August 20, 2020

"Reed Hastings is the founder and CEO of Netflix. Here is he and his leadership team — the whole lot of them grooming little girls for sexual exploitation."

"These are little girls, and this Netflix show has the acting like strippers as a way of finding their way to liberation. What is wrong with these Netflix people? Do they not have children? Do they think our daughters are only valuable insofar as they can cosplay as sluts who are sexually available to men? What is wrong with you, Netflix?"

From "Cuties" by Rod Dreher (at The American Conservative).

The Titania McGrath take:

77 comments:

Bruce Hayden said...

It has long bothered me too.

Floris Pennywise said...

I guess we know what happened to Epstein now.

tim maguire said...

The only thing or culture does with the same enthusiasm as condemning pedophiles is encouraging people to see children as sex objects. The message is clear: desire, but don't you dare act on it.

whitney said...

4chan has posted that they will permanently ban anyone who post images from that show because 4chan doesn't sexualize children.
4chan is better than Netflix.
Let that sink in.

MikeM said...

Pimpflix, for the discriminating pederast.

ALP said...

This is a great place for my bra story. Shopping for bras as a AAA+ cup is no fun. I don't really need a bra - wear it as a public service mainly so my nipples don't poke holes in my shirt. There are chubby MEN out there that have bigger tits than I do!

There I am at Macy's - with at least a thousand bras. They go on and on. Yet I cannot find ONE that isn't made with padding and wires that is not too big. Just need a simple bralette - don't need any fracking wires. None to be found - I try all of the smallest cup sizes I can find. Its all too big, too padded, too wirey. After 40 minutes or so I am impatient and fed up that a store THAT BIG can't meet my needs with one bra.

In desperation I try the department for teens. What do find there? Teeny, tiny little push up, padded bras with WIRES. Da fuck's sake - what the FUCK? Nothing else. Not one little, simple, stretchy bra. Not a one. I am standing there looking at these...what can I say...Whore-in-training bras? When I was a young girl - you young whippersnappers - your first bra was functional. Not ugly necessarily. Just did the job and did not imply "showing off" which is the message I get from a push up, lacy, wire bra for a 12 year old.

Not surprised at this - my story took place decades ago. And thankfully, the 'bra space' has changed and online options are everywhere.

h said...

How many years ago was the Jon Benet Ramsey story? (Answer: Died on Christmas 1996.) Didn't we (as a society) learn anything from that? Of course this twerking story is a more egregious example of sexualizing young girls by adults. Perhaps the fascination with the "mystery" of Ramsey's death deflected attention from the creepy dressing up and make-up of 7 year olds for "beauty contests".

buwaya said...

They are the depraved, decadent administrators of all your institutions.
Their peer group sees no issue with such things, those who approve their executive compensation packages, or the boards that oversee their policies.

Your upper caste is weak and lacks all virtue. Which is why your people have lost confidence in them, and also why they are defending themselves by attacking the American volk.

Its all one big war, now.

Sebastian said...

"I know a predator when I see one"

Progs are predators on the entire culture.

Vance said...

I thought they were grooming these girls to be sent to Joe Biden's basement? Isn't Netflix hard left?

And those girls look like something Joe Biden dreams about at night. Utterly repulsive, really.

Netflix, the left, and pedophilia... quite the connection there.

Bill Peschel said...

Remember the JonBenet Ramsey murder case and how the 6-year-old was groomed for beauty pageants? And how people were appalled at the photos?

Netflix said, "Hold my beer."

Earnest Prole said...

She starts to explore her femininity, defying her family’s traditions.

I take it from the actors’ names that the family’s traditions are Muslim. It's always nice when Senegalese and American fundamentalists can find common ground.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

This is my Epstein died. He knew about all this garbage. Was a part of it. I'll bet Billy Jeff does too.
Freaking criminals.

jaydub said...

