, their latest film, "The Interview" will now be released on Christmas. We are told that the film is a satire on the assassination of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Un. Our government intelligence is pinpointing North Korea as the source of this hacking. This is a national security problem. We must retaliate.
Hacking is the modern way of attacking enemies. It's a weapon of the digital age, and it can be used by anyone smart enough to utilize their computer skills in this practice. Government secrets can be hacked; business proprietary information can be hacked; individual emails and other private information can be hacked. It's not a very nice activity.
It has happened to the CIA (horrors!), to other government agencies, to important individual officials in our and other governments. It has happened to Target, to Home Depot, to various other American corporations and now to Sony. And now to Sony! It has gone too far. It's an attempt to deprive us of our right to freedom of speech and of expression. It's an attempt to deprive us of our Christmas entertainment.
I do believe in the right of free speech. And I believe in the right of privacy. So I do not support the practice of hacking. But I have a different problem with both hacking and with Hollywood. Let's take Hollywood first.
I like to go to the movies,. Recently I went to see "Gone Girl." I had read the book and found it to be a captivating mystery of what happened to the girl who was gone. It was a well-done book; the movie followed the story, but in Hollywood style, the sexuality and the violence were crudely depicted.
I was completely turned
off and left wondering if there is not
some degree of restraint appropriate for public viewing. What was acceptable in the book was not
acceptable to me on the screen. Must vulgarity be one of the consequences of
our freedom of speech and expression? . It
makes you wonder about the character of the people making these films and
taking part in tthem. American celebrities.
As an aside, moviegoers are also exposed to previews of six or seven comingaattractions. They have one advantage: they let us know we wouldn't want to see the movie being previewed. A disadvantage is that we have to endure more violence and graphic sexual activity. (Besides, if we come late in order to miss this unwanted advertising, we may not find a seat). So much for the quality of Hollywood films. There's always a good foreign film to go to.
Since hacking is a disturbing occurrence that is an attack upon the right to privacy, it should be denounced, right? At least if someone else is doing it to us. No one (individual, government or corporation) wants their dirty secrets revealed to the world. Of course if we're doing it (secretly of course), that's another story. It's necessary for national security.
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