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The FBI Feared Communist Infiltration of EPCOT (muckrock.com)
v3rgEz writes: In 1981, Walt Disney World was getting ready to unveil a new gem in its crown of amusement parks, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT. Revolving around a massive sphere called "Spaceship Earth" and a lagoon that initially called for cultural installations from nine countries, EPCOT was intended to be the ultimate harmonious international village, a shining example of global unity. Naturally the FBI had a problem with it. FOIA'd documents recently released to MuckRock show that as early as December 1979, almost three full years before the October 1, 1982 opening of EPCOT, the bureau was concerned with possible Soviet involvement in the endeavor. And even after Soviet involvement was ruled out, the FBI began to worry about Chinese influences.
All those asian families taking pictures? Who takes that many pictures?
...is fear itself. Seems these wise words have been largely forgotten. As a nation, the USA is the most lily-livered scaredy cats out there. I'm not talking about individuals, just the national characteristic. Why else spend such vast sums on a military that has more or less nothing to do? (and for which idle hands the devil makes plenty of work, starting wars it can't finish and general meddling). Why else are guns so fetishised? Why else is so much effort being put into monitoring everyone's trivial business? Why else are fingers pointed at harmless scapegoats like ordinary muslims? My country, right or wrong? Think about it.
They're much worse now.
Why is Snark Required?
This doesn't indicate that the FBI listened in on any private conversations, blacklisted anyone, tried to get anyone fired, spread lies about anyone, or otherwise did the bad things that people usually think of when they complain about the FBI. And they feared the Soviets and Chinese would infiltrate because, you know, EPCOT has national pavilions run by those countries and staffed by their citizens. And when they found out that pavilions were not allowed to be political, they then decided the Soviets were not a threat. They don't seem to have thought the Chinese were a threat for very long, either.
Basically, this whole thing is just a complaint about the FBI doing their job.
It used to be very nice. It's the last park designed mostly by Walt's personally hired staff who remained with the company after he died. Sure, it's pro corporate but that was always one of Walt's minor character flaws. Then again, in his day American companies actually produced useful things and weren't necessarily run by sociopaths.
There were all kinds of interactive science exhibits, previews of new technologies, museum quality cultural displays, and it was bright, open, and you could hang out there all day and find stuff to see and do in every corner. It was a place to go to be very optimistic about the future.
Naturally something like that couldn't exist for long, so the people who mismanage the company these days took out most of the science stuff, most anything designed to make you think, remodeled educational things into character-laden sound byte style 'attractions' with no real meaning to them, closed or severely closed off parts of whole buildings and removed lots of the little things to do. Gotta appeal to the churro eating, Starbucks swilling masses who never want to use their brains ever.
Most of the sweeping vistas are cluttered with outdoor vending and kiosks trying to sell you garbage, and of course the optimism is gone just like the rest of the country. With metal detectors, bag searches, and the requisite fences involved in our national obsession with security theater the beautiful expansive plaza at the front entrance looks like a prison now.
I'd sarcastically say Epcot has been remade into a perfect representation of the US actually, but I do miss it from when it was really quite great.
Should we be more frightened by a somewhat insane FBI or a band of rabid communists? I think maybe the FBI is the greater of two evils. Gee whiz! Americans might learn to use chopsticks in an international village. That is a threat to American knife and fork makers and capitalism in general.
That's silly. When I use a gun, I point it, pull the trigger, and boom, a paper target gets a hole in it. Why would I want something to die? That wouldn't be very nice.
Claiming that "the power of life or death" is a fetish is ridiculous. Every driver on the road has that power. Every plumber, electrician, and Boy Scout has that power. Every airplane pilot has a lot of that power. The simple truth is that humans are fragile creatures, and the simple safety measures we follow daily can easily be bypassed if one has the motivation to do so. The realization of how close one comes to death every day is terrifying.
That's what scares people, not a magic boom-stick.
What distinguishes firearms, though, is that they are themselves an easy target. Politicians, pundits, and concerned citizens can reassign their fear, allowing themselves to think of cars as "safe", because the really scary thing is a tube that makes loud noises. By concentrating all of the fear into one scapegoat, the rest of society seems perfectly livable.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Claiming that "the power of life or death" is a fetish is ridiculous. Every driver on the road has that power.
No one sells cars claiming, "The only thing that stops a bad driver with a car is a good driver with a car."
...So you've never seen an ad boasting about how this particular vehicle's safety features will protect your children from the bad things on the road?
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
EPCOT as envisioned by Walt Disney was to be an actual city where people would live and work.
And coincidently, Walt was also worried that Communists may get into the city. He became a little paranoid about them after the animator's strike.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.