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Just like that, tyranny has descended on Florida.
The state legislature, with the support of Gov. Ron DeSantis, voted to
repeal the �special independent district� enjoyed by Disney for half-a- century.
This is a sign, we are told, of the advent of an American authoritarianism
that brooks no dissent � Disney criticizes a measure supported by the
Florida GOP, the so-called �Don�t Say Gay� bill, and immediately gets
targeted.
There�s a reason this fight escalated to this point, though. Disney was
the aggressor in the battle over the education bill, lied about it and
pledged to work to repeal it.
Even though the bill had nothing to do with Disney whatsoever � nothing to
do with its product, its business model or its employees. The company got pushed into its stance based on pressure from a woke segment of its
employees and from progressives on the outside.
Disney�s case against the bill relied on the smear that the legislation
somehow threatened gay or trans people. In fact, the law merely seeks to exclude inappropriate material from being taught to young children in the classroom � an objective that once would have been considered utterly
banal.
�Classroom instruction,� the law says, �by school personnel or third
parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in
kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state
standards.�
Based on that, Disney went to the mattresses. And it did so, not to serve
its shareholders, enhance its profitability, protect its intellectual
property or align itself with its vast and politically diverse customer
base.
This was, shockingly, an iconic American brand making itself into a free- floating weapon of woke cultural politics in response to the social and political influence of a small number of vocal progressives.
Like so many companies before, Disney calculated the risk/reward of gratuitously taking up a left-wing political and cultural fight and
considered it all reward, no risk. The Florida legislature decided to
convince it that it was wrong.
Republicans have fantasized about exacting revenge on woke corporations
before, but to no effect. Disney�s problem is that it had a glaring vulnerability in the form of an arrangement that can easily be portrayed
as a special favor.
The provisions allowing Disney to govern itself in its special independent district are so extensive that one analyst refers to the so-called Reedy
Creek Improvement District as �the Vatican with mouse ears.�
�Never before or since has such outlandish dominion been given to a
private corporation,� the Florida writer Carl Hiaasen notes in his book
�Team Rodent.� �Disney owns its own utilities. It administers its own
planning and zoning. It composes its own building codes and employs its
own inspectors. It maintains its own fire department. It even has the
authority to levy taxes.�
For good measure, it can build its own airport and nuclear power plant.
Now, that�s all scheduled to go away in a year�s time. Obviously, it is
not a good practice for government to retaliate against a business, even a business enjoying a special status.
This fight could have welcome effects, though, if it convinces Disney it
made a mistake by allowing itself to get bullied and cajoled into becoming
a combatant in the culture war, and convinces other corporations that
there�s a potential price to be paid for joining woke mobs.
Republicans don�t want corporations to become tools in advancing their
agenda; they just want them to exit the culture wars and focus, once
again, on their business, an outcome that would lower the temperature in
the country�s cultural fights at least a little.
Ideally, Disney and the Florida legislature work out a renewal of the
company�s special district before it is set to expire, and that the house
of mouse � and other corporations seduced into making themselves de facto left-wing pressure groups � resolves to stick to its core competency and mission.
Twitter: @RichLowry
https://nypost.com/2022/04/22/disney-totally-earned-its-slapdown-from- florida-lawmakers/
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