A couple of things really got my attention today in the news. I have been running non-stop, and I don't have any kind of automatic notifications on the news, as I get distracted easily. I catch whatever is on the TV in the break room at work, as I walk by.
As such, I am much more familiar with which ambulance chaser has sued over the most recent malfunctioning medical device, than I am with most current events. I catch commercials way more often than content. That also helps me stay focused and work on work, so it is okay by me.
When I got home, I turned on the local news. There were several reports that were momentous to me, for vastly different reasons, but related at the core. It doesn't happen very often for me, and it put some thoughts in my head that I wanted to share.
We are restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba. Now, I joined the Navy at 17 for money, I will be bluntly obvious about the prime motivator. But, also because Ronald Reagan made me convinced I owed some work in the mission of killing Commies for the good of the world. I was a very hot Cold War-rior. Hated the Russian, even though we called them Soviets, and not much has changed there, but Cuba offended the jingo American soul that I possessed.
I say all of that, as proof positive of my bona fides as a tried and true patriot, convinced our federal republic with shades of democracy is the most advanced and worthwhile system of government that humans have yet created. I reenlisted 4 times total, so I never lost that patriotism and have not lost it yet. However, my attitude towards Cuba has changed.
I have come to be very confused as to what purpose the continued enforced isolation and embargo is. Why do we care if they continue to cling to some socialist/communist form of government. They are an order of magnitude better players, actors and neighbors than almost any of the -stan countries, any of the puppet states surrounding China, or Columbia. Honestly, there are at least 20 countries I can think of that are much more potentially dangerous, much more vocal about that danger and much more economically capable of being a threat to us than Cuba.
Why did we continue to care so deeply, so long after it was clearly apparent that they were almost incapable of being any kind of meaningful threat, so long after the Berlin Wall and the Soviet empire died, so long after it was actually relevant? Because they don't treat their people right. It is not any more complicated than that, and at the same time so much more complex than any simple statement. I will come back to this.
The other news item that really struck me was that Sony has declined to release their film The Interview. I have several rants about this film, but I spent a huge chunk of my adult life defending the right to be stupid, publicly, loudly and with gusto. It is a freedom guaranteed in our society.
That does not guarantee it in other societies. And it has been a source of confusion to our citizens and allies, because we seem to project our freedoms on other societies, and feel put upon when it is not there to find. It was properly stupid of Sony to do what they did, tweaking that society in the way that they did. Our society allows that, you can be stupid, really publicly and spectacularly.
Sony made the right call. It would have been too risky to continue with the release and basically dare a country that built a nuclear weapon, even in the absence of any method of delivering it outside of their borders. Think about that statement, a nuclear weapon with no way to do anything but blow it up in your own country. These are not people that are in my list of go mess with. Just not worth it. Stupid at that level will eventually interbreed and starve itself into oblivion, just keep the land mines active in the DMZ, and China on at least civil terms.
Then the remarks, "Cowardly" "Our right" "Only a movie" "not afraid." Morons. You should be afraid. Stupid people are dangerous. They don't have things other people rely on to navigate the world. Restraint, propriety, context, big picture awareness, these are challenges for stupid people. Sony, as a whole, very dangerous. Stupid people.
North Korea has some justification for its feelings of anger. I am not justifying or in any way defending North Korea's government's actions or history. However, it is a nation led by a leader that got picked by their standards, however foolish they may be. It is not funny to talk about assassinating a nation's leader. It just isn't. In fact, we ought to be a bit more offended about Sony, and the actors, and the premise.
I don't deny their right to say it, film it, etc. I support it. But, because we treat our people right and let them have their stupid time, we need to recognize and be prepared for the rest of the world that does not. We have not had an ambassador in Cuba for decades because they do not treat their people right. It is important.
This movie will not make us treat our people right, nor will it make North Korea do it. It will actually do the opposite, and create a sham reason for the internal justification that gets fed to their people as to why they fight the world. There is no higher moral cause that made this movie urgent or important.
But we treat our people right, and we let them be offensive, stupid and vapid. All guaranteed, as part of citizenship. North Korea does not treat its people right, and does not act right. It forces us to make decisions that limit our enjoyment of freedom to compensate for their crazy.
That was true of Cuba as well. But the difference is that we see change evident in Cuba. We see the foundations of what is coming and we are willing to invest in that, ahead of fully realizing those hopes and expectations. That investment in hope will ceratinly drive the conversation in Cuba in a better direcion, with more energy. It is a win for both countries, and for future diplomacy in all of Cenntral America.
The Interview will eventually come out in theatres. Sony may decide to release it on Easter, that would be about right for this fiasco. It will not do anything but drive the exchange of dollars here. A lot of people associated with it, will eventually have better moments, better decisions about where to exercise their talents and skills.
I hope that the day comes we establish diplomatic realtions with North Korea. But, I am encouraged that it will be about treating their people right, and an investment in seeing that come to be the norm there. I suspect it may happen after I am gone from this world, but I pray it does, because of what that means for so many people there.
Lots of encouragement to me today in the news. Maybe both stories encourage me. There is still a path to investment in doing right by people and there is still a process that checks stupidity, even at global corporation stupidity levels. If it had not been for the three murders being investigated, I might have enjoyed watching the news.
I love you all.
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