The Irony Hidden In The Interview And The Sony Leaks

EDUCATE! FBI, MOVIES, NORTH KOREA 
By Elias Weston-Farber, www.PopularResistance.org
January 1st, 2015

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Note: Our social media director, Elias Weston-Farber, points out the US blunder in blaming North Korea for the hacking of Sony. How anyone could believe that a group with the ironic acronym “GOP” and the amusing name Guardians of Peace would be North Korea starts me off with ironic bemusement. President Obama is using this as an excuse to point the finger at North Korea and call them cyberterrorists and further worsen relations between the US and North Korea is pitifully typical of the US history with both Koreas.

I find a movie, even a comedic one, about killing the North Korean leader to be typical Hollywood propaganda against an enemy-state. (How would the US react if Venezuela, China, Russia, Iran or any country produced a movie about killing an African American president?) The history and current relations with North Korea, which includes the US preventing a unified democratic Korea after World War II, the US slaughter of millions of North Koreans via massive aerial bombardment and now the US conducting mass military training exercises that include mock nuclear attacks on North Korea, all makes such satire hard to stomach. And then to have a Japanese corporation produce the movie when Japan brutally occupied Korea for 40 years — this is just a movie I refuse to see. So, there is a spoiler alert for the article below, but if you’re like me, it won’t matter. KZ

The Evidence is strong North Korea did not hack Sony, but the FBI and Obama refuse to believe it and still call them cyberterrorists — the sad comedy of US Empire.

The story of the massive leak of Sony’s private data and the ensuing debacle over whether to release Seth Rogen and James Franco’s movie The Interview has been all over the news. But there is much more to both the hack and the movie that many critics and journalists have missed.

If this is what you think happened then the wool has been pulled over your eyes!

• North Korea hacks Sony angry over a movie depicting the killing of Kim Jong Un
• North Korea leaks the data online sparking controversy as private emails and payroll are released to the public
• And that’s why the Obama is calling for North Korea to be labeled a State Sponsor of Terrorism

It doesn’t look like North Korea hacked Sony!

Cyber Security experts have come out with strong arguments for why a group of disgruntledEx Sony employees were most likely responsible for the hack. Further more, famous ex hacker Sabu (expert in the field) thinks that the volume of files stolen couldn’t have been downloaded by North Korea over the course of days without anyone noticing; it would have taken years and a bigger connection to the internet!

So why do so many people believe North Korea is the culprit. The hacker’s strategy, all be it an obvious one, was to frame someone else… but who would have a believable motive?

North Korea claims that the U.S. allowing The Interview to be screened was “an act of war” at the U.N. a month before and this could have been the Hackers perfect opening to Frame someone.

After the Hack, Sony received communications from a group called the Guardians of Peace saying,

“We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places “The Interview” be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to.

“And we want everything related to the movie [The Interview], including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately.”

Many Cyber experts found it very strange that any country would approach cyber warfare by creating a catchy name like the “Guardians of Peace” and communicating demands to Sony directly. And even the Wall Street Journal was suspicious these messages were from North Korea.

North Korea came out denying involvement. This may support the picture that North Korea was framed. If North Korea hacked the U.S. then why wouldn’t they want to tout that accomplishment, especially considering North Korea’s flare for theatrics?  It’s not as though damaging Sony’s image causes such significant harm to U.S. interests that it merits a secret cyber attack, where shutting down LA’s power grid might.

But who would take the bait and believe it was North Korea given all this evidence to the contrary? Here lies the genius or luck of the Hackers; the answer is the FBI. The FBI has made the weakest case that North Korea is responsible. and the FBI’s argument has been point by point refuted as being far from conclusive with writer Bruce Schneier saying “This sort of evidence is circumstantial at best. It’s easy to fake, and it’s even easier to interpret it wrong. In general, it’s a situation that rapidly devolves into storytelling, where analysts pick bits and pieces of the ‘evidence’ to suit the narrative they already have worked out in their heads.”

And yet the FBI still believes that it was North Korea because the Obama administration has already used the incident to justify North Korea’s presence on the list of countries who Sponsor Terrorism.

Reputable cyber security firms like Norse don’t agree with the US government’s position on who is responsible for this attack. They have approached the FBI with evidence to identify those responsible and yet despite this the FBI still insists the hack was the work of the North Korean government. One wonders if the Hackers realized they had outsmarted the FBI when they sent this video taunting the FBI… (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/20/sony-hackers-guardians-of-peace-troll-fbi-fbi-is-the-best-in-the-world.html)

In short, the culpability of the North Korean government in the Sony hack is unlikely and far from established.

The Interview is Political Satire of United States too!

“…But when I do comedies with Seth, it’s just like this movie [The Interview], on one level they’re stupid but on another level they’re actually really smart.” James Franco

What is so ironic about this movie is that it may be as misunderstood as the events surrounding the Sony Hack…

If you watch the trailer there are two major impressions you get

1. It is a totally ridiculous movie not to be taken seriously
2. And maybe on some level the movie idolizes U.S. covert killings

*Spoilers Alert*

Though hilarious, it is actually a brilliant satire and is highly critical of the CIA. It starts with a damning portrayal of celebrity culture in the U.S. and the TMZ like organizations that make money off publishing the completely useless, highly private information from those celebrities.