There's a sequel to "Cuties" coming next season called "Hussein, Abu Amy" in which Amy is sent to study film in Manchester, England and where she is groomed for the cinema by a theatrical agent named Hussein and his brother, Omar. The plot is still under development but the story line basically follows the "My Two Dads" formula except there turn out to be a dozen other Muslim men who also want to be her Abu and help with the grooming. The plot develops around her zany movie roles and hilarious cultural clashes with her new co-stars. The pilot where she undergoes genital mutilation is already in the can. Unfortunately, this comedy is only going to be shown in England due to some archaic child labor laws in the US.

whitney said...

Netflix was founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph.

The first of the founders, Hastings, is the great-grandson of Alfred Lee Loomis and Ellen Holman Farnsworth. Loomis was an investment banker and scientist involved in development of radar and the atomic bomb, and also helped develop the electroencephalogram and studied brain waves with it. His laboratory was a meeting place for many very famous scientists like Einstein, Fermi, Bohr, Heisenberg. His cousin was Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War for Taft, FDR, and Truman, and Secretary of State for Hoover, and who oversaw the Manhattan Project which created the atomic bomb. One of Alfred Lee Loomis’ children–Henry Loomis, Reed Hastings’ grand-uncle, was the director for the Voice of America under Eisenhower, and president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting under Nixon, both of which are public broadcast arms of the U.S. government (foreign and domestic, respectively.) . Henry Loomis also directed research for the United States Information Agency and served on the board of the Mitre Corporation, who worked with the CIA and DoD. Alfred Lee Loomis also predicted the Great Depression and bought a ton of gold beforehand, then got even richer by buying the stocks of companies at their lowest.

The second founder, Randolph, has connections that are perhaps even crazier. His great-granduncle is Sigmund Freud, pioneer of psychology, who studied unconscious desires that control people, the effects of trauma, the effects of childhood incidents, etc. Even more insane is Randolph’s grand-uncle, Edward Bernays, an Austrian-American who was heavily involved in the field of propaganda, and who basically started the modern field of ‘public relations’. He worked in PR for the United Fruit Company, who was involved with the CIA’s overthrow of Guatemala’s democratically elected government in 1954. Here are some quotes about how Bernays felt about propaganda and the common man.

“Bernays’ vision was of a utopiansociety in which individuals’ dangerous libidinal energies, the psychic and emotional energy associated with instinctual biological drives that Bernays viewed as inherently dangerous, could be harnessed and channeled by a corporate elite for economic benefit. Through the use of mass production, big business could fulfill the cravings of what Bernays saw as the inherently irrational and desire-driven masses, simultaneously securing the niche of a mass-production economy (even in peacetime), as well as sating what he considered to be dangerous animal urges that threatened to tear society apart if left unquelled.

Bernays touted the idea that the “masses” are driven by factors outside their conscious understanding, and therefore that their minds can and should be manipulated by the capable few: “Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help to bring order out of chaos…Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”

“Propaganda was portrayed as the only alternative to chaos.”

cacimbo said...

"Toddlers & Tiaras" was on for nine seasons.If the customers want it - Hollywood hypocrites and their ilk are gonna deliver.

themightypuck said...

SNL could do a Coneheads callback with Twerkheads where the only two jokes are adults dressed up as children and the line "we are from France."

Krumhorn said...

We're long past worrying about any of this. With all the other perversions out there, it's hard to get exercised about sexualized 11 yr old girls or or pretty young boys? After all, anyone should be able to love whomever they want. Presumably, that would also include goats or ducks.

- Krumhorn

Joe Smith said...

Lefties are dressing their boys up as girls and their girls as boys. Some are even 'transitioning' their pre-teen children with drugs, and eventually surgery via court orders.

It seems that if parents 'own' their kids in this sense, why can't a mom or dad turn their 11-year-old into an exhibitionist whore if they want to?

Besides, I bet Joe would find their hair quite sniffable...

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Love wins, bigots.

mockturtle said...

