This disinformation campaign must be directly confronted.
November 11, 2021 7:59 AM Subscribe
These claims are not true, but many white people believe them as a result of a systematic disinformation campaign . . . campaigns like Youngkin’s are built on a legacy of lies dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. Our research demonstrates that conservative fearmongering over CRT reuses a set of scare tactics that equate racial justice with Communism that originated during the Cold War.
The engineered conservative panic over critical race theory, explained
The engineered conservative panic over critical race theory, explained
But we're losing the messaging war when we just argue "But that's not what 'Critical Race Theory' really is!" or "But 'Critical Race Theory' isn't being taught in the schools!" Instead we should be reframing the conversation by talking openly and honestly and aspirationally about how the new pedagogy about America's history that IS starting to be taught in schools* is good and just and in line with our most positive principles and will help make this country a better place for everyone. "Stop lying about CRT" is as ineffective a political communications strategy as Bob Dole's "Stop lying about my record" proved to be.
*don't anyone try to say "We aren't teaching anything new in the schools" because we are and we should be and everyone here thinks we should be doing even more.
posted by PhineasGage at 9:22 AM on November 11, 2021 [31 favorites]
*don't anyone try to say "We aren't teaching anything new in the schools" because we are and we should be and everyone here thinks we should be doing even more.
posted by PhineasGage at 9:22 AM on November 11, 2021 [31 favorites]
The problem with that approach is that conservatives (and a disturbingly large number of liberals) will then just redefine whatever message you come up with as "critical race theory," as evidenced by what just happened in Texas:
Beloved Black Principal Fired in Ludicrous Critical Race Theory Spat
Beloved Black Principal Fired in Ludicrous Critical Race Theory Spat
During the summer of 2020 as a racial awakening swept the country after the George Floyd protests, Whitfield wrote a letter to the academic community. In it, he said, “Education is the key to stomping out ignorance, hate, and systemic racism.”posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 9:33 AM on November 11, 2021 [11 favorites]
That letter appeared to prompt accusations that he was pushing critical race theory in school.
In July, Whitfield was accused by a failed school board candidate of supporting critical race theory being taught in schools. Soon after, Whitfield was put on paid leave. The superintendent of Grapevine-Colleyville schools then submitted a request that Whitfield’s stint as principal of Colleyville Heritage High School should end.
There’s no evidence that critical race theory is part of the school curriculum, and Whitfield has been adamant that he has not shown any public support for it.
After receiving the news, Whitfield said in a Facebook post, “I was not given any clear reasoning behind the decision and was not given a timetable regarding further steps. I was simply told that it was in the best interest of the district.”
Or as Jamelle Bouie more directly puts it in response to a horrible Andrew Sullivan article:
You see this in the original Sullivan post. He is using “CRT” catch-all term for “all pedagogy about racism that I dislike.” A few folks have compared this to McCarthyism and I think that’s exactly right, in how the target is a vague and ill-defined specter of wrongthink.posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 9:38 AM on November 11, 2021 [38 favorites]
this is why the mccarthyism/red scare analogy is so useful. it’s a *specter* and thus can include anything and everything.
The problem with that approach is that conservatives (and a disturbingly large number of liberals) will then just redefine whatever message
The problem with letting that stop you from communicating American values and living your values is that it is cowardly and ineffective.
It s not about the message it s about the volume of the messages.
posted by eustatic at 9:47 AM on November 11, 2021 [6 favorites]
The problem with letting that stop you from communicating American values and living your values is that it is cowardly and ineffective.
It s not about the message it s about the volume of the messages.
posted by eustatic at 9:47 AM on November 11, 2021 [6 favorites]
Bouie is right, but that's an argument for redoubling affirmative communications around what we are proposing and supporting, rather than getting into losing arguments about the definition of CRT. While McCarthy was shouting "Communism," others were pushing ahead with their proposals and advocacy in support of civil rights and expansion of social welfare programs etc. etc. etc.
posted by PhineasGage at 9:50 AM on November 11, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 9:50 AM on November 11, 2021 [7 favorites]
Glegrinof the Pig-Man,
But that's the point PhineasGage is making. It's a messaging war. The conservative "CRT" nonsense is an intentional and deliberate obfuscation and attack. See e.g. from conservative activist Christopher Rufo mentioned in the article:
And it simply doesn't work. Trump should have taught everyone that. You can point out conservative lies and hypocrisy all day long and they'll either just lie more or simply laugh at you. Thinking fact-checking and correcting the record has any political use at all is, at this point, delusional. You don't win that way, you win by having better messaging of your own. Get out front and make the definitions and let them fight back.
