# Why is a lack of Disney more worrisome than a lack of God? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 5, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722 "2003-01-05T04:42:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/1 "2003-01-05T04:42:15Z")
As noted in other threads, I intend not to allow animated Disney movies, related merchandise, or the Disney channel in my home. Going so far as to screen gifts if a need is shown. For this I have been made fun of, not just the small jibe that I refer to in the pit thread, but quite nastily in real life as well, including threats to gift Disney movies and dolls as gifts to spite me. Why is this stricture so widely reviled? In contrast my plans not to Christen my child or to take Loren to church has remained unquestioned, even by devout Christians. Mind you I am quite willing to expose my child to religion, or allow others to do so, but I will not allow her to be baptized without her active consent. Why should people be more concerned about Disney than religion? ---
**Author:** ![Cessandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/2 "2003-01-05T04:44:33Z")
Because Disney is mainstream and “normal” and most people have this incredible disgust for anything not “normal” in parenting. I don’t get it. I know people who have been harrassed for _breastfeeding_ (not in public, just in general) for pete’s sake. It’s stupid. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/3 "2003-01-05T04:44:38Z")
Is there a reason you’re not letting Disney into your home? (gotta link as to the other threads too?) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/4 "2003-01-05T04:54:29Z")
Yeah, Disney is more a part of American culture than G-d, and a less controversial subject. all sorts of people disagree on whether or not G-d exists, and what the right religion is, but pretty much everybody likes Disney. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/5 "2003-01-05T04:57:48Z")
I think it’s the whole concept of shielding kids from what the rest of the world and what the Parents Don’t Like™. Whether it’s Disney, or Harry Potter, or other religions, or getting taught evolution. I think it’s wrong. Can’t a parent who has issues with disney movies TALK with their kids about their objections rather than having a blanket ban on all disney movies? Will your child have to wait until they are 18 and move out of the house to see Bambi (a rated G movie) because you’re pissed off that bambi’s mother died? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/6 "2003-01-05T05:03:03Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2802107#post2802107](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2802107#post2802107) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154476](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154476) ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/7 "2003-01-05T05:03:17Z")
Your position seems unfounded and silly. You have given no explanation of your Disney hatred. Why not ban Warner Brothers as well? Even the “no mothers” reason was pretty much defeated in that thread. All of the “if you watch this cartoon in slow motion you can see naughty things” hoopla turned out to be false. If you said “I am against Disney’s copyright lobbying, and my family will not financially support it” that would be an understandable position. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/8 "2003-01-05T05:11:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lee \* > \*\*Why is this stricture so widely reviled? In contrast my plans not to Christen my child or to take Loren to church has remained unquestioned, even by devout Christians. Mind you I am quite willing to expose my child to religion, or allow others to do so, but I will not allow her to be baptized without her active consent. > > Why should people be more concerned about Disney than religion? \*\* Maybe they aren’t. I bet if you were to put a total lockdown on religious items and stuff and not allow others to expose your child to religion, you’d get the same response. See, you’re equating your decision to not baptize your child (a private religious issue) but allow her to be exposed to religions to what looks like your attempt to completely block disney out of your child’s life. Two different things. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/9 "2003-01-05T05:21:44Z")
Thanks for the links **Samclem** , it always helps to know where the person’s coming from (even if it’s with Olivia deHavilland in the Snake Pit). Nothing would make tail wag quicker than to hear that a child is being brought up in a moral household that isn’t based around the tv or religion. But to single out Disney (and maybe grab any story collected by the Brothers Grimm while you’re at it), seems as sensible as saying “I hate tomato soup, I’ve always hated the way it cooks, and I refuse to expose my children to it, you got a problem with that?!”.Hmm. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/10 "2003-01-05T05:42:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Why is this stricture so widely reviled? Because you are so strident on the issue. I deplore the Disney destruction of many valuable fairy tales and I am incensed at the manipulation of copyright laws. However, you go far beyond that position. Rather than ensuring that your children are told the original Grimm (or even Perrault) tales so that they are not denied the contact with the archetypal images of the original _märchen_, you have declared that you will censor all books, all tapes, all toys, and all TV shows, to the point of rather rudely throwing gifts back in the faces of people who have only sought to bring pleasure to your children. In addition, your single-minded hatred of all things Disney means that your children will be deprived of such offerings as _Toy Story_ and _Toy Story II_ that are worthy of anything in Grimm or Andersen in terms of content and of anyone at all in terms of production values. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/11 "2003-01-05T05:56:47Z")
