Was Walt Disney an anti-semite?

[bicker]

Not even explanations, so much as cautionary statements about judging while remaining staunchly ignorant of the passage of time.

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

I understand that Walt was most likely not a bigot but things were blown way out of proportion. Regardless of any comments he made I still love Disney and everything he did to further art. But I just don't accept "we've all said things like that at one time" to dismiss racial comments. That's all.

I'm really not sure where the notion that he hated Jews came from.

 

[bicker]

But I just don't accept "we've all said things like that at one time" to dismiss racial comments.

Nor would I. So if you thought that my comment (specifically) was anything related to that, I would suggest you reread what I wrote. My message was about us 21st century people being arrogant about our professed moral superiority.

 

[GeorgeG]

We also have to remember that we tend to look at history with current eyes, and history always looks bad unless one remembers that times were different then, people were different then and the reason why we have made progress in areas such as ethnic or race relations is based on the fact that times were different then and people wanted that to change...so we progress to what we have now.

I always think that 50 or 75 years from now, someone is going to be looking at something we do now that we consider acceptable and say "I can't believe they thought that was OK".

I am quite sure Walt Disney was human. I am quite sure he had the same faults and foibles as the rest of us. From what has been posted, it sounds like he was not any more or less anti-Semitic than anyone else of his era was.

I have to agree. Having grown up in the forties and fifties, things were different. Right, wrong, or otherwise, those were different times with different attitudes about many things. Fortunately, we continue to evolve. Sociology 101 tells us such things don't change overnight, but over generations.

My guess is Walt was very progressive in his day. His many accomplishments prove that. Like it or not, even the most open-minded and good-hearted people back then, as today, sometimes say things they don't truly believe.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Love the creation, not the creator.