Liberals seem to have the fundamental problem of blind belief in "the truth will set you free", that all you have to do is have the truth and communicate it and everything will just fall into place. Politics just doesn't work that way, and never has. Conservatives certainly understand this.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:56 AM on November 11, 2021 [45 favorites]
But that's the point PhineasGage is making. It's a messaging war. The conservative "CRT" nonsense is an intentional and deliberate obfuscation and attack. See e.g. from conservative activist Christopher Rufo mentioned in the article:
We have successfully frozen their brand—"critical race theory"—into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions. We will eventually turn it toxic, as we put all of the various cultural insanities under that brand category.The conservatives successfully made CRT into a simple catch-all for liberal ideas they don't like. Liberals are just really, really bad at that kind of messaging and so they get their asses kicked. Being on the backfoot and responding with "Uh, well, actually that's false because..." isn't effective at building support for your own positions.
And it simply doesn't work. Trump should have taught everyone that. You can point out conservative lies and hypocrisy all day long and they'll either just lie more or simply laugh at you. Thinking fact-checking and correcting the record has any political use at all is, at this point, delusional. You don't win that way, you win by having better messaging of your own. Get out front and make the definitions and let them fight back.
Liberals seem to have the fundamental problem of blind belief in "the truth will set you free", that all you have to do is have the truth and communicate it and everything will just fall into place. Politics just doesn't work that way, and never has. Conservatives certainly understand this.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:56 AM on November 11, 2021 [45 favorites]
It way predates the 50s. Heather Cox Richardson recently noted
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:01 AM on November 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
With racial discrimination now prohibited by the federal government [1870], elite white southerners changed their approach. They insisted that they objected to Black voting not on racial grounds, but because Black men were voting for programs that redistributed wealth from hardworking white people to Black people, since hospitals and roads would cost tax dollars and white people were the only ones with taxable property in the Reconstruction South. Poor Black voters were instituting, one popular magazine wrote, "Socialism in South Carolina."Not CRT per we, but again a redefinition of reality. There is, however, a problem with "correcting" the lies, and that is you're playing a defensive role. When you have people like Trump lying multiple times a day, all your energy goes into fighting lies rather than promoting your own agenda.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:01 AM on November 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
And, to go parallel the principal in TX, a school superintendent in MT resigned over the disruptions from the radical right (both CRT and masks an issue in the story).
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:06 AM on November 11, 2021
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:06 AM on November 11, 2021
The conservatives successfully made CRT into a simple catch-all for liberal ideas they don't like.
See also: "woke", "politically correct" etc. etc.
using “CRT” catch-all term for “all pedagogy about racism that I dislike.” A few folks have compared this to McCarthyism
From Jill Lepore's book "These Truths":
See also: "woke", "politically correct" etc. etc.
using “CRT” catch-all term for “all pedagogy about racism that I dislike.” A few folks have compared this to McCarthyism
From Jill Lepore's book "These Truths":
In 1942, FBI head J. Edgar Hoover, keen "to determine why particular Negroes or groups of Negroes or Negro organizations have evidenced sentiments for other 'dark races' (mainly Japanese) or by what forces they were influenced to adopt in certain instances un-American ideologies, conducted a nationwide investigation, including surveillance of hundreds of black lawyers, organizers, artists, and writers. It would result in a classified 730-page report called the Survey of Racial Conditions in the United States, code-named RACON. Far from proposing remedies in the form of civil rights, RACON warned of dangerous political subversives, by which Hoover and the Bureau meant African Americans working to dismantle Jim Crow. Hoover did not believe that the African American struggle for civil rights had come out of black communities; instead, he blamed the Communist Party, and he blamed the Axis. "It is believed the Axis Powers have endeavored to create racial agitation among American negroes which would cause disunity and would serve as a powerful weapon for adverse propaganda," the director wrote, in a memo to FBI field agents. "It is believed that the agitation has been incited among the American negroes by telling them that the present war is a race war' and that they should not fight against the Japanese, who are also of the colored race.posted by gwint at 10:08 AM on November 11, 2021 [5 favorites]
I didn't say anything about stopping or lessening the messaging, nor do I believe the whole "the truth will set you free" nonsense. What I'm saying is that pretty much anything less than "white supremacy is OK" will be reframed as CRT (at least we seem to agree on that), and then provided proof that that's exactly what's happening right now.
