XPost: talk.politics.guns, talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
XPost: alt.politics.homosexuality, alt.california, alt.politics.democrats

The Walt Disney Corporation famously bills its amusement parks as
“the happiest place on Earth,” but inside the company’s headquarters
in Burbank, California, a conflict is brewing. In the past year,
Disney executives have elevated the ideology of critical race theory
into a new corporate dogma, bombarded employees with trainings on
“systemic racism,” “white privilege,” “white fragility,” and “white
saviors,” and launched racially segregated “affinity groups” at the company’s headquarters.

I have obtained a trove of whistleblower documents related to
Disney’s “diversity and inclusion” program, called “Reimagine Tomorrow,” which paints a disturbing picture of the company’s
embrace of racial politics. Multiple Disney employees, who requested
anonymity out of fear of reprisals, told me that the Reimagine
Tomorrow program, though perhaps noble in intent, has become deeply
politicized and engulfed parts of the company in racial conflict.

The core of Disney’s racial program is a series of training modules
on “antiracism.” In one, called “Allyship for Race Consciousness,”
the company tells employees that they must “take ownership of
educating [themselves] about structural anti-Black racism” and that
they should “not rely on [their] Black colleagues to educate
[them],” because it is “emotionally taxing.” The United States, the document claims, has a “long history of systemic racism and
transphobia,” and white employees, in particular, must “work through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is
beneath them and what needs to be healed.” Disney recommends that
employees atone by “challeng[ing] colorblind ideologies and
rhetoric” such as “All Lives Matter” and “I don’t see color”; they must “listen with empathy [to] Black colleagues” and must “not
question or debate Black colleagues’ lived experience.”

In another module, called “What Can I Do About Racism?,” Disney
tells employees that they should reject “equality,” with a focus on “equal treatment and access to opportunities,” and instead strive
for “equity,” with a focus on “the equality of outcome.” The
training also includes a series of lessons on “implicit biases,” “microaggressions,” and “becoming an antiracist.” The company tells employees that they must “reflect” on America’s “racist infrastructure” and “think carefully about whether or not your
wealth, income, treatment by the criminal justice system,
employment, access to housing, health care, political power, and
education might be different if you were of a different race.”


Next, participants learn about “white fragility” and are asked to
complete an exercise called “How to Tell If You Have White
Fragility.” The program interprets beliefs such as “I am a good
person, I can’t be racist” and “I was taught to treat everyone the same” as evidence of the participant’s internalized racism and white fragility. Finally, at the conclusion of the 21-day challenge,
participants are told that they must learn how to “pivot” from
“white dominant culture” to “something different.” The document
claims that “competition,” power hoarding,” “comfort with
predominantly white leadership,” “individualism,” “timeliness,” and “comprehensiveness” are “white dominant” values that “perpetuate white supremacy culture”—and must be rejected.

In the same collection of resources, Disney also recommends that
employees read a series of how-to guides, including “75 Things White
People Can Do for Racial Justice” and “Your Kids Are Not Too Young
to Talk About Race.” The first article suggests that white employees
should “defund the police,” “participate in reparations,”
“decolonize your bookshelf,” “don’t gentrify neighborhoods,” “find and join a local ‘white space,’” and “donate to anti-white supremacy work such as your local Black Lives Matter Chapter.” The second
article encourages parents to commit to “raising race-consciousness
in children” and argues that “even babies discriminate” against
members of other races. A graphic claims that babies show the first
signs of racism at three months old, and that white children become
“strongly biased in favor whiteness” by age four.

Finally, as part of an initiative labeled “CEO sponsored
priorities,” Disney has launched racially segregated “affinity
groups” for minority employees, with the goal of achieving “culturally-authentic insights.” In the original launch, the Latino affinity group was called “Hola,” the Asian affinity group was
called “Compass,” and the black affinity group was called “Wakanda.” The racial affinity groups, also called Business Employee Resource
Groups (BERGs), are technically open to all employees but in
practice have become almost entirely segregated by race, with the
occasional exception for white “executive champions” who attend on
behalf of corporate leadership. “The thing that this company does
very well is they know politics, so they leave many things
unspoken,” said one employee, a racial minority, who also claimed
the affinity groups are intended to be racially segregated spaces.
“I don’t think anyone has necessarily even tried to attend something
that they would discover that they’re not welcome at.”


Despite these internal warnings, there is no sign that Disney is
slowing down its efforts to achieve ideological purity. The company
recently fired actress Gina Carano for expressing a conservative
viewpoint. Content managers have modified and added “content
advisories” to films such as Dumbo, Aladdin, and Fantasia, which,
according to an internal video I have obtained, executives have
denounced as “racist content.” In the same video, executive chairman
Bob Iger pledged that the company “should be taking a stand” on
political controversies and will no longer “shy away from politics”
in the future.

Disney’s premise has always been to provide an escape for middle
Americans, but its executives seem to harbor growing contempt for
the very people who visit their amusement parks, watch their films,
and buy their merchandise. Once known as the “Happiest Place on
Earth,” Disney has now committed to becoming the “wokest place on Earth”—whatever the cost.

https://www.city-journal.org/racial-politics-at-disney

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)