There’s a substantive difference as far as the First Amendment is concerned. And even taking into account the power of corporate monopolies, there’s a substantive difference between an offensively dated movie that’s otherwise regarded as a classic “must-see” being removed from a platform’s/distributor’s offerings (e.g. what’s happening here – and the intent is to return it with historical context) and its being completely removed from circulation within the culture.
If I’m so inclined, I (far from an alt-right person) and anyone else who’s interested will still be able to order and watch a copy of GWTW, just like I can with “Birth of a Nation” or (despite Disney’s heavy-handed control over its IP) “Song of the South”. It will still be viewed and discussed and analysed by film scholars, by historians, by other adults who understand its context as a cultural artifact. But like those two other movies and lots of output of the American film and music and publishing industries, it will have lost its status as a classic of American popular culture – and with it the legitimacy that status conveys to a toxic central message that we as a society are (shamefully) still struggling to outgrow.
To compare this decision to a book burning is ridiculous.