It was inevitable that the follow up to gay marriage and sexual transitions that pedophilia would be next. After that, presumably, bestiality. It's up to us--parents, grandparents and consumers--to stop this now. If you subscribe to Netflix, unsubscribe. Let TV sponsors of pedo-suggestive programs that you hold them responsible for their content.
If the WA state 'comprehensive sex education bill' is defeated in November [there were more than enough signatures to make it a referendum] I'll know that people care. If it passes, I'll know that people are willing to sacrifice our children to Moloch.

stutefish said...

Rod Dreher is an annoying little scold, isn't he?

I find the sexualization disgusting. But I think of "grooming" as something a lot more direct, and a lot more personal. I don't doubt there's quite a bit of grooming going on behind the scenes of this program. I don't think what the CEO and other executives have done, by greenlighting the program, qualifies as grooming. Part of the larger picture of child sexualization in our society? Yes. Grooming? No.

Also:
whitney said...
4chan has posted that they will permanently ban anyone who post images from that show because 4chan doesn't sexualize children.
4chan is better than Netflix.
Let that sink in.


4chan is a cowboy operation. It exists entirely at the mercy of Internet regulators. Anything even remotely realated to child porn would get them shut down instantly. It's one of the things they take a very hard line on. And rightly so.

Netflix, on the other hand, is part of the establishment. Netflix has investors. Netflix has lobbyists. Netflix has people in its corner who are part of the same 1% that embraced Jeffrey Epstein for so many years.

Retail Lawyer said...

Society is so libertine in every other way, it seems out of character to object to the sexualization of children. It is the last holdout and so I watch it expecting the damn to start to leak.

madAsHell said...

Imagine the mother's pushing their child in this way?

Now, imagine Rage Mom's in Portland?

GatorNavy said...

Ha! Time to gun up, sheeple

n.n said...

McGrath missed an inflection point in Feminist progress, where reproductive rites were revived under the Twilight Faith, Pro-Choice quasi-religion, and Planned Parenthood protocol. They have been indulging liberal license in the spirit of leftist ideology ever since. Keep girls... women available, affordable, and taxable.

rcocean said...

I'm not sure why more people aren't upset at this, but maybe this the next step toward the progressive utopia. Or maybe the Hip Wine Moms of Suburbia don't want to be prudes. After all, that's their second greatest fear - that someone will call them a prude or a Christian. Their number one fear is to be called "racist". Of course.

We'd "unsubcribe" as suggested by Mock Turtle, but we never subscribed in the first place.

Howard said...

Twerking is a great exercise to loosen up the hips before swinging Kettlebells. Joe Bob says check it out

n.n said...

Love wins, bigots.

Netflix, liberal ideology, social progress... They're Pro-Choice, selective, opportunistic, and highly politically congruent, but rarely democratic.

Howard said...

I used to live a few blocks from Reed Hastings in Santa Cruz. Never met the dude. The Blockbuster store down the hill on Mission Street was famous for losing your returned videos then turning a collection agency on to you without ever notifying you of the lost tape.

It was henceforth known as the Blockbuster that spawned Netflix. It's a bike shop now.

Why do you people hate capitalism?

Unknown said...

check out the fresh ass!

allright hwood

Howard said...

Althouse theme Fat shaming bad, slut shaming good.

Geoff Matthews said...

I've been told that the movie is criticizing the way girls are sexualized.
But the poster seems to embrace it.
For many, I think that this distinction will be lost. Much like how Scarface is a cautionary tale about crime.

rhhardin said...

The audience is female. Like beauty pageants. They're for women, celebrations of their attractiveness to men.

Men, if allowed to do so, enter farm animals in such contests.

Will J. Richardson said...

Muhammad married Aisha when she was six and consummated the marriage when she was nine, so in certain parts of the world, these children are of age.

rhhardin said...

In the 50s a little girl down the street had an outfit with fake (excess fabric) boobs built in. Apparently pretending you have boobs is a little girl idea. It certainly wasn't any of the boys around taking part in the fantasy.

