Florida's government showed Disney the back of its hand for the company's choosing sides in the culture war that spawned the Parental Rights bill, mendaciously dubbed "Don't Say Gay." Disney's brass either fell for the mischaracterization or figured that everyone who mattered to them did, so they chose to run with it.
The governor didn't "slap" Disney, the legislature did. And they did so precisely because Disney slapped the legislature first. They bit the hand that feeds them. This is a distinction with a difference. And there's nothing unseemly about it. Disney prioritizes its role in "leading" progressivism, not its shareholder value - and that's a revelation for shareholders to consider.
This isn't a "pendulum" swinging - it's a culture war. Legislatures reflect the mood of the people they represent and corporations are supposed to represent the shareholders for whom they hold fiduciary responsibility. Only Disney - and ONLY Disney - got out of their lane.
Kudos to the Florida legislature and their governor.
"The governor didn't "slap" Disney, the legislature did. "
Semantically, yes. But, DeSantis was the face of this action, and he signed it. Disney did indeed reap what it sowed, but that doesn't change my conclusion that the whole thing is unseemly.
The pendulum I speak of is indeed the culture war, and as I noted, I fear it'll "overcorrect" and result in the undoing on the progress made toward an "identity blind" society. Was the culture better 50 years ago?
Nothing "semantic" about it. Proper order and law was followed. The legislature acted and the governor signed it. Everybody in their proper "lane". Unlike Disney governance, who act in - what we believe to be - defiance of their shareholder responsibilities. And the shareholders have lost $43 billion in value since the Disney "brand" was hijacked by a band of social justice warriors. This is a serious question for serious people - not a philosophical disagreement. What Disney has done is unseemly - not the reasoned response of a legislature/elected governor who take their responsibility to their people seriously.
The "pendulum" is no such thing - as pendular action reasonably swings "both ways" naturally. Not so in the culture war. This is an Overton Window - which slides only one way, as "half a loaf" "seemly" governance inevitably cedes millimeters and inches and then feet, never going back "the other way". The Overton Window only tests in ONE direction. The pushers won't settle for a "happy medium" - to them, there is no such place.
Your worldview seems premised on the notion of "give and take" - but progressives' worldview is premised on "take and take". Take a little, take a lot, but always take. Always advance. History is replete with examples - from the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution, "peoples revolutions" in Cuba, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Iran. This is totalitarianism we are fighting - there is no "give and take" - just "heads we win, tails you lose". That is the nature of progressivism - it advances. Until it is stopped.
Ayn Rand postulated that it is always like this in "democracies" - with the gradual and incremental loss of individual agency - and that only the system of "checks and balances" within our constitutional republic framework have prevented it from more rapidly deteriorating. And progressives have had these "checks and balances" relentlessly under assault. There is no "middle" to this. Once those pillars of restraint are gone, we're a mob.
Asking if the culture was "better" 50 years ago is asking an opinion - like, do you like cake? And the term "culture" itself is freighted with meaning. Breitbart stated that "politics is downstream from culture". And I believe that is true. Yes, there are things about "the culture" I really liked 50 years ago (I'm old enough to remember 50 years ago). But righting some of the cultural wrongs of 50 years was very much accomplished.
This fight isn't about the cultural dignity of homosexuals or transsexuals. It isn't about employment rights or access to health care. This fight is over the programming of sexual values in young children - whose brains won't fully develop and stabilize for another 10 to 15 years, at least. The children will undergo multiple developmental phases throughout that period, accelerating during puberty and only "settling out" in their late teens and early 20s. Using power of suggestion to tell a 5 or 8 year old that he or she "might" be in the wrong body is NOT a responsible act and that leaves alone the whole dimension of WHO should be doing that. Teachers? Really?
As to your "identity blind" society comment. First, you and I are in agreement that "identity blind" should be the goal - but that's NOT the goal of the progressives today. That WAS their stated goal, long ago, when this was a reasonable argument about cultural acceptance as manifested through laws. For today, even uttering the "blind" word, you and I would be labeled as racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic - and as "buying into" and reinforcing the white, paternalistic power dynamic.
We live too short of lives to see a "pendulum" "swinging" to and fro on this timescale. I can only observe the Overton Window relentlessly being pushed in one direction for 50 years. Some of it has resulted in good - but we are FAR past that point where this is doing anybody - especially children - any "good".
