Don't like something? Just threaten retribution until it goes away. After all, it worked for some North Korean cyber-terrorists who didn't want Hollywood comedy The Interview to be released, writes Ben Pobjie.

When I heard of the decision by Sony Pictures to cancel the release of the new comedy The Interview in the wake of threats from North Korean cyber-terrorists, my first reaction, as you might imagine, was shock: I had no idea it was so easy.

If I'd known I could stop the release of a movie by threatening a terrorist attack, I'd have done it years ago. I could've saved the world from Boytown and Blues Brothers 2000 just for starters. If it also works for TV shows, we might've been spared Two Broke Girls.

But there is more to this story than simple dreams of a cinematic utopia that might have been. In a broader sense, the tale of the Guardians of Peace and their successful efforts to throw a monkey wrench into the plans of Hollywood bigwigs can teach us all something about the possibilities of grassroots action in the modern world.

A fairly cursory scan of the media on any given day will reveal that there is one major problem besetting the world today: the problem of people not liking things. Whether it's a movie starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, a divisive hashtag, or a think-piece with more piece than think, the number of things being disliked is growing exponentially, leading to a widespread malaise and general irritability amongst the populace.

But what can we, the ordinary idiotic citizen on the street corner, do about it? Blog? Tweet? Start a petition on change.org? These are all excellent ideas apart from being completely pointless, but there does come a time when a person wants to actually change the world, rather than just complain about it. I haven't reached that point yet, but I'm assured that it does come.

Well, Guardians of the Peace have showed us just what can be done. In these days of corporate domination of politics and tightly controlled political messaging, it's downright inspirational to see the little guy stand up and say, "no more". We may have believed there was nothing that could stop the multinational money machines, but suddenly we see that anyone can make a difference with passionate beliefs, a strong work ethic, and some light cyber-terrorism.

Of course, the GOP's specific tactics aren't necessarily suited to every situation. I'm not saying you should respond to Rupert Murdoch's next tweet by hacking his emails and threatening to burn down 20th Century Fox. I'm not saying that at all. In fact, I'm not allowed to say it - this is the ABC. So definitely don't do that. All I'm saying is that the GOP is an example to us in the use of unconventional methods to overcome power imbalances.

Let's say you don't like the editorial cartoon in a newspaper you don't read, because it's racist or sexist or has a really condescending way of labelling a picture of the Titanic with the word "BUDGET" because it thinks you're too stupid to understand metaphors and also there's some weird little doodle in the bottom corner ruining the joke by explaining it and honestly who the hell do these cartoonists think they are? The precise reason for your discontent isn't important: what matters is that you are angry, and you are right. But what can you do about it? You can't fight the might of the press, right? The haughty billionaires at the top of the editorial pyramid will scoff at your feeble protests.

That's old-school thinking. It's pre-The Interview thinking. New-school thinking is all about asking, "What would the Guardians of the Peace do?" and getting creative. Attack the problem at its source: find out the cartoonist's address, and bombard him with junk mail and bulk deliveries of fertiliser. Find out his phone number and disseminate it as widely as possible. Sign him up to as many online dating sites as possible. Then attack the editor who published the cartoon. Demand the cartoonist lose his job. Promise violent, bloody retribution if your demands are not met. Send compromising photos of the editor to his or her spouse. Upload child pornography to his or her work computer. Release a swarm of bees into his or her office.

It's classic asymmetrical warfare. With all the technology at our fingertips, the cloud and the internet of things and 3D printers and so forth, we are better equipped than ever to fight back hard against our military-industrial slavemasters. The dream of every social activist - to eliminate unpleasantness and destroy the lives of others - is now within reach.

And wonderfully, we know it works. The campaign by the Guardians of the Peace, and Sony's response, has shown us all that civilisation has taken a giant leap forward, and that powerful organisations are now willing to submit to threats.

So what are you waiting for? Isn't there something you would like to intimidate someone into doing, today?

Ben Pobjie is a writer, comedian and poet with no journalistic qualifications whatsoever. View his full profile here.