There have been war correspondents since Herodotus chronicled the Persian War of 499–449 B.C. Newspaperman Ernie Pyle famously embedded himself with American foot soldiers during World War II to give folks back home a welcome grunts’ perspective, before he died by enemy fire at the battle of Okinawa. Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall was badly wounded covering the Russo-Ukrainian War when his vehicle got shelled and two colleagues killed. Being a culture war correspondent is much safer than a shooting war one, yet no less historically valuable. As such, I can report that last week brought some major victories against the Left in several battlefronts I’ve covered.
On the Netflix front, the troubled media giant unceremoniously canceled former royal ingrate Meghan Markle’s multimillion-dollar animated dream project, Pearl — more of a woke nightmare. The since deleted logline for it on her joint SJW website with milksop husband and ex-Prince Harry, Archewell (“Shared PURPOSE, Global ACTION, Leading the way with compassion” — geez), read, “A young girl’s heroic adventure as she steps into her power.” Markle had promoted her feminist bludgeon series by crowing that it “celebrates extraordinary women throughout history.” Thanks to the mass exodus of fed-up Netflix subscribers, Markle won’t be one of them. And young girls will be spared her propaganda.
DeSantis, along with other Republican leaders, hit back hard, abolishing Disney World’s special privileges.
Lamented Pearl producer Amanda Rynda, “It would have inspired young girls and spoken to the underrepresented. It would have been so meaningful to our audience.” It would also have annoyed the hell out of them, like all message-heavy pseudo-entertainment. Instead, girls can appreciate more believably strong women, such as Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice), Jo March (Little Women), Anne of Green Gables, and many other immortals.
Meanwhile, on the Disney front, the Mouse House fired its new Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Geoff Morrell after just a few months on the job. Morrell appears to be the sacrificial lamb of Disney’s recent woes, caused by its arrogant injection of woke values into politics in the wrong state, Florida, and against the wrong governor, Ron DeSantis. DeSantis, along with other Republican leaders, hit back hard, abolishing Disney World’s special privileges, negotiated long ago with its family-friendly founder’s regime. The Republican counterstrike is having the desired conservative chain reaction in the culture war.
A recent Wall Street Journal article, “Disney’s Clash With Florida Has CEOs on Alert,” suggests corporate CEOs are now rethinking their Pavlovian bounds into liberal virtue signaling: “In private meetings and coaching sessions over the past few weeks, top business leaders have been asking a version of the same question: How can we avoid being the next Walt Disney Co.?”
It may be too late for Subway. Last year, the sandwich franchise made the stupid decision to make unpleasant, unattractive, anti-American, anti-man women’s soccer “star” Megan Rapinoe their TV spokeswoman. Not only did her team fail to win Olympic gold in China, her selection outraged patriots and family heads — Subway’s customer base — and consequently franchise owners. Many were incensed by one particularly insipid commercial in which Rapinoe kicks a soccer ball at a man, knocking a burrito out of his hand. The New York Post on Thursday reported abysmal 2021 numbers for the chain. Subway had to close 1,043 outlets, reducing its footprint by nearly 5 percent.
Sony Pictures took the hint, noting the changing political winds. The studio remarkably rejected China’s demand to remove the Statue of Liberty from the action climax in Spiderman: No Way Home ahead of its release in that country. When Chinese censors subsequently asked if the American icon could be made less prominent, Sony executives again refused to comply. That they stuck with Lady Liberty against the Great Wall of communist censorship is nothing short of astonishing, especially given the fact that the two previous installments earned $116 million and $200 million in China.
Another Marvel superhero also survived the left-wing lynch mob — Guardians of the Galaxy leader Star-Lord, played by Chris Pratt. Pratt is a rare outspoken Christian in Hollywoke, who worships at the perceived-to-be-gay-unfriendly Zoe Church. Attackers cited a new trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder, where Pratt reacts in discomfort to a homoerotic gag with Chris Hemsworth. This was until Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director James Gunn entered the fray, tweeting, “Chris Pratt would never be replaced as Star-Lord but, if he ever was, we would all be going with him.”
The recent conservative victories may or may not be the motive for Monday’s earth-shaking leak of a Supreme Court draft revealing a majority vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. The draft, verified by Chief Justice John Roberts, trumpets what we religious conservatives have solemnly prayed for much of our lives. Many suspect the leak was a Hail Mary pass by a progressive SCOTUS insider willing to set his or her career on fire to turn the political tide. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on the November elections, though conservative advancements in the culture war very much include protection of unborn babies.
And if Andrew Breitbart was right and politics is downstream from culture, the red tide will only rise. And whatever ruin it wreaks on the left, your humble culture war correspondent will be there to report it.