By PRINTUS LEBLANC
What is going on with the Disney company? The iconic wholesome American icon
known around the world as a family friendly company is currently involved in three
lawsuits that do not scream family. Is the way they are handling business the way Walt
Disney would have handled business?
The Magic Kingdom became the place of nightmares recently. In October of 2014, with
no warning, Disney informed hundreds of their information technology (IT) workers
they had three months left on the job. If the employees wanted to collect their
severance, they would have to train their replacements. For three excruciating
months, Disney forced their employees to train foreign workers brought into the
country to replace them.
The foreign-born workers were allowed to come into the country via the H-1B visa
program. The program was intended to address the lack of IT workers in the U.S. The
program has since become a scam to fire American workers for foreign workers, that
make one-third to one-half of what American workers make.
The former employees are now suing Disney for discrimination. The lawsuit claims
Disney terminated the plaintiffs “based solely on their national origin and race,
replacing them with Indian nationals.” It’s hard to refute that claim when almost all
the foreign workers are from India. They come from India for a good reason.
Essentially, Disney has gone into the indentured servitude business. The foreign
employees cannot complain or ask for more money for fear of getting fired. If they
are fired, their visas are revoked and they are kicked out of the country. Back in their
home country of India, they go to the back of the 70-year waitlist for a green card to
emigrate to the U.S. Disney knows this, and pays them the minimum allowed by the
H-1B visa program, $60,000, and often requires them to work overtime without extra
pay.
Elsewhere, you may remember a series of reports in March of 2012 that aired on ABC,
“World News Tonight” about a meat company called Beef Products Inc (BPI). The
company was a vendor for restaurants such as McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King.
The story prominently featured “pink slime”. In fact, the reporter said, “pink slime”
over 350 times during the reporting. The reporter was referring to what the ground
beef looked like during a cleaning process of the meat. It is completely legal and
sanitary.
As you can imagine, the story did not look good for BPI or its customers. Because of
the stories, BPI lost customers, and revenue decreased by 80 percent. The company
was also forced to close 75 percent of their processing plants.
There’s only one problem. It might not have even been true. As a result, BPI decided
to take action and sue ABC and Disney for defamation. Disney countered with
“freedom of the press” and “freedom of speech” in the First Amendment. It doesn’t
appear be going the way Disney wants.
The lawsuit has moved forward and opening statements began this past Monday in
South Dakota. The case has the potential to be the largest defamation case in U.S.
history, worth an estimated $5.7 billion. Judge Cheryle Gering of the Union County
Circuit Court in Elk Point, South Dakota stated, “A jury could determine that there is
clear and convincing evidence that ABC Broadcasting and Mr. Avila were reckless, that
defendants had obvious reason to doubt the veracity of informants, and that they
engaged in purposeful avoidance of the truth,” Gering said during a hearing last
month.
That’s not all Disney has been up to. They are also suing a small company called Vid
Angel in Utah. Vid Angel is a streaming service that allows the viewer to filter the
content of what they purchased, a movie or television show that is their personal
property. If your children wanted to watch a movie that has adult content, Vid Angel
allowed you to filter the scenes out. Previous generations called this “good
parenting.” It seems Disney wants to be the parents now.
Disney is suing, believing the service is violating the copyright laws, but Vid Angel
does not believe it is violating any copyright laws. When a consumer buys a movie
from the service, Vid Angel buys a DVD or Blu-ray to be streamed through the site. To
ensure the same copy of the film cannot be used again, the company registers the
film’s barcode with the distributors. When the consumer is done with the movie, they
can keep it or sell it back to the Vid Angel. Kind of like a garage sale.
Congress did address the issue with the Family Movie Act (FMA) twelve years ago. The
purpose of the bill was to allow families and individuals to control how they watch
movies in their homes. It allows parents to control what their children see, back to
the good parenting thing.
What Disney is trying to say is that you have no right to change your personal
property. Are they saying you must watch the movie the way they put it together?
When the next Avengers film comes out, are they going to say you can’t fast-forward
through a boring scene or contains content that parents might find objectionable?
To recap, the Disney corporation has become anti American worker and pro
indentured servitude. While doing this, it managed to destroy a company and a small
town with unproven claims, claiming First Amendment rights and it wants to tell you
how to watch their movies.
Who’s in charge of the Magic Kingdom? Because it doesn’t sound like Mickey is.
Printus LeBlanc is a contributing reporter at Americans for Limited Government. You
can read more of his articles at www.netrightdaily.com.
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