Posted on 04/20/2013 4:36:56 PM PDT by Renfield
Starting in the mid-1960s when Disney set out to establish the Disney World Theme Park, they were determined to get land at below market prices and Disney operatives engaged in a far-ranging conspiracy to make sure sellers had no idea who was buying their Central Florida property. By resorting to such tactics Disney acquired more than 40 square miles of land for less than $200 an acre, but how to maintain control once Disney's empire had been acquired? The solution turned out to be cartoon-simple, thanks to the CIA....
This piece is written with the aim of demonizing Capitalism.
The Disney Corp is America’s Ministry of Culture.
I just did a quick search and his father Elias Disney was an ardent socialist. Walt generally followed a more capitalist walk of life but he was reportedly a Congregationalist Christian which at least from a theological perspective places him in the liberal/progressive camp.
Disneyworld may be fantasyland but EPCOT was Disney's utopian vision for how communities should be.
Walt Disney rarely set foot in a church, and did not profess any denomination affiliation.
He was an unabashed conservative who served in the army, turned his studio over to the war effort in the forties to make training films and propaganda cartoons, fought the employees trying to unionize his studio, and testified before congress about Communist influence in Hollywood.
And if you had been issued an official Mickey Mouse Club membership card in 1931, you could read the creed printed on the back: “...I will be truthful and honorable and strive, always, to make myself a better and more useful little citizen. I will respect my elders and help… children smaller than myself. In short, I will be a good American!
A lot of people didn’t (and don’t) like Walt Disney, but “liberal/progressive?” Nope.
I don't have a strong sense and the most research I've done on it was for this thread which is not much. I did find the following:
...I am personally thankful that my parents taught me at a very early age to have a strong personal belief and reliance in the power of prayer for Divine inspiration. My people were members of the Congregational Church in our home town of Marceline, Missouri. It was there where I was first taught the efficacy of religion... how it helps us immeasurably to meet the trial and stress of life and keeps us attuned to the Divine inspiration... Deeds rather than words express my concept of the part religion should play in everyday life.
A lot of people didn’t (and don’t) like Walt Disney, but “liberal/progressive?” Nope.
I meant liberal/progressive from a theological standpoint. My understanding of Congregationalism is that it has a liberal/progressive theology which is compatible at some level with liberal/progressive politics.
Prior to Disney that land wasn’t worth squat and Orlando and Kissimmee were barely cow towns.
When Lucasfilm was shooting “Return of the Jedi,” they were being charged outrageous rates to do ANYTHING since the gougers figured anything to do with a Star Wars movie meant that bottomless pockets were involved. In order to combat this, the filmmakers used a fake title “Blue Harvest” a horror movie complete with hats, shirts, and a marketing tagline of ‘Horror Beyond Imagination.’
I can see Disney utilizing a similar principle in acquiring acres of land, even if the land is supposedly worthless.
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