Elon Musk declared that Netflix’s peddling of transgender propaganda to children through a number of animated shows is not free speech.
First, Musk charged, “Netflix is grooming our children” in reaction to a clip from Netflix’s Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City that promotes transgender drag queens.
He then shared, “Netflix is deliberately choosing to pay people to create sexualized content for children. Freedom of speech should be respected, but this is PAID speech. Netflix is going out of their way and reaching into their wallet to push this.”
Musk is right. These programs are not free speech. Building on the thought of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, Dr. Edward Feser provides a succinct definition of free speech, “The right to freedom of speech is, more precisely, the right to speak the truth and to uphold the good. This clearly entails some limits on the right to free speech. There can be no right under natural law to speak lies or to promote evil, since that would be directly contrary to the end for which the right to free speech exists.”
Transgenderism is the opposite of the truth. It is a lie. Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington explained to Catholic World Report, “Once you deny the truth and what is real, it will lead to extremes of all kinds. There is no limit to the error that flows from gender ideology.”
He explained, “If we deny there is a God who created us in a moment of time as His beloved child, when we do not accept who we are and how God created us as male or female, we reject all that flows from that, and all that God teaches. Error cannot bring peace or happiness in one’s life. Acceptance of gender ideology increases one’s struggles, and does not make things better. Do not affirm what is false. Respond in truth.”
Musk’s comments about these shows not being free speech come as part of a boycotttt of Netflix that he’s leading due to the numerous shows that are pushing this propaganda.
The list of shows includes:
Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City
Strawberry Shortcake: and the Beast of Berry Bog
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous
The Baby-Sitters Club
Transformers: EarthSpark
Monster High: The Movie
Gecko’s Garage
Ada Twist, Scientist
CoCoMelon Lane
Dead End: Paranormal Park
Ridley Jones
Big Mouth
Sense8
The House of Flowers
Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling
Tales of the City
The Umbrella Academy
Disclosure
A Queen is Born
Back to 15
The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone
Wendell & Wild
Baby Reindeer
Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution
Will & Harper
Emilia Perez
On top of objecting to Netflix due to its promotion of transgender propaganda, he’s also objected to the company pushing anti-white propaganda through a number of its movies such as Family Switch and Leave the World Behind.
Musk’s boycott has led to an over 5% decline in Netflix’s stock over the last five days, losing around $15 billion in value. However, the stock is still up nearly 30% year-to-date.
Free speech and paid speech are not mutuay exclusive. You can be paid for something that is protected by free speech.
If what Netflix does is FREE speech or not is to be determined by the courts. Lies are generally protected under the 1st unless they cause harm. I would agree that that could be argued here but the way society is currently, with too many officials, lawmakers and judges flying the rainbow, I dont think the courts would agree.
But of course Musk is perfectly correct in that what Netflix does is PAID speech, also. Paid by you, as long as you subscribe to Netflix. So stop it.
Perhaps we need a rating system so that parents know what is included in the content that their kids are watching. We could put a T or a Q in addition to the parental control ratings- ie make it PG 13 T if the show has drag queens in it. That was parents can just boycott whatever material they don't want their kids to be brainwashed with.