Disney has much better things they should be doing on behalf of their shareholders, not leading cultural jihads against parents. The governor of Florida and its legislature is doing EXACTLY what they should be doing in defending the children of their state.
You don't think that there's a possibilty of cultural overreaction, where actual bigotry returns as a reaction to the Left's woke-bigotry?
I don't disagree with anything you wrote about the Left, but I've witnessed enough ugly-reactionary response to leave me concerned about the over-correction I mention, and I've little disagreement with the legislature's taking charge of the curriculum (I've blogged that elected representatives are better proxies for parents' educational desires than the educrats who are setting curricula nowadays).
I'm reading a bit right now about a "new Right" movement that's explicitly anti-libertarian. It's in Vanity Fair, so it's to be taken with a large grain of salt, but I do witness a populist aspect rising that I disagree with on multiple fronts. This isn't a binary seesaw, and that which emerges in contravention of the progressive lunacy isn't necessarily something I'll be happy to support.
When Trump became president in 2016, the Left was positively HORRIFIED of just what you describe - that midnight riders would be rounding up gays and lynching would be commonplace. They weren't figuratively horrified, they were literally, deep in their bones horrified that this was the "new reality" they faced. (see their reaction to Musk's acquisition of Twitter as a milder form) One of my wife's sorority sisters from back in the day - a married lesbian - told my wife this very fable, and was so distressed for her safety after 2016, she left Facebook and digital life entirely, went into digital hiding. We've seen this theme repeated endlessly on the news and can read it on their signs at demonstrations - they believe this. Because that is the reality they've carved out for conservatives - that we're moral monsters just waiting to be unleashed. Our very views are considered "literally" "violence".
But none of that happened after 2016 - nothing like that happened. None of their nightmares came true. Not even close. Nor could they have. There's no realistic scenario - none whatsoever - where Trump's power wouldn't have been checked. In fact, looking at the behavior of the FBI, CIA and DOJ during the Trump administration, we saw LEFT-wing reactionary behavior...not an emergence of the right.
So no - I don't think there's even a possibility of cultural overreaction. Not when "scary" "right wingers" have to be literally hired and dressed in costume to attend conservative demonstrations as false flags, when so-called "right wing" demonstrations are infiltrated by FBI agitators, when the FBI has to instigate and plan the kidnapping of Michigan's governor and when right wing "hate crimes" are so rare to nonexistent they have to be staged. See https://fakehatecrimes.org/
The VF article you provided describes a strange, fringe element of conservatism that I don't recognize. Not a single name, besides Peter Thiel himself (a billionaire) is commonly known, even among well-read conservative-libertarians like me. If this group is "emergent" on the Right, I don't see it and I don't see any of their aims as politically feasible in a world where NY, VT, CT, CA, WA, OR and IL are hegemonically controlled by Democrats. These people exist at the margins of any political movement - except on the modern American Left, where they own the Democrat party and have pulled it violently to the extreme. How extreme? So extreme that the very term "conservative" now includes trade unionists, blue collar workers, firefighters and police, as well as first and second generation immigrants.
Perhaps that's from whence the Left's "horror" stems - as projection of their own modus operandi. But a rationalist view shouldn't accept that projection as reality, let alone a feasible possibility. I've lived 59 years, about 50 of which I've been "aware" of what I'm seeing - and I've watched the Left relentlessly prepare us for takeovers by the Right, takeovers by the evil military, a return to the bad old days of pollution and corruption and institutionalized hate. It's always one vote away and every election is existential to the Left. This isn't just hyperbole to the Left - they believe it. This has not just gotten "old" - it's historically untrue, boring and dumb.
Obviously, I hope you're right. Though I would prefer if you were a bit less mocking in your response, just as obviously.
Perhaps I see things you do not, merely by our different circles of exposure. Perhaps I read things incorrectly - or perhaps there is indeed some impetus to backlash. Not at the institutional level - no, the Left is more about weaponizing government than the Right - but at the individual level.
Great essay, Peter! I think the reason I don’t fault DeSantis for his action, even if it is retaliatory, is Disney has essentially joined a culture war against traditional values. Sometimes the only way to stop a war is with a bomb even if you are theoretically against dropping bombs.
