No, I don't think I will. And odd suggestion? #CancelNetflix

I became a Netflix member in the spring of 2004. Loved getting DVD's of foreign and indie films that weren't distributed in my location.

I remember trying to 'time' watching a movie on Tuesday and return it so I could get another before the weekend. I rented hundreds of movies.

I eventually switched to Blu-ray discs when they were readily available. But as life caught up with me, family and career and such, I had less free time, so I thought about leaving.

Somewhere along the line, I was selected as an early adopter of the streaming version of Netflix.

Although the options were very limited, I was amazed. Clicking a button and being able to watch an actual movie on my computer? Pure genius. I remember checking out some old Al Pacino movie. 'And Justice For All', I think it was. I was like a chubby kid in a candy store.

I told my friends, family, coworkers about it. None of them had this early access, or Netflix at all, as it was genrally marketed to only cinephiles at the time. And none seemed to understand the brilliance of it. The simplicity. The liberty. The joy.

I knew.

I knew what was to come. The explosion. The transformation. The renaissance.

And it did. The streaming revolution blindsided the entertainment industry like nothing since Beta vs. VHS. Since cinemascope. Since technicolor. Since The Jazz Singer. Since Thomas freakin' Edison.

And I was there for it. For all of it.

When Netflix transitioned to TV shows, we were awakened. We watched The Office together. We watched Breaking Bad together. We watched House Of Cards together. And it became a part of us.

Together.

Some of my earliest and best memories of my children are watching random kids shows with them. Sure there were the good ones, like Blue's Clues and Wonder Pets and Word World and so on. But there were also weird, fun ones. Like Spider Riders. Ever heard of it? Didn't think so.

As time went on, this focal point began to erode. YouTube exploded. Competitive services sprouted. High-bandwith communications arrived, leading to live TV streaming over the interweb.

And we watched less Netflix.

In hindsight, it was kinda sad really. Like that doll from Toy Story 2, left behind by her owner when she had moved on to a new chapter in her life.

But it was still there. The movies were there. Disney was there. Marvel was there. Classic TV shows were there.

New TV shows were there. Cutting edge original content was there. A-list comedians were there. Water-cooler documentaries were there.

And, for the most part, we were still there. And Netflix, for the most part, was still in our hearts.

Until it wasn't.

We could all feel the change. The culture was shifting around us. The war on Christmas. The war on America. The war on the nuclear family. We saw it, but we didn't see it. Or we didn't want to see it.

We were entertained, were we not?

The advent of swarming political correctness occurred contemporaneously with the arrival of a new level of grotesque out of the Hollywood elite.

Standards of Orwellian newspeak became markers of division while standards of decency were decimated in favor of total depravity.

Pro-family entertainment sources were stigmatized. Anti-family social movements were glorified. Up became down. Forward became backward. Right became wrong.

Slowly, over time, the culture devolved. Anyone puritanical was mocked and everyone hedonistic was praised.

And the dissenters were silenced. And censored. And canceled.

We watched in horror as our children were subjected to heightened sexuality at an earlier and earlier age. And our worst fears regarding moral relativism played out before our eyes, like a nightmare we couldn't shake.

So we called them out. The assaulters, the perverts, the exploiters, the pedophiles. The demons.

And they laughed. Of course they laughed. They laughed at the thought of tradition. They laughed at the archaic notions of right and wrong that should have disappeared with the dodo.

Then. it. happened. Finally everyone saw them go. too. far.

'Cuties' was that moment. That 'oh sh!t' moment where we all finally woke up, and looked at each other, and said enough. is. enough.

It was time. Time to, finally, after the warning signs we're hiding in plain sight.

Time to #CancelNetflix.

And, maybe, #CancelHollywood next.

Because sometimes you just need to burn out the roaches and start over.

/end