Loving to Hate the Mouse
Posted by STrRedWolf on Wed 5 Dec 2001 - 19:04
The Washington Post today has a nice article entitled Why American loves to hate the mouse -- a commentary about what's Walt's vision is doing now, since his death 45 years ago. And no, he's not cryogenically frozen...
Comments
How can you be so sure?
'cause his family says so.
Anyways, about the article.. I skimmed through it, and it seemed to me whoever did the article was concentrating more on the hate towards what happened to the dream Disney had after he died. Hear, hear, on that call, but as far as Disney himself being a bad guy, I like who he was remembered for. The mouse ain't as much as what I like him for as much as his lifestyle. The man would play along with the guests of his park. And indeed, it was *his* park.. his playground. Hell, I don't know how many times the guy nearly went bankrupt because he believed more in quality than quantity.. and that's the thing Eisner has yet to learn. It's what made Disney a true artist.
Well, I like the man who made the mouse, but now the man is gone, the mouse decided to become a corporate octopus. There were cable shows and networks it grabbed up, some that were owned by some other company. Now there is even paint (interior wall paint at that!) by the mouse. Snack foods and treats... same mouse or address of the mouse. I worry that the mouse might take over the world, forcing those free and public networks to merger... HOLY CRAP!!! This would become a new Communist nation... of the mouse... The American Socialist Republic of Disney. That is REALLY SCARY.
Walter Elias Disney wanted to make people happy,
not to spoil the joy by fostering a neo-communist-corporate uprising, which is probably going on. THAT'S why everyone hates the mouse. But I hate the mouse, even more so.
The wallaroo turns and bounds away into the darkness.
No offense, but the phrase "neo-communist corporate uprising" has got to be one of the funniest bits of nonsense I've ever read. At risk of being a little lecturing, communism is the economic opposite of capitalism--and in practice it's downright hostile to corporations. What you are thinking of is fascism. Cuba is a canonical example of this. Batista was a fascist dictator; Castro is a communist dictator. The first people who fled the Revolution were merchants, because capitalism can't (openly) exist in a communist state. Capitalism does, however, flourish in a state with fascist leanings--at least as well as it does in a democracy.
I know it's American to think all evil in the world comes from Godless Communists. But the scenario you're describing ain't communist, kiddo. It's the precise opposite. You do an admirable job of presenting the reductio ad absurdum argument against a completely unregulated free market, though.
— Chipotle
Post new comment