Another suggestion that the audience for this is female.

Michael K said...

His great-granduncle is Sigmund Freud, pioneer of psychology, who studied unconscious desires that control people, the effects of trauma, the effects of childhood incidents, etc. Even more insane is Randolph’s grand-uncle, Edward Bernays, an Austrian-American who was heavily involved in the field of propaganda, and who basically started the modern field of ‘public relations’.

The book I'm reading, "The Long March," which described the Gramscian march through the culture, credits Freud for a lot of the destruction of tradition al culture. He was a big part of it.

rhhardin said...

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) was good. The little girl is sexualized but only the audience within the movie is scandalized. The little girl likes it, and is foul-mounthed as well, as I recall, so as to play off assumed innocence. A splendid farce. The plan originated with her dirty old grandfather, who had helpful unauthorized worldly tips for her. She herself wanted to be a star and win the contest, no illusions about it.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Dreher gives Trump grief in the column for half agreeing with Qanon who says we are being ruled over by a cabal of satanic, pedophile, cannibals. But, considering stuff like this, parties attended by big Hollywood celebrities where they consume cakes shaped and decorated to look like human beings, and John Podesta's art collection:

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=john+podesta+art+collection&qpvt=john+podesta+art+collection&form=IGRE&first=1&scenario=ImageBasicHover

What would be the difference if it was true?

Leora said...

The promo for "Cuties" motivated me to cancel my subscription. I had been meaning to any way but it got me to act.

doctrev said...

Hot dang, every few minutes I refresh the trailer for Cuties- and every few minutes there are another thousand dislikes piling up on it. Netflix should be careful, I don't think a video approving of Hitler would get this kind of rapid and total pushback from a global audience. By the way, that is a very interesting blurb about Reed Hastings, whitney. I already knew what type of ancestry Hastings was going to have the second I read the movie synopsis, but it's nice to have it confirmed. Cuties' producer is Zangro- you'd have to dig fairly hard to realize that his real name is Zangroniz, with dual French-Israeli citizenship, because of course.

http://clermont-filmfest.com/02_marche/01_catalogue/commun/part2.pdf

But to be clear, whatever problem I might have with Zangroniz or even Bloomberg pales compared to filthy, sub-moron traitors like Rod Dreher. The gormless Pharisee granola douche wants to cast a shadow over QAnon, despite the fact they've gone out of the way to expose the global Satanic pedophile cult that Dreher denies existing... yet wants the outrage clicks from "ooh, how dare Netflix release this! It couldn't possibly be tied to any broader pattern in society!"

Traitors within our walls have to be dealt with first.

bagoh20 said...

Pedoflix: Subscribe today and win a chance at an all expenses paid vacation extravaganza on Pedophile Island via a luxury first class ticket on The Lolita Express!

Sally327 said...

After watching the trailer it looks like this show confirms a lot of Muslim stereotypes about the secular West, mainly that if females are allowed freedom they will immediately use it, or be used by others, for sexual or lascivious, degenerate purposes. So I'm not sure what the motivation behind this show really is.

On a lighter note, I highly recommend the movie, "Little Miss Sunshine".

Dude1394 said...

I subscribed to Netflix to watch Ozark. That’s done so this is as good a reason to cancel as anything.

The Vault Dweller said...

It was inevitable that the follow up to gay marriage and sexual transitions that pedophilia would be next.

I don't think it was inevitable. And when people make arguments like that people will correctly point it out as a slippery slope fallacy. However, I do think it is reasonable to point out that as traditional values surrounding sexuality lessen and values surrounding individuality and individual agency regarding all things sexual rise, some might start pushing boundaries on things like pedophilia. Those that favor really strong values surrounding individual agency regarding all things sexual over estimate the strength of the argument, "Yeah but children can't consent they're not adults." 18 is an arbitrary number as can be seen by lots of countries in Europe that have far lower ages regarding consent. While I believe that pedophilia isn't a mandatory down stream effect from allowing same sex marriage, some of the emotions surrounding it can be harnessed for pedophilia. While there is a completely reasonable distinction between the two, humans are not 100% rational creatures. And many times we use our cognitive power to rationalize positions that our emotions are already pushing us towards.

