nytimez
Nihilist
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2008
This is an urban legend. There is no evidence to support any of this, but there is quite a bit of evidence to the contrary. There are a number of benefits attended or supported by walt Disney that were for minority and Jewish causes. There's a great deal of his personal letters at the Disney library that directly refutes these charges.
Mind you, that doesn't mean he NEVER said or thought things that would be judged harshly, by 21st century standards. He was a product of the first half of the 20th century, and he had the mores of a white man of that time period. He was no more racist, anti-semitic or homophobic than the average man of his time.
I think both of you should read the book "Vault of Walt" right now. Walt Disney was a very open minded and caring man, and there really isn't any evidence of racism, anti-semitism, etc. Any reasoning in this is bunk and this book outlines personal accounts of that and Walt's reasoning behind certain things that may seem racist. One particular thing it brings to light is how Walt didn't want to sugar coat life, in that there is and always will be evil, however good can always triumph over it. Song of the South wasn't him being racist or anything, it was showing the evils of racism and how it can be overcome. I'll sum it up with a Disney quote "When we do fantasy, we must not lose sight of reality."
Back on topic, I see no change to this ride soon, the uproar would be tremendous, its just too classic of a ride to change.
Let's stop turning the man into a saint. Despite the persistent stories over the years, he was not a racist and he was not an anti-Semite by most of the accounts I've read. However, he was also largely indifferent to them and in many ways ignorant -- and certainly not someone actively trying to help either blacks or Jews.
Also, when he turned on the suspected "communists" in his company -- aka the union -- he gave support to anti-commie causes that were also horribly anti-Semitic and were well-known as such at the time. And he did give Hitler's filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl, a personal tour the Disney studios -- although my understanding is he didn't fully realize who she was at the time and when she later wrote to him he never replied.