Can You Enjoy Something Made by a Company You Don't Respect?
Adam Kadlac, a philosophy professor, wrote something I really, really liked on psyche.co. It's about Disney World. And it's about exactly the same dilemma I tried to describe in my post about big tech a few days ago, just from the physical world instead of the digital one.
His thesis: Disney promotes beautiful universal values. We are all citizens of the world. We are more alike than different. The Symphony of Us and all that. These messages resonate with him. He believes in them.
Also: Disney is a massive profit-driven corporation with a mixed record at best. Labor controversies. Racist caricatures. Problematic portrayals. The usual list.
So here's the question: does the value of his family's experience get undermined by the fact that it's a production of the Walt Disney Company? Can he trust a profit-hungry corporation to teach his children universal values? Does the message need to be sincere for it to matter?
I won't spoil his answer. But if you've ever felt weird about enjoying something made by a company you don't entirely respect, this one will hit home.
Replace Disney with Google, Apple, or Spotify. Same ambivalence. Same complicated feelings.
It's not an easy read if you prefer your moral universe divided into heroes and villains.😉 But if you've already accepted that it isn't, this one will resonate.
The Ethics of Having a Good Time at Disney World — by Adam Kadlac (via psyche.co)