Those who know me on here have heard my views and know my stance for a while: The Hypocrisy of Disney.
They look retrospectively at the slave trade and alter Pirates, they look retrospectively at the Song of the South and change Splash Mountain, they pander to the handful of the PC brigade and alter the fireworks introduction by eliminating "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...." yet they conveniently, for the sake of the dollar, ignore promoting China with Shanghai Disney and the China Pavilion at EPCOT. China, with the worst human rights record on the planet seems to be irrelevant and anonymous to the Disney hierarchy.
So Disney, what's more important? Pandering to the very few who may get offended or making a stand against China where you may influence saving lives? Of course we all know, it is the power of the $ which really speaks to Disney. They are utterly hypocritical and a disgrace.
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@garybg - of cause it is. They are choosing which causes to ban yet ignoring the one which can make the biggest difference to people.
If it is purely based on $ ahead of morals and integrity you are either a loan shark or a prostitute. Take your pick.
The guy who could have been president but instead decided to tank his whole career because of an obsession with transvestites and Mickey Mouse.
I will give credit to Desantis he seems to be the only politician that has been able to unite the country, both Democrats and Republicans are laughing at him.
Changing a culture takes time. You want China to open up and respect human rights and free speech, great. But it’s not going to happen tomorrow, or next week, or next year.
Changes like that need years and years of soft power. Years and years of people being introduced to ideas slowly, until you’ve built a new baseline.
Frankly the “but China” stuff stinks of the “all the other kids are doing it” excuse.
Do you really think you’re telling us something we don’t already know?
I take your point but perhaps there are subtle differences in Disney's approach to the China Pavilion in comparison to the re-theming of some attractions.
I can only speculate that it's because the China Pavilion is part of the World Showcase which essentially sets out to provide a mini world tour offering a flavour of those Countries to those who may not ever get to visit the actual places.
They shouldn't bring politics into that educational travelogue because it raises questions of where do you draw the line. Would you remove Germany, Mexico or Italy for example ? No. Of course not.
I can't argue that China doesn't have it's issues but some might say that so do some others.
I think Disney are probably correct in not changing or removing China from World Showcase else we start a domino effect leaving the area bereft of attractions.
The re-theming of other attractions for political reasons is more disappointing , particularly when they're already so popular as they are, as is the case with Splash Mountain. They have the space to develop into a new area that would accommodate new rides and attractions ( I believe that's the plan anyway ) so they could easily have created new ones with the requisite theming without the need to abandon old favourites,
Rob P - fair points.
>>They shouldn't bring politics into that educational travelogue because it raises questions of where do you draw the line. Would you remove Germany, Mexico or Italy for example ?
Not only that, but politics is as they say, the art of surviving until the end of the week - It's very temporal. The China pavillion is what, about 40 years old now? Its outlasted how many political leaders on both ends? How many different phases in US-Sino relations? The history, culture, and geography of both nations will almost certainly outlast the current political situation, and current political leaders.
Its not hypocritical if all of it is about making money, which it is.