The governor didn't "slap" Disney, the legislature did. And they did so precisely because Disney slapped the legislature first. They bit the hand that feeds them. This is a distinction with a difference. And there's nothing unseemly about it. Disney prioritizes its role in "leading" progressivism, not its shareholder value - and that's a revelation for shareholders to consider.
This isn't a "pendulum" swinging - it's a culture war. Legislatures reflect the mood of the people they represent and corporations are supposed to represent the shareholders for whom they hold fiduciary responsibility. Only Disney - and ONLY Disney - got out of their lane.
Kudos to the Florida legislature and their governor.
"The governor didn't "slap" Disney, the legislature did. "
Semantically, yes. But, DeSantis was the face of this action, and he signed it. Disney did indeed reap what it sowed, but that doesn't change my conclusion that the whole thing is unseemly.
The pendulum I speak of is indeed the culture war, and as I noted, I fear it'll "overcorrect" and result in the undoing on the progress made toward an "identity blind" society. Was the culture better 50 years ago?
Nothing "semantic" about it. Proper order and law was followed. The legislature acted and the governor signed it. Everybody in their proper "lane". Unlike Disney governance, who act in - what we believe to be - defiance of their shareholder responsibilities. And the shareholders have lost $43 billion in value since the Disney "brand" was hijacked by a band of social justice warriors. This is a serious question for serious people - not a philosophical disagreement. What Disney has done is unseemly - not the reasoned response of a legislature/elected governor who take their responsibility to their people seriously.
The "pendulum" is no such thing - as pendular action reasonably swings "both ways" naturally. Not so in the culture war. This is an Overton Window - which slides only one way, as "half a loaf" "seemly" governance inevitably cedes millimeters and inches and then feet, never going back "the other way". The Overton Window only tests in ONE direction. The pushers won't settle for a "happy medium" - to them, there is no such place.
Your worldview seems premised on the notion of "give and take" - but progressives' worldview is premised on "take and take". Take a little, take a lot, but always take. Always advance. History is replete with examples - from the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution, "peoples revolutions" in Cuba, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Iran. This is totalitarianism we are fighting - there is no "give and take" - just "heads we win, tails you lose". That is the nature of progressivism - it advances. Until it is stopped.
Ayn Rand postulated that it is always like this in "democracies" - with the gradual and incremental loss of individual agency - and that only the system of "checks and balances" within our constitutional republic framework have prevented it from more rapidly deteriorating. And progressives have had these "checks and balances" relentlessly under assault. There is no "middle" to this. Once those pillars of restraint are gone, we're a mob.
Asking if the culture was "better" 50 years ago is asking an opinion - like, do you like cake? And the term "culture" itself is freighted with meaning. Breitbart stated that "politics is downstream from culture". And I believe that is true. Yes, there are things about "the culture" I really liked 50 years ago (I'm old enough to remember 50 years ago). But righting some of the cultural wrongs of 50 years was very much accomplished.
This fight isn't about the cultural dignity of homosexuals or transsexuals. It isn't about employment rights or access to health care. This fight is over the programming of sexual values in young children - whose brains won't fully develop and stabilize for another 10 to 15 years, at least. The children will undergo multiple developmental phases throughout that period, accelerating during puberty and only "settling out" in their late teens and early 20s. Using power of suggestion to tell a 5 or 8 year old that he or she "might" be in the wrong body is NOT a responsible act and that leaves alone the whole dimension of WHO should be doing that. Teachers? Really?
As to your "identity blind" society comment. First, you and I are in agreement that "identity blind" should be the goal - but that's NOT the goal of the progressives today. That WAS their stated goal, long ago, when this was a reasonable argument about cultural acceptance as manifested through laws. For today, even uttering the "blind" word, you and I would be labeled as racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic - and as "buying into" and reinforcing the white, paternalistic power dynamic.
We live too short of lives to see a "pendulum" "swinging" to and fro on this timescale. I can only observe the Overton Window relentlessly being pushed in one direction for 50 years. Some of it has resulted in good - but we are FAR past that point where this is doing anybody - especially children - any "good".
Disney has much better things they should be doing on behalf of their shareholders, not leading cultural jihads against parents. The governor of Florida and its legislature is doing EXACTLY what they should be doing in defending the children of their state.