What I am concerned about is that, while I fully support having better messaging and getting out in front of them, we are not only up against a massively coordinated media campaign, but also there are enough centrist/"moderate" wankers willing to jump onto network news or Twitter/Substack/etc and muddy the message. If anyone's got any strategies for overcoming both of those, I'd love to hear them.
posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 10:10 AM on November 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
What I am concerned about is that, while I fully support having better messaging and getting out in front of them, we are not only up against a massively coordinated media campaign, but also there are enough centrist/"moderate" wankers willing to jump onto network news or Twitter/Substack/etc and muddy the message. If anyone's got any strategies for overcoming both of those, I'd love to hear them.
posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 10:10 AM on November 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
What I'm saying is that pretty much anything less than "white supremacy is OK" will be reframed as CRT (at least we seem to agree on that), and then provided proof that that's exactly what's happening right now.
That's the war part. Be better about messaging so that they aren't in control and can make that reframing, at least not effectively. There will always be a segment of the population that will never accept liberal views no matter what you say, but that's not who you're targeting.
I don't pretend to have the answers, but I completely reject this "it's useless, they'll always just control things" attitude. We need to break out of this cycle of "conservatives come out swinging and making declarations, liberals follow up making technical corrections". Look at the recent infrastructure bill. Aside from what happened in the legislature, where was the messaging on this? Why wasn't this being championed by everyone involved to the public? Why wasn't this being better sold to the public as a huge benefit to them? It was a muddled clusterfuck that the Democrats seemed to barely care about promoting. Or the stimulus payments, which should have been the easiest slam-dunk sell but instead of showing everyone that they were getting badly-needed help in a dark time the Democrats fought about splitting it into two payments and then explaining why that's actually the same thing.
posted by star gentle uterus at 10:16 AM on November 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
That's the war part. Be better about messaging so that they aren't in control and can make that reframing, at least not effectively. There will always be a segment of the population that will never accept liberal views no matter what you say, but that's not who you're targeting.
I don't pretend to have the answers, but I completely reject this "it's useless, they'll always just control things" attitude. We need to break out of this cycle of "conservatives come out swinging and making declarations, liberals follow up making technical corrections". Look at the recent infrastructure bill. Aside from what happened in the legislature, where was the messaging on this? Why wasn't this being championed by everyone involved to the public? Why wasn't this being better sold to the public as a huge benefit to them? It was a muddled clusterfuck that the Democrats seemed to barely care about promoting. Or the stimulus payments, which should have been the easiest slam-dunk sell but instead of showing everyone that they were getting badly-needed help in a dark time the Democrats fought about splitting it into two payments and then explaining why that's actually the same thing.
posted by star gentle uterus at 10:16 AM on November 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
"The problem with letting that stop you from communicating American values and living your values is that it is cowardly and ineffective.
It s not about the message its about the volume of the messages.
posted by eustatic at 9:47 on November 11"
-------------------------------------------
EXACTLY. Butch up, Libs! Stop being so damn cowardly. Don't bother debating (ie broadcasting) their lies. Speak the truth loud and speak it often. Volume is the key. Repetition. Change the subject to the truth and flood them out with it. Clear the pipes. Do it.
posted by chance at 10:20 AM on November 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
It s not about the message its about the volume of the messages.
posted by eustatic at 9:47 on November 11"
-------------------------------------------
EXACTLY. Butch up, Libs! Stop being so damn cowardly. Don't bother debating (ie broadcasting) their lies. Speak the truth loud and speak it often. Volume is the key. Repetition. Change the subject to the truth and flood them out with it. Clear the pipes. Do it.
posted by chance at 10:20 AM on November 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
Speak the truth loud and speak it often. Volume is the key. Repetition.
