The show must go on: Netflix confronts its offended staff

It appears that the board of directors have concluded that appeasing the whims of a minority with a disproportionately loud megaphone is not a good business practice.

For once in a very long-time, one corner of the digitalised corporate world has re-discovered its vertebrae, erecting its spine in direct opposition to those too cowardly to work outside an Overton Window covered in bubble wrap, beanbags, and teddy bears.

The streaming giant Netflix has told its professionally offended employees to ‘take a hike Mike (pronouns they/them)’. In a response to recent social-justice backlash, which brewed after the company hosted a Dave Chappelle Netflix special, the comedian famous for (*checks notes*) being funny, Netflix has updated its cultural guidelines to inform its workforce that ‘if you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.’

The internet catchphrase ‘go woke, go broke’ has seemingly been adopted by a Netflix that is no longer secure in its financial future or pixelated dominance of our personal computer screens. Netflix has not been alone in curating content that appeases the social taboos of an omnipresent, explicitly politicised Regime (it is the norm for corporations to fall in line) but is beginning to sense the consequences after flogging its soul to the Devil.

Elon Musk, perhaps the most influential insider trader operating in plain sight in economic history, tweeted that “the woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable”, which only fanned the flames of Netflix’s freefall in stock market value. The company was fully aware that the rot had infested itself throughout all branches of the tree, as some staff staged a walk-out to protest Netflix’s release of ‘The Closer’, the Chapelle special which the trans-lobby deemed as transphobic and dangerous.

Having its arm twisted until it broke, and wary that the fifth columnists inhabiting its very own office spaces would scribble the company’s name onto many more unsavoury headlines, Netflix hastily and cowardly released a statement supporting its enraged employees.

Nevertheless, it appears that the board of directors have concluded that appeasing the whims of a minority with a disproportionately loud megaphone is not a good business practice (hence the internet catchphrase ‘go woke, go broke’). In conjunction with the entire world not being locked in doors anymore, Netflix has found itself in a position where it is haemorrhaging subscribers to the point where it is considering drafting in advertisements to bolster its revenue stream.

The new cultural guidelines are more of an economic necessity than a show of genuine altruism and a dislike of modern-day so-called ‘cancel culture’ (though remember they did agree to host numerous Chapelle stand-ups from the get-go). As it is a streaming service, the company is equipped with a very large net that can be used to capture as many target markets as possible, which is why the new memo, under the Artistic Expression section, reads “every title is different, we approach them based on the same set of principles: we support the artistic expression of the creators we choose to work with; we program for a diversity of audiences and tastes; and we let viewers decide what’s appropriate for them, versus having Netflix censor specific artists or voices”.

Most importantly of all, Netflix admits that “not everyone will like — or agree with — everything on our service” and is prepared to weather the storm generated by any social media keyboard militia armed with righteous indignation. Nowadays the company is trying to stay neutral in a war it is being forced to fight on two fronts, having faced criticism for not being too politically dogmatic, as well as the inevitable countercriticism for being too overtly liberal.

Nevertheless, Netflix has realised that it does not want to embark on a campaign of mutually assured destruction by swinging the pendulum too far one way or other, and is desperately trying to exit the line of fire. But will the left-leaning political extremists, simultaneously present in the company headquarters, the sun-kissed street outside, and the pixelated airwaves the company harvests its bread and butter from, let the company sink into political neutrality? I very much doubt it, but if Netflix is to succeed, it has to put up a fight.