[I originally posted this directly to Facebook Sunday morning but wanted to post here as well.]
For over a week, I took a break of sorts from scrolling through social media (Instagram and Facebook). The death of one of my former students consumed my emotional energy and I knew that the world had not stopped so I would likely come across plenty that at that point would tip me over the edge.
Over the past day or so, I have allowed myself a few minutes of scrolling to break up the enormous amount of hours dedicated to curriculum planning for this crazy school year. In so doing, I started to notice a trend.
Several weeks back, Netflix posted a trailer a French film called Cuties for acquired the streaming rights to. At that point I started seeing outrage spouted on various platforms. Since I knew nothing about this film, I decided to do a little research. In so doing, I discovered that this film, originally screened at the Sundance film festival in January of this year, did not appear to actually be about what the Netflix promotional video purported. I did not plan to watch it for several reasons the most mundane of which being that I’m on a documentary kick for the limited amount of time that I have for TV watching.
This film started streaming on Netflix on the 9th of this month. (I just Googled the information since I had no idea, even though I just used the platform last night to continue watching a documentary series on immigration.)
Apparently the hashtag #cancelNetflix has begun trending. I saw evidence of that in my Facebook feed and it honestly baffles me.
Obviously, I fully believe that people have the right to spend money or not spend money on whatever they choose for the reasons they believe right.
In this particular case, my mind flashes back to my time in an incredibly conservative culture that supported boycotts of anything and everything that immediately contained a whiff of sin. Not only did the leaders of this culture support these boycotts but they also loudly declared this support and encouraged all of their followers to do the same. Those leaders wanted others to look at them and know that they were boycotting this particular thing. (Disney took the brunt the most times from what I can remember.)
My mind associates the #CancelNetflix trend with this effort primarily because of the declarations on social media. Now, these particular social media platforms did not exist during those times I described above but they often function in a similar manner of declaring to others the users self-defined piety. I know, however, that my time in that highly conservative culture has created certain triggers for me that may result in knee-jerk reactions to certain actions.
Thus, this post.
I’m still in the process of figuring out how I feel about this trend and these actions.
On the one hand, I personally consider deeply where I spend my money and what that particular company or organization stands for and may use my money to enact. I know that others do the same and may come to different conclusions than myself. Thus, they may choose to stop, for example, subscribing to Netflix. Even though I will not do the same, I wholeheartedly support their choice to do so.
On the other hand, I wonder about potential hypocrisy. I wonder because every streaming service, every video service before that (RIP Blockbuster), hosted shows and movies that run contrary to what the Bible tells me as a Christian to do. Yet, I still carried a Blockbuster membership but chose movies with discernment. I subscribe to Netflix and choose what I watch with discernment. I bear in mind that the people who make decisions on content purchases may or may not know Jesus.
Ultimately, I also wonder about the decision of some to post public announcements regarding their decision whether it be to cancel their Netflix or stop eating at Chic-fil-a. What is the motive behind this public declaration? I do not know and will not hazard a guess because I have no idea what goes on their mind and heart.