That sounds uncomfortably like being rude.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:24 AM on November 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
That sounds uncomfortably like being rude.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:24 AM on November 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
I don't pretend to have the answers, but I completely reject this "it's useless, they'll always just control things" attitude.
Again, I don't think it's useless, I'm pointing out what we're up against.
where was the messaging on this? Why wasn't this being championed by everyone involved to the public? Why wasn't this being better sold to the public as a huge benefit to them? It was a muddled clusterfuck that the Democrats seemed to barely care about promoting.
100% agree with how this kind of behavior is a big part of why we're in the current situation, and not just on infrastructure or CRT.
posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 10:25 AM on November 11, 2021
Again, I don't think it's useless, I'm pointing out what we're up against.
where was the messaging on this? Why wasn't this being championed by everyone involved to the public? Why wasn't this being better sold to the public as a huge benefit to them? It was a muddled clusterfuck that the Democrats seemed to barely care about promoting.
100% agree with how this kind of behavior is a big part of why we're in the current situation, and not just on infrastructure or CRT.
posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 10:25 AM on November 11, 2021
Reading the thread so far, and all I can do is to paraphrase Jim Malone:
Isn't that just like a Lib? Brings a dictionary to a culture war.
posted by Ickster at 10:34 AM on November 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
Isn't that just like a Lib? Brings a dictionary to a culture war.
posted by Ickster at 10:34 AM on November 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
The conservatives successfully made CRT into a simple catch-all for liberal ideas they don't like.
That's the basis of right-wing fascist thought: reduce language to a simple call, subtracted of meaning, but filled with emotion (usually fear, hate, desire, devotion, immediate overpowering emotions). The word becomes a lever to move the audience, or better yet (oh the irony) a trigger: socialist --> hate! Christian --> love! Leader --> worship! black man --> fear! etc. etc. There's no room for complexity, breadth, depth, variation, subtlety, dialectic... Once something has been named it can rarely be unnamed. It's a rhetoric boiled down to its basest, most manipulative operations, without regard for truth or anything other than achieving power.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:40 AM on November 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
That's the basis of right-wing fascist thought: reduce language to a simple call, subtracted of meaning, but filled with emotion (usually fear, hate, desire, devotion, immediate overpowering emotions). The word becomes a lever to move the audience, or better yet (oh the irony) a trigger: socialist --> hate! Christian --> love! Leader --> worship! black man --> fear! etc. etc. There's no room for complexity, breadth, depth, variation, subtlety, dialectic... Once something has been named it can rarely be unnamed. It's a rhetoric boiled down to its basest, most manipulative operations, without regard for truth or anything other than achieving power.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:40 AM on November 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
but also there are enough centrist/"moderate" wankers willing to jump onto network news or Twitter/Substack/etc and muddy the message. If anyone's got any strategies for overcoming both of those, I'd love to hear them.
It pays to keep your eye on the ball. The idea that we must correct people first, win elections later, is fatally flawed. It uselessly keeps the message on purity and idealism when there are many issues at stake and everyone has their own priorities. Most people just need to reorder a few of those priorities, not surrender to a cure, or convert in a confessional. Winning elections means to gain the alienated independents who don't feel they need either side to be morally or physically whole again. Telling them how wrong they are is misguided.
posted by Brian B. at 10:42 AM on November 11, 2021 [7 favorites]
It pays to keep your eye on the ball. The idea that we must correct people first, win elections later, is fatally flawed. It uselessly keeps the message on purity and idealism when there are many issues at stake and everyone has their own priorities. Most people just need to reorder a few of those priorities, not surrender to a cure, or convert in a confessional. Winning elections means to gain the alienated independents who don't feel they need either side to be morally or physically whole again. Telling them how wrong they are is misguided.
posted by Brian B. at 10:42 AM on November 11, 2021 [7 favorites]
Liberals seem to have the fundamental problem of blind belief in "the truth will set you free", that all you have to do is have the truth and communicate it and everything will just fall into place. Politics just doesn't work that way, and never has. Conservatives certainly understand this.
Democrats consistently fail to attack Republicans based on their horrible beliefs, and as a result, Republicans get to define both themselves and the Democrats (based, as Christopher Rufo said above, on marketing and branding principles).
