Republican-controlled state governments are in the early stages of forming their own thought police

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://stoehr.substack.com/p/republican-controlled-state-governments


I think it’s good that people who know what they are talking about when they talk about critical race theory (CRT) are coming forward to talk about it publicly. If MSNBC’s Joy Reid wants to put a CRT expert on every night, more power to her. It’s good for the health of the public square for knowledgeable people to speak about ideas and topics they are authorities in for the benefit of democracy and the common good.

But a republic that depends, for its future viability and therefore its freedom, on the quality of information available in the public square, there are limits to this behavior. The American public square does not privilege knowledge. It does not give the benefit of the doubt to truth-tellers. It takes pleasure in heat more than light, conflict more than understanding, and gross characterizations more than explicit fact. So when it comes to critical race theory, we need to do more than explain what it is and is not.

We need to go on the offensive.

Republican state laws written to “ban” critical race theory are written so vaguely as to cover virtually anything related to race, racism, whiteness, white supremacy, the history of chattel slavery or “incorrect” interpretations of US history.

Before I go on, let me remind you what all this anti-CRT stuff is about. First, it’s not about CRT. Its critics, who include Republicans but also white anti-left liberals like Jonathan Chait (and, I suppose, Andrew Sullivan), don’t care what critical race theory is. They don’t care what anti-racism or wokeness or whatever is. All they “know” is that they already “know” everything they need to know, which is that CRT is either anti-white, from the perspective of GOP fascists, or that it’s anti-liberal, from the perspective of white anti-left liberals who insist the politics of the 2020s is the same as the politics of the 1990s and who are otherwise drifting toward political irrelevance.

*snip*

[Glorfindel]

1. Seems like Florida is way out in front of the pack...

what a surprise.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/559881-florida-gov-signs-law-requiring-students-and-faculty-be

[PsakiPswirli]

2. Florida is becoming 1930's Germany

DeSantis is going after universities. Anyone smarter than he is. Which is about everybody. He was our House representative before governor. He was the most ineffective rep we ever had. How he has a 55% approval rating is scary. We have to become engaged in a serious way if we are going to have a democracy.