Leverage to Control Disney Content from the Governor’s Off

We will see how much of the control he voted himself he will actually exercise. This will be an interesting sociological experiment.

Cheers.

I have never heard of this “ Intelligencer”. No way I am giving any credence to this publication. Nothing to see here…..

FYI: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_(magazine)

The author: Jonathan Chait: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Chait

Relatedly, at 6:27 PM ET today (2/28/2023), The Wall Street Journal posted an opinion piece by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

www.wsj.com/articles/why-i-stood-up-to-disney-florida-woke-corporatism-seaworld-universal-esg-parents-choice-education-defa2506?mod=hp_opin_pos_6#cxrecs_s

It does not appear to me that the opinion piece went anywhere near as far as the New York magazine headline. However, the opinion under Mr. DeSantis' name today contains some noteworthy lines, including this peroration:

"When corporations try to use their economic power to advance a woke agenda, they become political, and not merely economic, actors. In such an environment, reflexively deferring to big business effectively surrenders the political battlefield to the militant left. Having private companies wield de facto public power isn’t in the best interests of most Americans.

"Woke ideology is a form of cultural Marxism. Leaders must stand up and fight back when big corporations make the mistake, as Disney did, of using their economic might to advance a political agenda. We are making Florida the state where the economy flourishes because we are the state where woke goes to die."

Politics famously makes strange bedfellows.  The American left howled over the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).  So too may Mr. DeSantis before all is said and done.  Among other things, Justice Kennedy's under-appreciated opinion for the majority in that case stated 

"By suppressing the speech of manifold corporations, both for-profit and nonprofit, the Government prevents their voices and viewpoints from reaching the public and advising voters on which persons or entities are hostile to their interests. Factions will necessarily form in our Republic, but the remedy of “destroying the liberty” of some factions is “worse than the disease.” The Federalist No. 10, p. 130 (B. Wright ed. 1961) (J. Madison). Factions should be checked by permitting them all to speak, see ibid., and by entrusting the people to judge what is true and what is false."

Also:

"There is simply no support for the view that the First Amendment, as originally understood, would permit the suppression of political speech by media corporations. The Framers may not have anticipated modern business and media corporations. .... Yet television networks and major newspapers owned by media corporations have become the most important means of mass communication in modern times. The First Amendment was certainly not understood to condone the suppression of political speech in society’s most salient media. .... The great debates between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists over our founding document were published and expressed in the most important means of mass communication of that era—newspapers owned by individuals. ....  At the founding, speech was open, comprehensive, and vital to society’s definition of itself; there were no limits on the sources of speech and knowledge. .... The Framers may have been unaware of certain types of speakers or forms of communication, but that does not mean that those speakers and media are entitled to less First Amendment protection than those types of speakers and media that provided the means of communicating political ideas when the Bill of Rights was adopted."

It is interesting to compare Mr. DeSantis' statements -- "When corporations try to use their economic power to advance a woke agenda, they become political, and not merely economic, actors" and "Leaders must stand up and fight back when big corporations make the mistake, as Disney did, of using their economic might to advance a political agenda"  --  with Justice Kennedy's opinion for the Court. 

Like Fangorn the Ent in The Two Towers, who was "...not altogether on anybody's side....",  I am not totally pro-woke or anti-woke.  I am, however, pro-Bill of Rights.

Yeah it's frustrating.

1) A company weighing in a political issue = okay (they do it all the time)
2) A government re-evaluating a special district = also ok (they do it all the time)
3) A government re-evaluating a special district as a result of a company weighing in on a political issue = not okay

Very scary stuff when free speech is only protected when it is something that the government wants you to say.