Democrats can't count on the media to tell the truth about Republicans, because accurately describing what Republicans do sounds like bias. (See, for example, the general failure of the media to note that the current drama over the various infrastructure bills is because Republicans are lockstep in their opposition.)
They must link Republicans who would prefer to distance themselves from the worst of their party -- and there's a target rich environment for you -- with those horrible people and everything they stand for. No one else will do it for them, and failing gives voters the false impression that there's some kind of reasonable choice between what the two parties stand for.
posted by Gelatin at 10:44 AM on November 11, 2021 [6 favorites]
Democrats consistently fail to attack Republicans based on their horrible beliefs, and as a result, Republicans get to define both themselves and the Democrats (based, as Christopher Rufo said above, on marketing and branding principles).
Democrats can't count on the media to tell the truth about Republicans, because accurately describing what Republicans do sounds like bias. (See, for example, the general failure of the media to note that the current drama over the various infrastructure bills is because Republicans are lockstep in their opposition.)
They must link Republicans who would prefer to distance themselves from the worst of their party -- and there's a target rich environment for you -- with those horrible people and everything they stand for. No one else will do it for them, and failing gives voters the false impression that there's some kind of reasonable choice between what the two parties stand for.
posted by Gelatin at 10:44 AM on November 11, 2021 [6 favorites]
see also: "Sharia law", "the gay agenda"
posted by Foosnark at 10:47 AM on November 11, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by Foosnark at 10:47 AM on November 11, 2021 [7 favorites]
Sadly, a lot of Dems seem to think the lesson of CRT panic is “stop talking about race and inequality, it will turn people off.” Which people? Yes, talk about economic justice and jobs but really? Let them burn books and intimidate teachers, just don’t talk about race?? Argh.
posted by zenzenobia at 11:31 AM on November 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by zenzenobia at 11:31 AM on November 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
I kind of assumed through experience that most centrists, let alone right-leaning voters and Republicans, already find critical race theory divisive and extreme. So even if fascist rightwingers weren't manufacturing fake news all the time, the pseudoliberal center will not be moved, because the majority of such Americans already find discussion of race not super relevant to their class priorities of lower taxes, etc.
posted by polymodus at 12:26 PM on November 11, 2021
posted by polymodus at 12:26 PM on November 11, 2021
I think articles like this one are missing the point.
This isn't the result of disinformation. This isn't the result of otherwise innocent white people being lead astray by nefarious right wing forces.
They don't support white supremacy because of untrue beliefs, they hold untrue beliefs because of their faith in white supremacy.
Conservatives aren't misguided liberals. They aren't dupes. They aren't suckers. They aren't the victims of FOX.
They actively seek out white supremacist propaganda because they are already believers in white supremacy and want justification for that belief. They are engaging in motivated reasoning.
So yeah, they mostly don't even know what CRT is, but that's not the point. Whether or not its taught in schools isn't the point.
The point is that they've found numbers online, the bravery to be more openly white supremacist in Trump, and now they're looking for any excuse at all to start implementing white supremacist policy.
posted by sotonohito at 12:36 PM on November 11, 2021 [33 favorites]
This isn't the result of disinformation. This isn't the result of otherwise innocent white people being lead astray by nefarious right wing forces.
They don't support white supremacy because of untrue beliefs, they hold untrue beliefs because of their faith in white supremacy.
Conservatives aren't misguided liberals. They aren't dupes. They aren't suckers. They aren't the victims of FOX.
They actively seek out white supremacist propaganda because they are already believers in white supremacy and want justification for that belief. They are engaging in motivated reasoning.
So yeah, they mostly don't even know what CRT is, but that's not the point. Whether or not its taught in schools isn't the point.
The point is that they've found numbers online, the bravery to be more openly white supremacist in Trump, and now they're looking for any excuse at all to start implementing white supremacist policy.
posted by sotonohito at 12:36 PM on November 11, 2021 [33 favorites]
“Critical Race Theory And ‘Moral Panic’”—Carlos Maza, 25 October 2021
posted by ob1quixote at 1:23 PM on November 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by ob1quixote at 1:23 PM on November 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
Cf. “The Psychology of Authoritarianism”—Saint Andrewism, 04 August 2021
posted by ob1quixote at 1:25 PM on November 11, 2021
posted by ob1quixote at 1:25 PM on November 11, 2021
little eiffel: “This”Another thread from Legum.
