Sometimes I really feel, it's good to have a centralized authority who can take corrective measures to protect the goodwill of bitcoin. We are loosing reputation fast! Sad to see such an innovation like Bitcoin loosing its reputation and credibility due to few mere miscreants!
This is the cons of decentralized, It is can be used by criminals for ransom without a trace. Let’s just accept that we can convince everyone to view Bitcoin with our own perspective because we different subjective reason. In your father case, he is thinking that BTC doesn’t exist there is no way that this hacker will be paid without a trace but for that already open minded about BTC. We view this as privacy protection.
There’s always a pros and cons in decentralization.