You don't think that there's a possibilty of cultural overreaction, where actual bigotry returns as a reaction to the Left's woke-bigotry?
I don't disagree with anything you wrote about the Left, but I've witnessed enough ugly-reactionary response to leave me concerned about the over-correction I mention, and I've little disagreement with the legislature's taking charge of the curriculum (I've blogged that elected representatives are better proxies for parents' educational desires than the educrats who are setting curricula nowadays).
I'm reading a bit right now about a "new Right" movement that's explicitly anti-libertarian. It's in Vanity Fair, so it's to be taken with a large grain of salt, but I do witness a populist aspect rising that I disagree with on multiple fronts. This isn't a binary seesaw, and that which emerges in contravention of the progressive lunacy isn't necessarily something I'll be happy to support.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/inside-the-new-right-where-peter-thiel-is-placing-his-biggest-bets
When Trump became president in 2016, the Left was positively HORRIFIED of just what you describe - that midnight riders would be rounding up gays and lynching would be commonplace. They weren't figuratively horrified, they were literally, deep in their bones horrified that this was the "new reality" they faced. (see their reaction to Musk's acquisition of Twitter as a milder form) One of my wife's sorority sisters from back in the day - a married lesbian - told my wife this very fable, and was so distressed for her safety after 2016, she left Facebook and digital life entirely, went into digital hiding. We've seen this theme repeated endlessly on the news and can read it on their signs at demonstrations - they believe this. Because that is the reality they've carved out for conservatives - that we're moral monsters just waiting to be unleashed. Our very views are considered "literally" "violence".
But none of that happened after 2016 - nothing like that happened. None of their nightmares came true. Not even close. Nor could they have. There's no realistic scenario - none whatsoever - where Trump's power wouldn't have been checked. In fact, looking at the behavior of the FBI, CIA and DOJ during the Trump administration, we saw LEFT-wing reactionary behavior...not an emergence of the right.
So no - I don't think there's even a possibility of cultural overreaction. Not when "scary" "right wingers" have to be literally hired and dressed in costume to attend conservative demonstrations as false flags, when so-called "right wing" demonstrations are infiltrated by FBI agitators, when the FBI has to instigate and plan the kidnapping of Michigan's governor and when right wing "hate crimes" are so rare to nonexistent they have to be staged. See https://fakehatecrimes.org/
The VF article you provided describes a strange, fringe element of conservatism that I don't recognize. Not a single name, besides Peter Thiel himself (a billionaire) is commonly known, even among well-read conservative-libertarians like me. If this group is "emergent" on the Right, I don't see it and I don't see any of their aims as politically feasible in a world where NY, VT, CT, CA, WA, OR and IL are hegemonically controlled by Democrats. These people exist at the margins of any political movement - except on the modern American Left, where they own the Democrat party and have pulled it violently to the extreme. How extreme? So extreme that the very term "conservative" now includes trade unionists, blue collar workers, firefighters and police, as well as first and second generation immigrants.
Perhaps that's from whence the Left's "horror" stems - as projection of their own modus operandi. But a rationalist view shouldn't accept that projection as reality, let alone a feasible possibility. I've lived 59 years, about 50 of which I've been "aware" of what I'm seeing - and I've watched the Left relentlessly prepare us for takeovers by the Right, takeovers by the evil military, a return to the bad old days of pollution and corruption and institutionalized hate. It's always one vote away and every election is existential to the Left. This isn't just hyperbole to the Left - they believe it. This has not just gotten "old" - it's historically untrue, boring and dumb.
Obviously, I hope you're right. Though I would prefer if you were a bit less mocking in your response, just as obviously.
Perhaps I see things you do not, merely by our different circles of exposure. Perhaps I read things incorrectly - or perhaps there is indeed some impetus to backlash. Not at the institutional level - no, the Left is more about weaponizing government than the Right - but at the individual level.
Time will tell.
Great essay, Peter! I think the reason I don’t fault DeSantis for his action, even if it is retaliatory, is Disney has essentially joined a culture war against traditional values. Sometimes the only way to stop a war is with a bomb even if you are theoretically against dropping bombs.
Thanks. As I noted, I'll take it, even if I find it all sordid.
"Sordid" is the norm, sad to say.