To Sony Pictures.

How backward is it that the government is telling Hollywood it wasn’t bold enough? Usually, the government is telling the entertainment world that it has gone too far, such as the FCC fining CBS over the whole Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl or Congress attacking the National Endowment for the Arts or even those explicit lyrics warning on music recordings.

But with Sony Pictures pulling the distribution plug on the satirical Seth Rogen-James Franco movie “The Interview” and with President Barack Obama and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney both rightly noting that Sony made a mistake, the tables have turned. Obama put it this way: “We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States. Because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they don’t like or news reports that they don’t like.”

As a newspaper, we deal with First Amendment issues on a regular basis and take pride in printing those 45 words daily. We personally know from trade conventions that people working in media from newspapers to TV stations to music labels to movie studios in this country all take pride in their independence from government control and strongly oppose being pushed around by the government of this country, let alone any other country and especially not some puny dictatorship.

The Sony CEO backpedaled on Friday afternoon, but the damage was done. He and his company didn’t show backbone when Americans desired that the most.

“That’s not who we are,” Obama told the news media. “That’s not what America’s about.”

 

To the Nativity walk at First Lutheran Church.

What a cheerful idea! It is nice to see a collection of Nativity sets depicting diversity and artistic creativity. It’s amazing how many different ways the birth of Jesus Christ can be shown artfully and beautifully. We hope the organizers make it even bigger next year by making a public call for anyone in the community to share their Nativity sets, but only their best ones. You know, we have even seen on the Internet kids making Nativity sets out of Lego blocks. And some grandparents have those sets with candle flames turning moving parts. The possibilities are wonderful to mull.

 

To holiday shoppers in Albert Lea.

Every year it seems there are people who describe how rude shoppers can be during the Christmas season. For our part, it seems one advantage of shopping local has been just how pleasant and nice the shoppers in Albert Lea are. The fact is, Minnesota Nice can be found throughout Minnesota, but the state’s mid-size communities such as Albert Lea, Austin, Owatonna and Fairmont seem to have a dash more of it than in larger cities like Mankato or Rochester or, especially the metro area of the Twin Cities. We’ve experienced only pleasant shopping in Albert Lea. Be sure to thank to the clerks for working hours when most folks are off work.