What are your opinions about the Disney company?

Answer:

Whenever you find a group of people working together, you are bound to find people of immoral character within the group. It is particularly disappointing when a group is founded upon promoting good ideals, but as time passes we find that those ideals have been abandoned.

I know there are many who advocate boycotting Disney because of its recent actions. Yet, these same people do not promote boycotting other movie producers who make similar stands. People are having a reaction to the expectations they had of the company and not to the company itself. The Disney company has never been a company promoting Christian ideas. It is a company that is geared to make money and its target market is the family. Disney's shift in morality is a direct reflection of the shift in American and European views on what is socially acceptable. The fight is not over Disney's stance but over the change in what we as a society accept.

Boycotting is a sledgehammer method for getting a company to change. It rarely works because it is too broad. Instead, people need to vote with their wallets. Purchase products that are wholesome and compatible to Christianity. Walk away from anything that smacks of wrong ideas. If Disney theme parks have a "Gay Day" and the park attendance drops dramatically, it won't be long before such days won't exist. Disney moves toward the money. If Disney, or any studio, releases a film that promotes wrongful ideas -- don't go and encourage your friends not to go to that film. But when a good film does come out, go to it and tell your friends. It won't be long before the dollars drive the studios toward what people want. This is one of the reasons Pixar and Dreamworks have been making strong inroads into what was traditionally Disney's territory. These two companies have proven that good, wholesome films will sell dramatically well.

But more than anything else, we need to return to teaching our neighbors why morality works and immorality fails. We are losing ground in society because we are letting it happen. I regularly ask members here how often they speak up for God's views. If someone mentions that they are living with someone without being married (shacking up), do you tell them that it is a bad choice? Do you even know why it degrades the people involved? When someone speaks of protecting homosexual rights, can you explain why homosexuality is sinful and that sinful actions do not need protection by society? Do you speak up against poor choices in clothing? Do you tell people that you do not like hearing your Lord's name taken in vain? So often we avoid conflict -- just like ancient Israel. "His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, from his own territory" (Isaiah 56:10-11).

The place to fight this war of the heart is with the consumers and not with the producers.

"Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: 'When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.' So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you shall surely die!' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul" (Ezekiel 33:2-9).