Drago said...

Howard: "Althouse theme Fat shaming bad, slut shaming good."

How predictable of you.

Since 11 is apparently not too young to be sexually exploited according to you, what age, if any, is?

And if we bookend the discussion with the question of how long after birth should post-birth abortion should be allowed (some lefty "deep thinkers" say up to a year) we could identify the potential Period Of Lefty Non-Harvesting Of Youth For Sexual Gratification And Profit Making.

And remember, ALL of Althouse lefties and LLR's are on record as being pro-open borders and unrestricted child trafficking because we mustnt interfere with the activities of the "spark of divinity" MS13-ers and cartels.

Tomcc said...

Mockturtle; After that, presumably, bestiality.
You may recall the scorn heaped upon Rick Santorum for making that connection a few years ago. We conservatives and our imaginary "slippery slopes!" What prudes we are!
Somewhat related: years ago my daughter (about 10 y.o.) was in a dance class and I attended their recital at the end of the term. I sat next to a mom who had a daughter the same age as mine. When the 12-14 y.o. girls came out wearing very form fitting and revealing outfits we looked at each other and our jaws dropped. The design was created by the studio owner- but the mom's(!) made them. End of dance lessons at that place.

policraticus said...

The most shocking thing about this is that anyone is shocked.

You remember what came between Brooke and her Calvin's, don't you?

Sexualizing children is what elite media does, and has done for a long time. No one who has ever suffered through Dance Moms should be surprised in the least.

Jon Ericson said...

Netflix Apologizes For “Inappropriate” ‘Cuties’ Poster That Was Criticized For Sexualizing Children

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"cuties" - all that's missing is the "anal"
Leftists are free thinkers - they love pedophilia. That's why Epstein is dead.

JaimeRoberto said...

Is this one of the shows the Obamas were hired to produce?

Earnest Prole said...

I've been told that the movie is criticizing the way girls are sexualized. Much like how Scarface is a cautionary tale about crime.

Or how The Godfather is a cautionary tale about how you can lose your soul -- no doubt over the heads of Althouse commenters' dopey contingent.

dustbunny said...

Valerie Jarrett is on the Netflix Board of Directors.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Trump is such a Nazi that he is even against pedophilia!

... and cannibalism !

iowan2 said...

Dog fighting got a quarterback fired. I said at the time, he would have fared better it he had abused children. Society has warped their own priorities. Animals elicit a more emotional response than a child.

Steven said...

I've been told that the movie is criticizing the way girls are sexualized.

Yeah, see, the problem there is that in order for your live-action scripted film to depict the sexualizing of young girls so you can criticize it, you yourself have to do all the sexualizing of the young girls that appear in your film.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

The audience is female.

The audience is MAP. Minor Attracted Person. Do not use the slur of pedophile. Love is love.

Ficta said...

I'm sure Netflix was completely blindsided by this reaction. They shouldn't have been, but I can see how it happened. Missing from much of the commentary is some important context. The movie is French. Written and directed by a French woman of Senegalese ancestry. I'm sure Netflix assumed that it would be a niche product that would garner them some easy feminist/multicultural virtue points. They just didn't stop to think...

Geoff Matthews said...

Steven wrote:

Yeah, see, the problem there is that in order for your live-action scripted film to depict the sexualizing of young girls so you can criticize it, you yourself have to do all the sexualizing of the young girls that appear in your film.

/quote

Exactly.

n.n said...

Trump is such a Nazi that he is even against pedophilia!

... and cannibalism !


Trump is not a Nazi, not even a Dezi, he does not indulge diversity dogma (i.e. class-based judgments and labels). Trump is Pro-life, he stands with the Fetal-American minority, and opposes redistributive change: cannibalism, reduce, reuse, recycle..

mockturtle said...