Whether David Skylark is exposing people’s sexual orientation, embarrassing medical conditions, or fetishes – he is “Giving the people what they want” which Skylark misunderstands to be the “First rule in Journalism.”

What is so ironic about this is that since the Sony Hack data was released to the media there has been a feeding frenzy of journalists reporting illegally obtained gossip from private emails and publishing it like it was news rather then focusing on the larger more important story of how and why the hack took place and why Obama wanted to blame North Korea so prematurely. Summed up eloquently in this Guardian article.

And this quote by Aaron Sorkin:

“I understand that news outlets routinely use stolen information. That’s how we got the Pentagon Papers … [But] do the emails contain any information about Sony breaking the law? No. Misleading the public? No. Acting in direct harm to customers? No. Is there even one sentence in one private email that was stolen that even hints at wrongdoing of any kind? Anything that can help, inform or protect anyone?”

But the satire doesn’t end there; in the movie the CIA is portrayed in a less than flattering light. First Skylark gets upset with the CIA’s plan for the poisoning Kim Jong Un and laments that the plot fails to include:

• Shooting Kim Jong Un at point blank range
• Using a bullet proof vest
• Secret Escape Tunnels
• Seal Team Six
• And a Tell-All book

This clearly satirizes the media’s obsession with the events of the Osama Bin Laden assassination. And as the movies unfolds its clear that the CIA remains myopically concerned with the killing of Kim Jong Un rather then focusing on allowing for systemic change in North Korea – Just like the FBI is busy myopically blaming North Korea and missing the larger significance of the cyber attack.

The film does make fun of Kim Jong Un but in a way that explodes the concept of all larger than life Leaders. This is done through the connection that is drawn between the vanity of Skylark’s larger than life celebrity status and Kim’s absurd role as “Supreme Leader” who doesn’t need to “pee and poo”.  We see this through the friendship between Skylark and Kim Jong Un; their shared fears of rejection, their need to put on a mask, and even in they’re partying and shared love for Katy Perry. Yes, we see that Kim Jong Un is actually a relatable guy and in a sense so are all of us, no matter how popular or powerful we are.

Seth Rogens character Aaron has a love affair with a high level North Korean official named Sook who reveals that killing Kim Jong Un will not solve the problems of North Korea and that instead they need to undermine people’s concept of that Kim Jong Un as a God. Successful political movements accomplish this feat by changing the consciousness of the people usually through exposing contradictions inherent in the rhetoric of the ruling authorities.. Legitimate journalism can do just that. This has important implications that extend far beyond our concerns about the political leadership in North Korea. Furthermore,the movie illustrates that a successful political change needs to born from within, designed by the people oppressed, not by the CIA.  This is exemplified by the Skylark’s abandonment of the assassination plot designed by the CIA and Rogen’s decision to support Sook’s plan – a real interview of Kim Jong Un. They chose a path with high personal risk and without approval from the CIA.

Skylark’s real interview of Kim Jong Un breaks his cult of personality and reveals his deep human flaws. He is no god! Kim Jong Un then shoots Skylark in the chest, assumed by all to be dead.  Sook and Aaron make a final stand locked in a video control room within Kim’s Palace in order to make sure that the interview is broadcast to the whole world. It is at this point where the serious political satire ends, this is the true end of the film.

The final portion of the movie is a Rambo/Tarantino like fantasy as Skylark emerges from death as a result of a bulletproof vest (foreshadowed by his earlier fantasy).  We are taken to the realm of the absurd as all the characters we have grown to like escape in the precise cliché way that David Skylark described at the movie’s beginning (e.g. escape through tunnels, Seal Team Six rescue…). There is absurd amount of implausible violence (tank vs. helicopter shoot out). An orgy of violence ensues that is completely disconnected from the rest of the film.

This last portion of the film is where Seth and James had to pay the piper and eat their words. They had to hold their nose and give the American Consumer what they paid for after blasting David Skylark’s character for doing the same. You paid to see Kim Jong Un die so they killed him in the most outlandish way possible.  Skylark’s escape has him literally holding a puppy.

Truthfully, I believe there was no bulletproof vest. David, Aaron, and Sook died that day doing an interview that changed the world.  The People of North Korea saw, and we saw, that all of our “Supreme Leaders” – the people we imagine to be gods – are just human beings. He was a frail human like the rest of us and that the true power rests within the people.

UPDATE: I was not going to cover or repost information contained in the Sony email leaks but this is clearly news worthy – The CIA suggested that the movie should be about Kim Jong Un not a fake character and the ending of the movie may seem disconnected because it is a product of the U.S. military and CIA propaganda! Does the movie hint at its own dark origins right in its plot? Do Seth and James feel guilty? Full article on the way.

Elias Weston-Farber serves as director of Social Media for Popular Resistance.