Look, lil't, I've been complaining about Microsoft's corporate policies for years. I'm no fan of Apple's or Google corporate policies, either, so calling me a hypocrite is just asinine. Just read my past posts. You on the other hand, lump all computer workers in one category (well except for the Japanese ones, but we've covered that already), and then jump through all kinds of hoops to vilify them in one stroke. It simply doesn't work that way.

What is hypocritical, rather, is your constant railing about computer companies invading your privacy when Disney does it in spades. Your rant about iTunes, is exemplary. Why can't I rip movies to a digital medium? Why do I need to keep buying the same movie over & over every time a new format comes out? Why do I have to sit through stupid advertisements and sponsorships every time I put a Disney DVD in my player? WTF is an add for the army doing on my kid's Tinkerbell movie? Disney's got it's grubby hands all over that nonsense. You are quick to scream privacy when it comes to computers, but the minute the topic inches over to movies, all of a sudden, you turn into the biggest corporate tightwad I've seen. Cute, for a little imp, but it doesn't wash.

And I guess you need some more examples of Disney's checkered past. OK, I'll list some more. Back when I was younger I remember a gem called Our Friend the Atom about how we're supposed to all "stop worrying and love the bomb." It isn't for nothing someone made a movie called Dr. Strangelove; are you too dense to see the connection? This was well after Disney died, by the way. There have been a number of recent books describing Disney's distrubing policies, both in the past and the present, but I guess you'd like to ignore those as well.

In case you still didn't know, Von Braun was the brainchild behind Tomorowland. Do you want me to tell you who built Disney's House of the future? Monsanto. Richfield Oil built Autopia. The list goes on: General Electric, McDonald Douglas, and that constant, the US Armed Forces. Disney's long history championing war, rockets, atomic energy, and such social constructs as conformity, the nuclear family, subservience to authority, and the glorification of material possessions permeates their entire message.

Their advertising is carefully selected to promote conservative ideals, the company and it's top brass overwhelmingly support conservative causes, and their products surreptitiously include symbols that perpetuate these ideals. And all this is being presented as child-safe entertainment! I mean are you seriously going to try and defend that? At what point does your conscience give you pause?

You want to talk about how Disney affects the masses today? How about the stereotyping of blacks, Asians, Latinos in all their movies? The stereotypical roles that women have? The formula plots that always have the same ending? The blind faith in the military and technology to solve the world's problems. Need some examples? Why does just about every character who happens to be black have to have exaggerated lips, nose and hair or talk slang (Blackfish, Frozone, Sunflower the Centaur, Sebastian, etc.)? Why is every villain always darker than the rest of the characters and why do they almost always have slanted eyes (Jafar, RedMan, Cruella)? Why are women always portrayed as the "weaker sex" (BoBeep, Jasmine, Cinderella, etc.)? And why are women portrayed with such overly sexualized features with large hips, unnaturally small waists, tiny mouths, and big star-struck eyes? Finally, what's with the obsession with rockets, guns, social hierarchies, and money in the more recent movies? Likewise, it's not OK to whack someone upside the head with a hammer, throw them off a cliff, or kick them in the rear with all your might, but yet, that's all too common in Disney films.

These are all messages that we pretend are OK for children, but really aren't. My guess is that they add the sex, the racism, and violence to cater to the adult audience, knowing full well that these adults will be sitting in the same theater with their kids, and you wouldn't want them to get bored. There's a serious problem with a company that has such a horrid past, refuses to acknowledge any culpability in it, and then continues to perpetuate the same disturbing messages in ways that today are still tolerated. Just as Dumbo and the Jungle Book are now widely seen as overtly racist and sexist, so too will the next generation think this of Monsters Inc. and Cars.

That you refuse to see this, and that you dismiss it outright tells me you're much more of a hypocrite than I am. And the fact that you also dismiss the militarism, the corporate support for ultra-right wing causes, and the ongoing corporatist behavior, tells me you are much more of an arch-conservative than you care to admit. Next time you stand on that soap-box to defend your supposed left-wing causes, don't be surprised if some of the more attentive denizens here point that out to you. I think you're the bigger hypocrite here.