The news is a business.

– Effective… even horrendously biased news… takes time, effort, and (occasionally) the credibility of its reporters. Once that moment has passed, the news moves on to another topic and all that effort doesn’t mean anything.

That time and financial investment into the news is gone. From a monetary standpoint, a news organization may take a financial loss in the effort to report an actual viable news story.

That’s what makes the story of Disney v. DeSantis so valuable. Well, one of the reasons.

It’s hardly worth recapping, but Florida and DeSantis passed a ‘don’t say gay’ bill into legislation.
Although the word ‘gay’ isn’t in the bill, people like rhymes. Say and gay pair together and that’s what stuck, although it’s horribly inaccurate.

In short, the bill states that lessons about sexual orientation should not take place between kindergarten and the third grade. All lessons about sexual orientation should be ‘age-appropriate.’ I’m not sure what that means. But, if it keeps kindergartners from learning about what two men do beneath the sheets I am all for it. The most life-changing topic a child should decide is if she or he will pledge allegiance to chunky or creamy peanut butter.

For reasons I don’t know, Disney is opposed to this. Apparently, they want children from kindergarten to the third grade to be indoctrinated into a trans-friendly curriculum while they’re learning to add single-digit numbers.

DeSantis is so fierce that he’s inspired other states, like Ohio, to plagiarize his policies and expand upon them. Ohio, for example, is keeping the sexual orientation limitation and adding additional provisions – like how the 1619 Project is fooey and should not be included in standard public education. Good for Ohio.

Anyway… back on track… Florida passed the law and Disney is challenging that law.

What is so great about this story is that it’s lazy and resource-friendly. There isn’t anything to research. The law is a law. There isn’t a need to send reporters into hostile territory or spend hours looking up the history of someone. There isn’t any reason to contact the FBI or CIA for covert information. The situation is black and white.

DeSantis v. Disney offers a lot of easy possibilities for a story. Everyone who is anyone who has an opinion will appear on the nightly news. It can be spun in different ways and debated. Since the final judgment is handled by the government, actually having and expressing an opinion will ultimately mean nothing.

Disney, by singling out DeSantis instead of the entire Florida legislature, has turned this story into a drama. It’s the big corporation against the lone man – DeSantis. (Americans have a tendency to favor the underdog. In this case, the lone hero wants to keep the school curriculum appropriate. Does that mean that they agree with his viewpoints? Are liberals * shock * actually agreeing with conservatives?)

This story, because of the drama, is providing cover for the more important, controversial, and resource-intensive stories like Biden’s immigration crisis, Biden’s supply chain debacle, and Biden’s complete failure to keep American interests first.

At the end of the day, much like Will Smith’s Oscar performance, this is just fluff. It’s a distraction. It’s looking at Facebook when there’s a final to write and a dinner to cook.

Of course… why is Disney doing this?
Apparently, they’re so devoted to this bit of fluff that their stock is falling and shareholders are becoming increasingly upset.

I think Disney has become exceedingly pompous. Their purchase of Marvel, Star Wars, and other treasured Americana has inflated their ego to the point where they think that money doesn’t matter. They are DISNEY who thanks China for borrowing slave labor during the production of Mulan. DISNEY who has twisted the copyright law for years to maintain the iconic mouse ears. DISNEY who has made Star Wars and, soon, Indiana Jones into an unabashed cash grab… Don’t get me started on how they’re going to replace actors with CG models that look like actors… is going to ‘revolutionize’ movies.

Anyways…. Disney’s actions in Florida are fluff.
In the end, it doesn’t mean sht and is a nice distraction away from the real problems in the world.