No, Ficta. I'm afraid the entertainment media have been pushing the envelope to its limits and are just reacting to the pushback. They're not the least bit sorry.

mockturtle said...

Iowan2 @8:21, apt observation.

doctrev said...

Steven said...
you yourself have to do all the sexualizing of the young girls that appear in your film.


8/20/20, 8:30 PM

Wrong. "Trust" is a movie about a young girl who ends up victimized by an adult. The movie goes out of its way not to grossly sexualize her, while also demonstrating how a Taken-style stalking of sex offenders by an amateur might go in real life. It's a powerful and important film, and made by David Schwimmer, who proves himself to be surprisingly righteous given the banal silliness of his sitcom character.

Arguably "Sucker Punch" could have done with some sexualization even as it decried male oppression, or it might have done better with audiences. But if you find yourself saying that sexualizing children is important to the story you're telling, you might be better off just avoiding the story.

Narr said...

from the little snippet I saw, at least none of the lolitas are actually cute. Even if my tastes ran that young those holettes wouldn't rate.

Another reason to congratulate myself on not having Netflix.

Narr
It's bitches and ho's all the way down

Krumhorn said...

Those who make the "slippery slope fallacy" argument need to listen to NAMBLA folks make their case for the sanctity and validity of man-boy luv. Mockturtle, as usual, nailed it squarely.

- Krumhorn

Jay Vogt said...

I think the thinking is a bit outdated here. I have been reassured that, "It takes a village", so if the village thinks it's okay, then the fault is on the overly inhibiting parents.

Glad I could clear that up for you.

tim in vermont said...

"Yeah, see, the problem there is that in order for your live-action scripted film to depict the sexualizing of young girls so you can criticize it”

Exactly. The Disney Channel is a pedophile wonderland, replete with stage mothers happy to tell their daughters that there are things she has to do if she really wants to be a star.

tim in vermont said...

"The movie goes out of its way not to *grossly* sexualize her,”

Yes, I am sure it’s all very ‘tasteful.'

Ficta said...

"They're not the least bit sorry."

I didn't say they were. I just said I bet they were surprised.

tim in vermont said...

Howard is now calling 11 year old girls sluts. Good job Netflix on hitting your target audience. That’s because Howard is so woke and hep to the new things the kids are all into.

"no doubt over the heads of Althouse commenters' dopey contingent.”

LOL. Slap Shot was supposed to be a condemnation of ice hockey, and nobody loves that movie more than hockey fans, maybe I should have written “nobody loves that movie *except* hockey fans.” I know it’s kind of a subtle point so you can be excused for missing it, I guess.

doctrev said...

tim in vermont said...

Yes, I am sure it’s all very ‘tasteful.'

8/20/20, 10:29 PM

It's okay if you don't know what I'm talking about, it wasn't exactly Hollywood mainstream. But don't try to look clever and instead look completely ignorant.

wendybar said...

Disgusting...but Netflix has the Obamas and Susan Rice working for them on programming and they LOVE Pedophiles like Weinstein, Clinton, Polanski, and Esptein....Not surprised at all

tim maguire said...

mockturtle said...It was inevitable that the follow up to gay marriage and sexual transitions that pedophilia would be next.

Next? Our society has been sexualizing children for a lot longer than there's been gay marriage. Nice bootstrapping attempt, though.

JAORE said...

How is this going to play in the Muslim community?

Not well I'd think.

Banjo said...

We unsubscribed to Netflix today after lazily paying year after year even though we never--never--found anything we wanted to watch. Only 11 buck a month, what's the big deal? I imagine many others will be shocked out of a similar stupor.

Readering said...

Get the DVD subscription. Many, many more titles, but not this.

Marc in Eugene said...

A government that permits that sort of child abuse but allows the murder of unborn child has forfeited its legitimacy, so far as I'm concerned. I'm waiting for the real revolution.