Disney’s woke agenda under fire: Musk exposes DEI’s impact on storytelling
February 7, 2024
Just how woke is Disney these days? Elon Musk claims to have evidence.
The issue here is this diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. The idea that we include Americans in our representations of America, yes, sure, obviously. Stories about Americans are worthwhile in and of themselves. But where DEI goes wrong is in that we end up with propaganda. Instead of good stories well told – something we might all admire in people making movies, historically have done – we end up with an ideological litmus test for how those movies are to be made.
The message is important that is. The DEI message, the woke one, comes before that story and the telling of it. This is also what we know as propaganda.
The listing that Musk says he was sent:
An anonymous source just sent me this from Disney. It is mandatory, institutionalized racism and sexism! pic.twitter.com/npMy8YfA1j
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2024
Just to select one of those standards, C. It’s saying that the race, ethnicity, skin color, sexuality, gender identity and so on through the alphabet soup should be a factor in hiring the costume director. So, also, should be whether one of those selected to move from being an assistant costume director to one getting the full job should also be evaluated on that same basis.
Of course, at the bottom there is that get out, that the actual things that DEI considers to be diversity- race, religion, color, sexual orientation and on and on – are illegal to consider in matters of employment. But everyone has to consider them anyway, or the show won’t get greenlighted.
One way of reading this – a possibly extreme view – is that Disney is deliberately insisting that everyone breaks those anti-discrimination laws in the service of DEI.
Even if we don’t want to go that far it’s true that Disney is insisting that the propaganda is more important than the story or the movie. Which is unlikely to produce good movies or stories really. As it didn’t when Stalin insisted upon it, nor even when Sen. McCarthy did.
Our modern world is infested with people telling us all how it should be. In the service of a particular political ideal that most of us don’t, in fact, support. Fairness and equitable treatment? For sure, we’re Americans, that’s what we all believe in. Picking costume directors by race, sexuality or color? Nope.
But that’s what DEI really means these days.