Offering advice to politicians and preachers may be a disappointing way to make a living. This didn’t stop Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne from warning, “Religious people should always be wary of the ways in which political power is wielded and skeptical of how economic privileges are distributed. They should also be mindful of how their own traditions have been used for narrow political purposes, and how some religious figures have manipulated the faith to aggrandize their own power. The doctrine of original sin and the idea of a fallen side of human nature apply to people who are religious no less than those who are not.”
Dionne sounds down right prophetic in these words. Maybe we could dispatch him to Tallahassee, Fla., for a session with Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Perhaps DeSantis needs a history lesson. Since the governor has a high sensitivity level to how history lessons are delivered in Florida’s public schools, it might not be easy to get him to sit still for a history lesson. So start by reassuring the governor that this has nothing to do with slavery, segregation, Black Lives Matter or Critical Race Theory. Tell him this is about what happens when powerful entities decide to take on Disney.
While there are plenty of reasons to dislike DeSantis’ revenge romp on Disney, my purpose here is not to criticize the governor, but to offer him a fair warning.
Revenge campaigns are not that popular
DeSantis may have images of young David dancing in his head. He has decided to take his slingshot and his little bag of smooth round pebbles and take on the giant, Goliath. DeSantis may have misinterpreted the strength of the Magic Kingdom with his religious outrage over gays and American history. Time will tell how this battle ends, but as for now, war has been declared on Disney. What is the world coming to now? Will conservatives completely lose their minds and go after the Golden Goose?
“Revenge can be the emotional equivalent of a boomerang.”
In general, revenge campaigns are not that popular. The vengeful have a way of getting confused and making emotional decisions that are more hurtful. Revenge can be the emotional equivalent of a boomerang. You throw it at someone, that person ducks, and the boomerang circles back and hits you in the head.
Revenge doesn’t age well. Gandhi, a gentle soul, warned, “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” And Anne Lamott writes in Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith: “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis . (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
DeSantis reminds me of Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus: “So be it! From this time we are enemies, you and I! … And this I swear: To my last breath I shall block you on earth, as far as I am able!” Salieri was presuming he had the power to teach God lessons.
Whether DeSantis’ ego has reached such heights of arrogance is beyond my discernment. I do believe DeSantis turned a political ploy into a plot to destroy Disney. Shades of Pharaoh. Remember Pharaoh being obsessed by irrational fear to the extent that he made an executive decision to destroy the children of his slaves — the next generation of his cheap slave labor.
Walter Brueggemann notes, “The one with the most is the one who is the most anxious in irrational ways.” Pharaoh decides against his own economic interest as “his self-destructive policies contradict his own stated needs.” Pharaoh’s greed and fear became destructive for the Israelites and for Pharoah.
Do you suppose DeSantis would be open to this biblical analogy from ancient history? Would he entertain the idea that he is biting the hand that feeds the state of Florida? Is he really determined to do damage to the cash engine known as Disney World?
A lesson from the SBC boycott
Now to the specific situation. Specifically, the declaration that Disney has become Public Enemy No. 1 already has a history. In 1997, the Southern Baptist Convention declared war on Disney — a boycott. Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war were now supposed to take Disney off their vacation plan lists. Children in Southern Baptist homes were to be told, “Sorry kids, no Disney this year, because Disney is on the ‘naughty list.’”
How did this work out for the mighty SBC?
Richard Land
Listen to some of the rhetoric from the SBC leaders back in 1997. Richard Land, the president of the SBC’s public policy agency, declared, “The clock is running; the alarm goes off next June. Unless Disney is far more forthcoming in their sensitivity to Southern Baptist concerns, I predict it will be a bumpy road ahead.”
In 1997, the SBC launched its boycott. It adopted a resolution urging Southern Baptists to “refrain from patronizing The Disney Company and any of its related entities.” The resolution said, “The Disney Company has not only ignored our concerns, but flagrantly furthered this moral digression in its products and policies.” It accused the Disney Company of “increasingly promoting immoral ideologies … which are biblically reprehensible and abhorrent to God.”
After the resolution’s adoption, the SBC busied itself identifying Disney-owned companies and telling Southern Baptists how to boycott the corporation.
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said, “Michael Eisner, Donald, Mickey, and company had better listen — there is a thunderous outrage building outside the Magic Kingdom.”
