To President Obama, Sony Pictures, and The World on this Christmas Eve
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001082.html
*Once upon a time* -- not so very long ago, because I can
remember it quite clearly myself -- it was traditional to release
films and shows for Christmas Day that celebrated the underlying
message of peace and hope inherent in Christmas -- a message I believe
we can all appreciate regardless of our religious affiliations,
religious beliefs, or lack thereof. It's not often that I quote the
New Testament or any religious works, but buried down in John
8:7 a key personage is quoted as making a rather profound
statement about "he who is without sin casting the first stone."
And for Christmas, I would assert that this concept especially
applies.
Anyone who truly believes that the celebration of a trash, adolescent
"comedy" focused on assassinating the current (yes, dictatorial,
murdering, evil, vile) leader of North Korea is likely to do anything
other than make matters *worse* for the oppressed populations
there -- well, you're living in the nightmare twin of Fantasyland.
And while none of us would celebrate the mess that the Sony hack has
created for their innocent employees and ex-employees, it is also a
fact that Sony's longstanding abysmal computer security practices left
them wide open for such an attack -- regardless of whoever actually
launched it (and a wide variety of technical observers, including
myself, are highly skeptical that it was actually North Korea, despite
convenient U.S. federal government claims).
So I for one am unwilling to reward Sony for an awful film concept --
I'd categorize *any* film that tried to make light of killing an
actual, living human being that way (no matter how awful that person
might be).
It is also the case that documents revealed in that hack -- there's no
way to ignore them or get them back into the bottle -- have revealed
Sony's complicity in an underground effort to effectively seize
control of Internet freedom of communications, in furtherance of
protecting their own perceived intellectual property rights --
collateral damage to everyone else be damned! Yet another reason not
to reward or celebrate Sony.
So I have a modest suggestion. Instead of paying to see "The
Interview" when Sony launches its limited debut on Christmas Day, head
over to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AFfPsvbyvs (YouTube)
There you will find (at least for now) the entire, uncut, wonderful
1962 presentation of "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol." I've discussed
this marvel in other venues in the past, but for now I'll simply note
that this adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" still
rates among the most popular versions, all these decades later. The
songs being written by the Broadway team of Jule Styne and Bob
Merrill, who shortly thereafter collaborated on "Funny Girl" -- are no
small part of its magic.
My original more extended comments about this program are at this 2011
G+ posting (the video clip linked to that posting appears to no longer
be fully intact):
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LaurenWeinstein/posts/C3DJ5sAY21k
So please. We all know that North Korea is probably the most horrible
place to live on Planet Earth. But don't reward Sony for this awful
mess that they themselves enabled through their own unforced errors.
Don't go out to see their movie. Instead, fire up the Chromecast, or
the Google TV box, or the Roku, or the Amazon Fire, or the smart TV,
and watch "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" on the big screen, from a
beautiful print that TV viewers couldn't imagine ever seeing back in
1962!
Peace to you all for Christmas and this holiday season.
Take care, everyone.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
I am a consultant to Google -- I speak only for myself, not for them.
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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