**tomndebb** I am strident on many, many issues. This is the one that people have jumped on. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/12 "2003-01-05T05:59:49Z")
Bugger _Toy Story_, imagine a childhood without _Shrek_ and _Monsters Inc_. 🙂 A childhood without _A Bug’s Life_. And what about all those NON-Disney movies, TV programmes, and children’s stories in which parents (not just mothers) are either totally absent or make totally incidental appearances. Children LIVE in a world dominated by adults who have control. Is it any wonder that they are so enchanted by fantasies in which adults are incidental? My antidote to the problem of religion has been to expose my children to the broadest possible spectrum of religious beliefs and practises possible. I cannot shield my children from exposure to religion, and nor would I want to do so - that would be imposing MY opinions on them. What I CAN do is make sure that they are exposed to the best possible examples I know of any given faith and encouraged to ask questions, and more questions, and MORE questions. I can teach them to examine what they believe and to challenge their own beliefs, but at the end of the day I have to trust them to make the choice which is best for THEM. And teaching children to think for themselves begins at birth - not when they are 18 years old and can be “trusted to think for themselves”. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/13 "2003-01-05T06:10:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I am strident on many, many issues. This is the one that people have jumped on. Perhaps you are more rational on the other issues on which you are strident? As I noted, there is much that I detest about Disney. However, I do not threaten to destroy gifts (or otherwise obstruct my children from receiving them) simply because they do not fit my notion of what is proper. Kids are certainly resilient enough to pick up the good stuff if it is presented to them. It helps if they can see the drek for what it is. **reprise**. I’ll give you _Shrek_ (because Disney did not wholly destroy the effrorts of Steig), but _Monsters Inc._ is merely a clever tale, not a profound one. The _Toy Story_ efforts are truly worthy of preservation. _Monsters_ is merely cute. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/14 "2003-01-05T06:22:10Z")
Shrek is not Disney IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/15 "2003-01-05T06:23:30Z")
**lee** said > [@](#): > > If you want to know if your child is building a bomb, pay attention to what your child does. I will get my child an unrestricted card and I am glad that libraries have such a policy. Just as I want my child to be able to speak freely to a doctor without fear that I will find out about the discussion. Lack of privacy contributes to insanity and some modicum of privacy is needed to maintain human dignity. It is difficult enough living in close quarters with others without the fear that everything you do will be monitored. in [The umbilical cord is cut at birth](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2767789#post2767789). Guess you really didn’t mean it, eh? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/16 "2003-01-05T06:39:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Shrek is not Disney IIRC. True: Dreamworks, not Pixar. (So I don’t even have to concede _Shrek_; and the _Toy Story_ films are still true art.) ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/17 "2003-01-05T06:43:21Z")
_Toy Story_ is only nominally Disney; all Disney did with Toy Story was distribute the film. The entire film was written and produced by Pixar. Our decision to exclude Disney from our house is no different from parents who elect to exclude guns. It’s just that by doing so we have challenged an “American Institution”, which probably makes us terrorists or something like that. I think this proves just how dangerous a phenomenon Disney is, and why were are justified in being concerned about it. ---
**Author:** ![JaxBeachBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@JaxBeachBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaxBeachBoy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/18 "2003-01-05T06:47:07Z")
REPLY not NEW THREAD ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/19 "2003-01-05T06:54:56Z")
**samclem** , if our child wants to watch a Disney movie at the library (or anywhere else), she’ll be free to do so without recrimination. If she brings it home, she can go out and rent the TV to watch it on because it’s not going into the family DVD player or VCR. You people are all agog about “censorship”. This isn’t about censorship. It’s about choosing the values we pass on to our children. Disney, in our opinion, does not reflect those values, and as such is not welcome in our home, any more than Fred Phelp’s or Jack Chick’s pamphlets would be. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722/20 "2003-01-05T07:00:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > \*\*. . .Our decision to exclude Disney from our house is no different from parents who elect to exclude guns. It’s just that by doing so we have challenged an “American Institution”, which probably makes us terrorists or something like that. > > I think this proves just how dangerous a phenomenon Disney is, and why were are justified in being concerned about it. \*\* I think comparing Disney to guns proves how out of proportion this vehement reaction is more than anything else. The reaction in the Pit thread is not so much in defense of Disney as it is a response to the OPs over-sensitive reaction to a mild ribbing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-a-lack-of-disney-more-worrisome-than-a-lack-of-god/146722.md?page=2)