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Why It Doesn’t Matter Whether North Korea Hacked Sony
Posted By Daniel Greenfield On December 28, 2014 @ 11:04 am In The Point | 8 Comments
The most important part of the Sony story was never the identity of the hackers. It was how Sony, the media and major theater chains reacted.
If it turns out that the Sony hack was carried out by North Korea, Joe Biden in an Ambien daze, Koko the gorilla or a bored Sony employee, that will be significant to investigators, but it won’t change how major corporations allowed themselves to be bullied into pulling a movie from theaters based on some leaked emails and empty threats.
This isn’t a whodunit. It’s a whydidtheyreacthatway.
The Sony hack consisted of a typical media cycle in which the media first blew up a scandal, sourcing controversial material from the emails from clickhole sites like Buzzfeed and Gawker, taking private information that was illegally hacked and using it to accuse Sony execs of racism. This was behavior just as illegitimate as reprinting private celebrity photos in a previous Hollywood hack.
Once the mission had been accomplished, the media pivoted to calling Sony cowards for pulling The Interview and cheered its release.
This is a typical media scam in which the media creates a scandal and then creates a backlash to the scandal reporting.
But Sony did indeed allow itself to be bullied by a combination of viral stories and hacker threats. So did major theaters who are part of the ironically named NATO.
Paramount cut off attempts to screen Team America World Police.
The larger problem is that this was the tip of the iceberg. China had already bullied Hollywood into favorable portrayal in movies. North Korea was the only remaining safe enemy. Now that’s done too.
Hollywood acts tough when it comes to bashing America, but it’s afraid to take on any actual enemy nations. That’s what the Sony hack showed yet again.
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