1. Right-wing operatives have deployed a MASSIVE network of fake local news sites to weaponize Critical Race Theory in political campaignsCf. This thread from Jennifer LaGarde
Follow along if interestedhttps://t.co/B8bE7z3EXZ— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) November 8, 2021
“A group of parents found out where I live and came to my house to shout at me, while my children watched, about including pornography in the library.”posted by ob1quixote at 1:36 PM on November 11, 2021 [10 favorites]
“Board members showed up at my school, while I was doing a book tasting, to audit my shelves for books teaching CRT.”
🧵⬇️— Library Girl (@jenniferlagarde) November 5, 2021
the problem is that although intimidation and craziness didn't work with congress on jan 6th, these people have figured out that it really will work against school boards and their members
these people need to be exposed - they need to be arrested if they are making threats
this is exactly how things started in nazi germany
posted by pyramid termite at 1:42 PM on November 11, 2021 [11 favorites]
these people need to be exposed - they need to be arrested if they are making threats
this is exactly how things started in nazi germany
posted by pyramid termite at 1:42 PM on November 11, 2021 [11 favorites]
My partner is an English teacher in Texas. She's already gotten a directive from her administration to avoid any "controversial" books or topics and a few calls/emails from parents demanding that she not teach their kids pornography.
Texas governor Greg Abbott is sending out letters praising the would be censors and demanding that teachers remove all "pornography" from their classrooms.
We're yet again looking at leaving Texas. But costs, fears of being unable to find good jobs, etc, are making that idea less than practical.
posted by sotonohito at 2:15 PM on November 11, 2021 [11 favorites]
Texas governor Greg Abbott is sending out letters praising the would be censors and demanding that teachers remove all "pornography" from their classrooms.
We're yet again looking at leaving Texas. But costs, fears of being unable to find good jobs, etc, are making that idea less than practical.
posted by sotonohito at 2:15 PM on November 11, 2021 [11 favorites]
this is exactly how things started in nazi germany
Also see ‘I think we should throw those books in a fire’: Movement builds on right to target books (WaPo) (Archive link).
Also see Texas lawmaker launches probe of school libraries' books on race, sexuality, which links to a list of ~800 books some jackhole wants to remove from public school libraries, no plans (yet) for burning.
posted by Lyme Drop at 5:54 PM on November 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
Also see ‘I think we should throw those books in a fire’: Movement builds on right to target books (WaPo) (Archive link).
Also see Texas lawmaker launches probe of school libraries' books on race, sexuality, which links to a list of ~800 books some jackhole wants to remove from public school libraries, no plans (yet) for burning.
posted by Lyme Drop at 5:54 PM on November 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
I can see this kind of stuff at work in my community. We recently had our school board and city council elections. One notable outcome is that the ward with the most black residents elected a BLM activist who ran on a platform of police reform. The response was predictable: Articles in the local paper about the "defund the police candidate" and what her election is going to mean for the future of our city. Lots of suburban residents--not even members of our community--descending on the local subreddit to label her as a radical socialist, decry her election, and inform us that "polls show that defunding the police isn't what the people want." And yet, somehow she handily won her election.
People need to get a goddamn grip, she's one voice among many on the council, and she just wants the cops to stop targeting her people.
posted by TrialByMedia at 7:33 PM on November 11, 2021 [5 favorites]
People need to get a goddamn grip, she's one voice among many on the council, and she just wants the cops to stop targeting her people.
posted by TrialByMedia at 7:33 PM on November 11, 2021 [5 favorites]
The Confederates have been engaging in disinformation since the end of the Civil War. Lost Cause Myth.
The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an American pseudohistorical[2][3] negationist mythology[4][5][6] that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery.[7] It has continued to influence racism, gender roles and religious attitudes in the South to the present day.[8][9]
They know well the importance of schools and education to passing down a historical narrative, which is why they fear countervailing forces, imagined or real.
