CULTURE WAR: How BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street Stole American Culture – And How That’s About to End
Back in 2017, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink laid it bare in a New York Times interview: “You have to force behaviors.” He wasn’t mincing words about pushing diversity and inclusion policies on companies. What followed was a decade of “woke” mandates rippling through corporate America, reshaping everything from boardrooms to blockbuster franchises. BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street—the “Big Three” asset managers controlling over $20 trillion—didn’t need majority ownership to pull the strings. Through index funds and proxy voting, they wielded minority stakes like a sledgehammer, forcing behaviors that prioritized left-wing ideology over profits and entertainment. The result? A cultural hijacking that turned beloved pop culture into preachy propaganda, alienating fans and torching billions. But as of November 2025, cracks are forming—legislation and market backlash are poised to shatter their grip.
CONTROL THE VOTE, CONTROL THE CULTURE
To understand the theft, start with the mechanics. Index funds—passive investments tracking the S&P 500 or similar—hold about 25-30% of shares in major U.S. companies, with the Big Three owning the lion’s share. BlackRock alone boasts $10.5 trillion in assets, Vanguard $9.3 trillion, State Street $4.3 trillion. They don’t “own” in the traditional sense—these are your 401(k)s and pensions—but they control the voting rights attached to those shares. Proxy voting lets them dictate board elections, executive pay, and shareholder resolutions without individual investors’ input. A 5-10% stake? Enough to swing votes when fragmented retail holders stay passive.
This power amplifies through incentives. Companies chasing ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) scores—pushed by the Big Three—get favorable votes and lower capital costs. DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) became the social prong: mandates for racial/gender quotas on boards, regardless of merit. Fink’s BlackRock led the charge, voting for 2/3 of ESG resolutions in 2023, far outpacing Vanguard. These policies aren’t benign; they’re parasitic, prioritizing identity politics over productivity. Anti-meritorious hiring inflates costs, sows division, and chokes innovation—yet firms complied to appease the proxy overlords.
Enter the enforcers: Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, proxy advisory firms that “recommend” votes to the Big Three, who follow 90%+ of the time. These duopoly players act like left-wing activists, greenlighting anti-capitalist resolutions: climate audits, pay gaps, union mandates. Texas AG Ken Paxton launched a 2025 probe into their “misleading” advice, accusing them of ideological capture. Glass Lewis even ditched benchmark policies by 2027 amid backlash, shifting to client-specific votes—a tacit admission of overreach. Critics call them a “cartel” warping markets for politics.
PRIDE COMETH BEFORE THE FALL
Media and entertainment fell hardest. Hollywood, comics, games—beholden to publicly traded giants like Disney (Marvel/Star Wars), Warner Bros. Discovery (DC/Halo), Hasbro (D&D), Games Workshop (Warhammer)—bent to proxy pressure. Boards stocked with DEI hires greenlit “marginalized” narratives: every hero a queer minority, villains straight white males, stories sidelined for lectures. Index funds’ votes ensured compliance; dissent meant shareholder revolts.
Star Wars? Disney’s sequel trilogy and shows like The Acolyte hemorrhaged fans, with box office plunging from $4.4 billion (originals) to under $2 billion post-2019. Marvel’s Phase 4-5 flopped hard—The Marvels ($206 million on $270 million budget), Ant-Man Quantumania ($476 million vs. $388 million cost)—cumulative losses in billions as “strong female leads” alienated core audiences. American corporate comics (DC and Marvel) are met with apathy and indifference, keys bleeding value amid endless woke reboots. Dungeons & Dragons? Wizards of the Coast’s DEI push—pronoun guides, diverse art—sparked boycotts; 2025 saw rollbacks as sales tanked. Warhammer 40K? Games Workshop navigated carefully, but proxy eyes loomed. Halo’s Paramount series? Canceled after Season 2 amid “woke” gripes and low viewership.
Books fared no better: publishers like Penguin Random House mandated sensitivity readers, bloating costs and diluting stories. Video games? Ubisoft, EA folded under ESG, yielding baggy heroines and preachy plots—Concord’s $200 million flop epitomized the rot. Billions evaporated: Disney alone wrote down $1.5 billion on Marvel content; comics industry “bleeding out” per insiders. Fans fled to indie/Asian alternatives craving unfiltered fun.
This “forced behaviors” paradigm bred division: ESG/DEI quotas fueled identity wars, turning entertainment into propaganda. Mainstream became niche lectures on “marginalized communities,” ignoring global audiences’ desire for heroes, not sermons. Profits? Secondary to virtue signals.
THE PENDULUM SWING
But the endgame nears. November 2025 brings momentum: White House drafts executive orders curbing proxy rights for BlackRock et al., forcing pass-through voting to actual owners. Paxton’s ISS/Glass Lewis probe signals state crackdowns. Bills like expanded Putting Investors First Act loom, limiting advisors’ sway. Vanguard/BlackRock softened DEI language in 2025 policies amid boycotts. Glass Lewis’ pivot? Market pressure winning.
Pop culture stirs: Indies boom, Asia dominates (Black Myth: Wukong and Stellar Blade’s triumph), Hasbro retreats. Fans reclaim via boycotts, X rants. The Big Three’s empire—built on your money, weaponized against your tastes—crumbles under scrutiny.
Reclaiming culture means starving the beast: divest ESG funds, support indies, demand pass-through voting. The forced era ends not with a bang, but shareholder revolt. Heroes return; lectures fade. America’s stories—epic, unbowed—rise anew.
Are you ready for the swing of the cultural pendulum?
SARJ OUT
