In a major culture war victory, Netflix is updating its “culture memo”. In addition to updating the title to “Netflix Culture: Seeking Excellence”, the company has announced a stronger freedom of expression stance, as noted in the document’s Artistic Expression section:

“Not everyone will like — or agree with — everything on our service,”

This nicely sets the tone for what’s to come. Free expression means there’s going to be a wide assortment of entertainment options on the table.

“While 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.”

As I pointed out before, if there’s a work of artistic expression that’s not for you, you don’t have to consume it. You curate your own entertainment choices. Notice how Netflix stated their support of artistic expression, and are now allowing consumers to tailor their Netflix experience according to their own preferences? That’s in stark contrast to the woke position, which involves curating everyone’s experience for them according to the mentality of the vocal few.

While that already says plenty, the concluding paragraph of the section drives the point home:

“As employees we support the principle that Netflix offers a diversity of stories, even if we find some titles counter to our own personal values. Depending on your role, you may need to work on titles you perceive to be harmful. If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.”

While this is progress by reason of the fact that Netflix is now adopting a baseline free expression policy, this becomes a huge game-changer with that closing sentence:

“If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.”

Netflix is now telling its staff that if any of them have the woke mind-virus, and it could interfere with their ability to do their job according to their updated principles of artistic expression, then those employees can take a hike.

Obviously, Netflix is making this move because they’re recognizing that siding with the woke is a bad idea. For one thing, Disney went woke to the point of becoming politically involved, and as a result, they ended up losing Reedy Creek. That was an important turning point, as companies looked on and saw that taking certain positions could result in consequences that might hurt their bottom line.

In fact, it was just days ago that PR firm Zeno advised clients, including Coca-Cola, Hershey, Starbucks, Salesforce, and Netflix themselves that it would be a better idea not to make a public statement on controversial topics, and to avoid discussing such sensitive topics with the press, if they were to seek comment.

This development also comes in light of Elon Musk’s planned purchase of Twitter, with Musk planning on restoring the platform to free speech principles, and restoring the accounts of political figures who were unfairly banned, such as Donald Trump.

Of course, the change is likely financially motivated, as in Q1, Netflix saw it’s first decline in subscribers in over a decade. Obviously, siding with the woke hasn’t been helping them, but neither is the fact that alternatives like Daily Wire have sprung up, determined to compete with the likes of Disney, considering that Disney is determined to present dubious sexual content directly to minors.

It was a few months back that I anticipated that institutions would turn against the woke, realizing that the woke ideology isn’t benefitting them. What I didn’t anticipate is that the change would begin to come about so soon!