Who would have thought a copyright on a famous Disney mouse would be the target of a political power struggle? Mickey Mouse is at the heart of the Disney empire, which started with Walt Disney. Walt made it his life’s mission to create safe, enriching entertainment for children and adults, taking them on fantastic journeys.
“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.” Walt Disney
The most important thing to parents are their children. Parents do anything to protect them. Walt said, “Our greatest national resource is the minds of our children.” As parents, we are our children’s teachers.
Movies wield influence on both children and adults. Yet relying on outsiders to shape our children’s minds is a risky business. Because inevitably – disseminating that responsibility can disappoint. As parents, we seek out things for our kids that align with our own moral values. Walt Disney helped us do that.
Yet even within Walt’s unmatched collection of endearing films, if one was looking for an attack point – they would find one and dig it up. Walt’s films did not drive any obvious political agenda. Instead, he sought to make people happy, while cultures evolved over time.
Disney then and Disney now are two very different entities. Would Walt have given in to wokeness or cancel culture? His vision was solid and he was not to be deterred. Yet a small faction within Congress, within the GOP, are using Disney’s copyright longevity achievements to punish Disney.
Walt Disney’s Mickey is now threatened when Congress spent years protecting it.
The following excerpts came out of a recent Fox News story published April 07, reporting on the GOP’s campaign to take away Mickey Mouse, by refusing to renew Disney’s copyright on the beloved icon, that continues to delight generations.
FOX news excerpts:
“The most recent copyright extension was in 1998 through the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, also known as the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act” because of Disney’s intensive lobbying efforts. Congress also extended copyright protections in 1976. While the bill applies to all copyrights equally, it was passed at the behest of Disney.”
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind.:
“Our Constitution explicitly states copyrights were not intended to last forever, yet Disney’s relentless lobbying indicates they intend to subvert this clause.”
Joining Rep. Banks on a letter to Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek, are nearly two dozen Republicans who oppose renewing the Mickey Mouse copyright expiring in 2024, according to Fox News.
Congress’ relentless dismissal of copyright law through repeated concessions illustrates GOP hypocrisy. Banks and fellow Republicans clearly unite against Disney’s successful lobbying efforts when Congress complied to protecting Disney’s copyright.
From this writer’s perspective, at this time, the new copyright threat appears to be a GOP attempt to cancel Disney for their controversial sexual orientation content declarations.
They leverage Mickey Mouse in order to accomplish a GOP agenda.
Since the last election, there’s been a growing concern against cancel culture among Conservatives. Yet the quote below is an example of it.
Banks cont:
“If Disney wants to attack American values and young families, Congress should not reward them,” Banks said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
This Banks quote says something different than the previous lobbying statement. Here, he advocates the sexual orientation issue as their legal reason for the non-renewal of the Mickey Mouse copyright.
Do you really want your government strong arming private corporations’ hard-earned copyrights?
If they have the power to use a political agenda to refuse/renew one copyright – they can do the same across the board to all copyrights, even the ones you like.
MPAA guides viewer decisions.
Varying levels of sexual content show up in films throughout the entertainment industry that no one raises an eyebrow about. Sexual orientation appears in modern-day advertising. For some reason now, Disney is the only entertainment corporation under such public scrutiny and attack. Children and adults of all ages find themselves exposed to varying levels of outsiders’ morality in films, video games, television, and the like.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) offers a rating system that gives guidance. Various other rating groups offer explicit film content to help parents decide.
Didn’t the whole sexual orientation issue start in government campaigning for rights for the different sexual groups? Small business owners found themselves in court for doing something as simple as refusing to bake a cake. So why is Disney corp. suddenly the only bad guy?
When parents take a stand on what their kids watch in the future, Disney will see that in their financial profits. You’ll never be able to count on the government to regulate what your kids are exposed to according to your own values. In the end, parents determine what entertainment children see, discounting any public education viewing agenda. That is another story.
