In a year where I’ve had more than a few problems with the way things are, in a perverse way it’s nice to be reminded about one of the things I love most about America, which is that we pretty much do whatever the fuck we want.
Of course, doing whatever the fuck you want is a bit of a double edged sword, but there’s something to be said for our reckless sense of freedom. And we tend to extend that courtesy to other countries, at least on an artistic level.
For instance, if another country went ahead and made a movie about assassinating President Obama, we’d probably give them a bit of side eye, and we might give them a bit of a scolding for it (but you’d also have to keep in mind that there’s a certain contingent in the population of this here United States that would be lining up to watch their first ever movie with subtitles), and there would be some jokes on Twitter, that would pretty much be that.
What we would probably not do is terrorize them into throwing it into a vault, never to be seen or heard from again.
I can definitely see where making a broad comedy about killing a real life world leader is a dumb idea, but I’m pretty sure it’s not an act of war, just as making a fictional movie about killing out own president wouldn’t be. It’s merely a venture of questionable taste.
So while I understand why what happened happened (it really was a chain of inevitable logic that led to the movie being pulled), that does little to salve the deep sense of disappointment I feel that we let fear override our sense of freedom of expression.
The bad guys won. Now what?
Pryorball. 