Anatomy of a Terrorism Victory

Thousands of movie theaters will not be showing a controversial movie about North Korea this weekend because of a terrorist threat.

The threat was made real by the fact that the same group just savaged the Sony Pictures network in a perhaps the biggest corporate hack in history.

So they committed violence (we can call it that, right?), and then said don’t do X unless you want more violence to happen. Only in this case they seemed to be threatening real violence.

Sadly, our response was our hands up and walked slowly backward. It wasn’t a government or a country who did that; it was private enterprise. But it’s just as troubling.

Here’s what went through the minds of the theaters’ management:

1. We shouldn’t cave to terrorism

2. But if we don’t, and someone gets hurt at our theater, I’ll get a smaller bonus

3. Pull the movie

There could be no clearer validation of the Sony hack than this. If the attackers are in fact from North Korea they are no doubt national heroes at this point. They accomplished precisely what they set out to do, and this will be noticed by many would-be copycats.

We have set a precedent, and it is a perilous one.

Notes

1. This is my first post as an SSL site.

Related posts:

1. The Difference Between Violence and Terrorism

2. Everyday Threat Modeling

3. The Rise of Home Theater