Why so much ado about ‘The Interview’?

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Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. Socialist Action is edited, Hollywood, Wall Street, and the White House are internet and small cinemas, of the third-rate comedy “The Interview.” The film is about a plot to assassinate the leader of North Korea. Pyongyang took exception to the idea, and threatened to retaliate, which set off a spate of verbal and cyber warfare.

While there’s much ado about “freedom of expres­ sion,” this has little to do with the case. In fact, thought­ ful defenders of freedom will avoid getting caught up in the question about whether the film “deserves” to be shown. That’s a subordinate point in the real world drama.

The larger issue is actual Hollywood and Washington bullying. It is the reality of their ceaseless efforts to economically punish, and militarily intervene, against any country or any people who defy the Empire—and who try to exercise national sovereignty. Moreover, al­ though Obama has ordered new economic sanctions against North Korea, questions have been raised as to whether that country was even responsible for the hacking attack that set off the dispute.

As much as we find the North Korean regime abhor­ rent, we should insist that it is the task of its workers and farmers to replace it with a socialist democracy. Clearly, that’s not the agenda of Sony, Obama, or Wall Street. Our task is to expose why the latter are making such a big fuss about the distribution of this film. Our job is to try to deprive their campaign to resuscitate the blood-soaked image of imperialism of any legiti­ macy it might have in the public mind.

Corporations like Sony censor artists all the time. They rarely depict anything, much less a “good cause,” unless they can pervert it to their priorities, especially profit-making. You don’t have to think way back to Mc­ Carthyism and the scores of artists who were purged and blacklisted in the 1950s. Consider today’s cin­ ematic landscape: How many Ken Loach films get the funding or promotion that Seth Rogan comedies enjoy, much less the largesse bestowed upon flicks like the Terminators 1, 2 and 3, or Transformers 1, 2, 3 and 4?

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$5 for 6 months / $10 for 12 months Socialists defend freedom. We make no apologies for Stalinism or totalitarianism of any kind. But many freedoms in our world are at risk, and have been bru­ tally crushed. What should our priority be? Where do we start?

Start by opposing what our rulers, and what their compliant media, “choose” to do. With regard to Ko­ rea, keep in mind that our capitalists, the Canadian establishment, in alliance with all the partners of the UN-sanctioned war, led by the USA, wrecked havoc on the Korean people in the early 1950s. Chinese sources estimate that North Korea suffered 290,000 military casualties, 90,000 captured, and a “large” number of civilian deaths. Over a million people overall died in the process. And that’s no comedy punch line.

Since then, Washington has threatened to use nucle­ ar weapons against North Korea. This gave the DPRK the incentive to obtain such weapons as a deterrent. That seems to be working.

I like Canadian-born Seth Rogan and his screwball comedy, in small doses. But that’s beside the point. What should be our attitude towards those “cultural” institutions that celebrate imperialist war, that defend Israeli apartheid, justify sexism and homophobia, and excuse the exploitation of humanity and the plunder of nature?

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• Ashland, Ore.: damonjure@earthlink. net It is true that the Kim Jun Un regime is ab­ horrent. It sits atop a repressive state that ap­ pears to be plunging headlong into a system of capitalist exploitation, and is thin-skinned to boot. Yes, North Korea might have done better just to ignore the wretched, third-rate Sony flick. But Koreans have paid a very high price for imperialist dominion over Asia. And they remember. So their outrage against for­ eign arrogance, villification, and bullying is understandable. Not so ironically, foreign threats, however they are “packaged,” tend to reinforce the authority of the abominable Kim Jun Un regime.

As movie reviewers have pointed out, many Hollywood films have been made that de­ pict a plot to assassinate a U.S. president. So what’s the big deal here? Well, I ask this: How many of those films have portrayed the would-be assassins of the U.S. president as the “good guys?” Or even as hap­ less stoners?

What does promotion of “The Interview” now rep­ resent? Is it a blow for freedom of expression, or for imperial hypocrisy and bullying?

And about “freedom,” let’s keep in mind an old say­ ing: Freedom of the press exists only for those who own one. And don’t forget the golden rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules. n

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