Through actions such as building prominent Confederate monuments and writing history textbooks, Lost Cause organizations (including the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans) sought to ensure Southern whites would know what they called the "true" narrative of the Civil War, and therefore continue to support white supremacist policies such as Jim Crow laws.[8][12] In that regard, white supremacy is a central feature of the Lost Cause narrative.[12]
posted by eagles123 at 8:17 PM on November 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an American pseudohistorical[2][3] negationist mythology[4][5][6] that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery.[7] It has continued to influence racism, gender roles and religious attitudes in the South to the present day.[8][9]
They know well the importance of schools and education to passing down a historical narrative, which is why they fear countervailing forces, imagined or real.
Through actions such as building prominent Confederate monuments and writing history textbooks, Lost Cause organizations (including the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans) sought to ensure Southern whites would know what they called the "true" narrative of the Civil War, and therefore continue to support white supremacist policies such as Jim Crow laws.[8][12] In that regard, white supremacy is a central feature of the Lost Cause narrative.[12]
posted by eagles123 at 8:17 PM on November 11, 2021 [2 favorites]
If It’s Not Critical Race Theory, It’s Critical Race Theory-lite:
...this “critical” approach has trickled down, in broad outline, into the philosophy of education-school pedagogy and administration — call it C.R.T.-lite or, if you prefer, C.R.T. Jr. — and from there migrated into the methods used by graduates of those education programs into the way they wind up running schools.
One can ardently support that students learn about racism and its legacies in a way that doesn’t crowd out obvious lessons about the history of undeniable racial progress. One can do that while questioning whether students should be immersed in a broader perspective that offers overbroad, clumsy and, frankly, insulting portraits of what is inherently white and what is Black, Latino, Asian American or Native American, and fosters — even if unintentional — a sense of opposition between the groups in question.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 8:33 PM on November 11, 2021
And Jay Caspian Kang offers an even-tempered overview: "Can We Talk About Critical Race Theory?"
posted by PhineasGage at 9:22 PM on November 11, 2021
posted by PhineasGage at 9:22 PM on November 11, 2021
". . . pundits and politicians create their own version of many progressive, liberal and leftist views, and then they fight with their version. There is no real debate and certainly no dialogue, because the entire game is to offer up a distorted version of a position, then freak out about it."
posted by exlotuseater at 7:10 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by exlotuseater at 7:10 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
". . . pundits and politicians create their own version of many progressive, liberal and leftist views, and then they fight with their version. There is no real debate and certainly no dialogue, because the entire game is to offer up a distorted version of a position, then freak out about it."
And of course a straw man argument is, or ought to be, an admission that one can't win an argument honestly. But Democrats never say so.
posted by Gelatin at 7:20 AM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
And of course a straw man argument is, or ought to be, an admission that one can't win an argument honestly. But Democrats never say so.
posted by Gelatin at 7:20 AM on November 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Kendi, in The Atlantic:
"The Republican operatives, who dismiss the expositions of critical race theorists and anti-racists in order to define critical race theory and anti-racism, and then attack those definitions, are effectively debating themselves. They have conjured an imagined monster to scare the American people and project themselves as the nation’s defenders from that fictional monster."
posted by exlotuseater at 7:42 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
"The Republican operatives, who dismiss the expositions of critical race theorists and anti-racists in order to define critical race theory and anti-racism, and then attack those definitions, are effectively debating themselves. They have conjured an imagined monster to scare the American people and project themselves as the nation’s defenders from that fictional monster."
posted by exlotuseater at 7:42 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
It seems like an argument about the point of teaching American history - to increase knowledge of the subject, or to instill a sense of patriotism and civic pride. For all the crowing about facts over feelings and prioritization of education over self esteem, this is about giving the country a moral participation trophy because republicans have a burgeoning demographic problem to fix - even young people from conservative homes are way more liberal socially than they'd prefer. They thought the turning point occurred in college and targeted their attacks there, but I think the Parkland kids scared them and they decided to regroup. Now k-12 teachers - usually educated middle class younger women, another slipping demographic for them - are somehow indoctrinating the youth even with textbooks evaluated by the Bible Belt.
posted by Selena777 at 11:39 AM on November 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Selena777 at 11:39 AM on November 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
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The conservative insistence in believing in falsehoods is an admission that their beliefs don't reflect reality at all and they'd rather believe comforting lies.
posted by Gelatin at 8:54 AM on November 11, 2021 [20 favorites]