The biggest rat in the 1960s when it came to undermine efforts to protect the Sierra were literally Mickey Mouse corporate minions.

Disney — a corporation that loves to wrap itself on “the right side” of cultural issues — was at one point more anti-environment than the corporate targets such as Chevron that the Left has on their naughty list today.

Some 180 miles southeast of Turlock, Disney had its eyes on one of the most pristine glacial carved valleys in the Sierra.

It was Mineral King Valley, 55 miles east of Visalia.

Back in 1965, it was just outside the boundaries of Sequoia National Park.

Disney — led by Walt Disney himself — wanted to build an “American Alpine Wonderland” in the 7.5-mile long and mile wide valley at 7,400 feet guarded by granite peaks rising in excess of 11,000 feet.

It was there in the subglacial valley that Disney proposed its version of an “alpine wonderland.”

It included a five-story hotel with 1,030 rooms with four-mile ski runs and ice rink.

There were tennis courts and a golf course envisioned to keep the valley clogged with traffic in the summer.

It also included massive parking lots.

Disney ultimately wanted 27 ski lifts to support 2 million annual visitors.

In terms of lifts, it would have put it on par with Mammoth Mountain at 27 and Heavenly Valley at 25.

But with the people they were planning to accommodate it would have been bigger than any of California’s existing 33 ski resorts.

The US Forest Service was borderline giddy about the proposal that would have led to massive destruction of fragile ecosystems not to mention the wholesale destruction of natural beauty in order to accommodate 2 million people and making it possible for them to get there and back.

The Sierra Club sued.

Their target were those managing the Sequoia National Forest and the adjoining Sequoia National Park.

They ended up losing when the Supreme Court ruled against the group’s lawsuit that essentially, among other points, argued too much public land would be put in control of the Disney corporate rate pack.

The Sierra Club took another run at a lawsuit in 1976.

Walt Disney’s death ended up killing the mega-corporation’s takeover bid for Mineral King Valley.

Thanks in a large part to the ruckus the Sierra Club created, Congress killed the project in 1978 and Mineral King Valley was annexed to Sequoia National Park.

The press back then didn’t not cast the Sierra Club or Disney as villains per se.

Instead, the media’s personal bias were kept in check in news stories.

There were definitely strongly worded editorials supporting both sides.

Those media outlets, enamored by the annual projected economic impact of $60 million in 1965 — which, after inflation is taken into account, is close to $600 million today — were pro-Disney all the way in their commentaries.

Those that took a dim view of the environmental price, sided with the Sierra Club in opinion pieces.

Coverage was framed in economic development versus environmental concerns.

Compare that today when writings reported under the guise of “new stories” on Internet-based media sites will cast Disney as the savior of the free world and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the Darth Vader of the Sunshine State throughout their coverage.

In the world of click media, there are no shades of gray.

Thanks to the cultural wars, DeSantis is portrayed on one side as never having a decent thought in his life, while Disney is purer than pure.

On the other side, DeSantis walks on water and Disney is the corporate reincarnation of Sodom and Gomorrah.

That would be fine as far as it goes, if both sides weren’t presenting themselves as being objective in what they present as news.

People are always going to read things into things.

And they are always going to be inclined to think stories lean one way or another.

But to use a scorched earth approach to one side and not the other is clearly subjective and about as far away from objective as one can get.

Biases also tend to leech into words when they are used to explain something.

That’s because humans are humans and not mice.

We are influenced by where, how, with who, and even when we were brought up.

Keep in mind, bias is not prejudice.

Bias can be in favor or against.

Prejudice references a negative opinion that morphs into a preconceived judgment that is not powered by reason.

Every time we strike a keyboard or write words, whether it is to explain something or craft and supporting argument for a stance, bias comes into play.

Those that seethe from the first letter to the last period, however, are fueled by prejudice.

Circling back to Mineral King Valley and the morality play that was the Sierra Club versus Disney a half century ago, based on today’s echo chamber, the company that ripped out orange groves to create the Magic Kingdom in Anaheim has never had a bad corporate thought.

The Sierra Club — or at least those part of the conservationist organization that do not engage in rewriting history — would certainly disagree.

There needs to be debate, pushback, and passion in order to keep molding a civilized society.

The idea is to evolve.

But what we are going now is digging in our collective heels into tar pits that are devoid of grace and are all consuming.

And all past sins — at least of those that you agree with — are forgotten in today’s world where everything is either deep blue or passionate red.

Judging by what would constitute “the Far Left” in 1965 America, Disney was anything but woke back then.

And by the perspective of “the Far Right” some 59 years ago, Disney was channeling the future Ron DeSantis.