The boycott started with rhetorical bombs bursting in air but fizzled into a whimper by 2002 and a complete disappearance before the end of that year. Now, it’s 2022 and the SBC once again has Disney squarely in its site. But not for a boycott. This time, the SBC is coming to the heart of the beast — the home of Disney — Anaheim, Calif., for its annual meeting. Convention messengers already have registered for the event and purchased package deals provided by Disney to enjoy all the rides, entertainment and excitement Disney brings to the game. Forget boycotts and outrage. It’s party time Disney style. And rushing back and forth between Disneyland and the convention center, Southern Baptists will declare support for DeSantis, but the sound will be mostly muted.
A lesson learned?
The Southern Baptists learned their lesson. Instead of battling Disney, they joined the Disney illusion of being the “happiest place in the world.” A recent Religion News Service story, “Southern Baptists may cheer DeSantis’ war on Disney but don’t expect a boycott,” suggests DeSantis may have bitten off more than he can chew.
Yonat Shimron interviewed Pastor D.J. Jenkins in writing this piece. “Pastor Jenkins’ daughter, Piper, turns 13 in less than two weeks, and she is going to Disneyland. It won’t be the first time: The Jenkins family has an annual pass to the theme park about 40 miles south of their Studio City, Calif., home.”
“I haven’t seen anyone from a pastoral position or a leadership position in a Southern Baptist entity saying anything about ‘Southern Baptists need to speak out against Disney,’” said Jenkins, 41, who leads a small Southern Baptist congregation called Anthology. “The younger people don’t want to do that.”
Another Southern Baptist, Dan Darling, told her, “I don’t sense a national movement to boycott Disney.” Darling is director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Maybe they did the math and found out that boycotts don’t work.”
Perhaps Southern Baptists have recovered from that mode of stomping around the country demanding that everyone kowtow to their self-righteous notions. Or maybe they did the math and found out that boycotts don’t work.
The boycott of Disney by the Southern Baptists and the boycott of Chick-fil-A by liberals suggests that nothing really changes when businesses are attacked. People who like Disney, even Southern Baptists, keep going to Disney attractions. Liberals who love Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches keep queuing up for a No. 1 to go.
The Southern Baptist boycott of Disney fell apart and by 2002 couldn’t even raise an “amen” from the outrage section. Disney, on the other hand, shrugged off the attack and kept singing, After eight years of Southern Baptists shunning Disney two decades ago, the company has only grown stronger and more popular. Attendance continues to grow and “Bling, bling” and “Ca Ching, Ca Ching” drowns out “Shame, shame.”
Moralistic politicians
The only people sounding like last-century preachers now are the politicians.
Ted Cruz, for example, recently unloaded on Disney. “I think there are people who are misguided, trying to drive, you know, Disney stepping in, saying, you know, in every episode now they’re gonna have, you know, Mickey and Pluto going at it. Like, really?” Cruz said. “It’s just like, come on guys, these are kids, and you know, you could always shift to Cinemax if you want that. Like, why do you have — it used to be, look, I’m a dad. You used to be able to put your kids on the Disney Channel and be like, alright, something innocuous will happen,” he went on.
Why do moralistic politicians end up sounding creepy when sexuality enters the room?
While Disney seems to have suffered a defeat from the Florida legislature overturning its special status in the state, all the cards in this battle are yet to be played. Behind the scenes, where the real powerbrokers make deals, the outcome for Disney may be much different. DeSantis probably knows this, but he will pound on this issue and pound on it like a man trying to get the last gob of ketchup to turn loose from the sides of its octagonal bottle and splatter onto his over-cooked cheeseburger and his white shirt.
Maybe DeSantis is smart enough to know that this “too shall pass.” He’s not really an enemy of Disney. He wouldn’t want to kill the goose that lays so many golden eggs in Orlando. Maybe he’s just calloused enough to know that he’s fishing for votes so he can be the next president of the United States in 2024.
After all, attacking Disney doesn’t make economic sense. Conservatives are not usually the opponents of Big Business, and Disney really is big business. Disney has gobbled up ESPN, ABC, the History Channel, National Geographic, and many other brands. The corporate monster resembles the Milky Way devouring smaller galaxies in her relentless journey across the cosmos. Disney revenue sits at about $70 billion a year.
DeSantis will find a way to make peace with Disney. Of course, there’s a chance this will all come back around and hit him at the ballot box where he could lose his bid to be re-elected governor of Florida. If kids could vote, DeSantis would be history.
Either way this plays out, my question still stands: Can DeSantis learn anything from history?
Rodney Kennedy
Rodney W. Kennedy currently serves as interim pastor of Emmanuel Freiden Federated Church in Schenectady, N.Y., and as preaching instructor Palmer Theological Seminary. He is the author of nine books, including the newly released The Immaculate Mistake, about how evangelical Christians gave birth to Donald Trump.
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