First off, the headline is clickbait. You’d think the piece was directly inspired by the drubbing Terry McAuliffe took in Virginia after he argued that parents shouldn’t have a say in shaping their kids’ schools’ curriculums. Glenn Youngkin embraced parents’ concerns about public education, and it became a major issue in the gubernatorial race.
BuzzFeed’s Alessa Dominguez doesn’t write about directly deplatforming white parents, such as taking away their right to speak at school board meetings; instead, her piece is more of an indictment of the mainstream media for amplifying the concerns of white parents. She thinks major newspapers and cable channels took the bait and ran stories on issues like trans women in girls’ sports and critical race theory as though there were an actual “debate” to be had.
Buzzfeed wants to "deplatform white parents" from any decisions about their children's education. They want to use taxpayer money to push gender ideology and critical race theory—with no obstruction. pic.twitter.com/cptWvDkOVu
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) December 23, 2021
Unfortunately for Buzzfeed, the majority of parents of all racial backgrounds oppose critical race theory in the curriculum. Their only hope is to poison the well with demonization of "white parents." pic.twitter.com/gw4uFLM6A7
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) December 23, 2021
The evidence suggests that the Left's racial hysterics are counterproductive: Latinos and Asians, in particular, are moving rightward in key electoral districts. They don't want the politics of racial demonization and will punish those who promote it.
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) December 23, 2021
Dominguez writes:
Framed largely by right-wing activists and think tanks as human interest issues about fairness in sports and classrooms, they circulated into national legacy media — including publications like USA Today, CBS, The Atlantic, and the New York Times — through first-person opinion pieces by mothers of cis athletes raising fears about trans inclusion or human interest reports featuring on-the-ground stories of white moms airing complaints about supposed radical ideas being introduced in schools.
Whatever the content of the reporting or articles, in platforming these issues through the “concerns” of cis and white people, mainstream media helped distort what constitutes legitimate perspectives for coverage, and in doing so sidelined the actual difficulties experienced by marginalized communities, including Black and trans youth.
Ultimately, this kind of coverage raises deeper questions about news organizations and who decides the perspective of “culture war” journalism.
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We remember pieces from CBS News, the New York Times, and The Atlantic slamming parents over their concerns over critical race theory. MSNBC’s Joy Reid and Nicolle Wallace certainly had nothing good to say about those parents.
Nothing to see here
— Philosophus (@Philosophuslux) December 24, 2021
Counter offer: megaphones for all parents to voice concern over their children’s education and countering childless ideologues’ agenda.
— Ripcityrealist (@ripcityrealist) December 23, 2021
The addiction to causing and feeling rage just breeds more discontent. Blogs like this one here just serve to animate parents even more which seems to be what they are aiming for
— 🚀Safe-Space Bear🐻 (@phadedjaded) December 23, 2021
These people are cancer
— Pete D’Abrosca (King of Substack) (@pdabrosca) December 23, 2021
Seems racist
— D (@Hey_its_Don_) December 23, 2021
They're not only racists themselves, but they don't seem at all aware that black parents may be even less keen on trans ideology and CRT in the classroom than white parents.
— Pig of the Forest (@Serpent18220570) December 24, 2021
How do the woke go from this to saying Asian-American parents who support gifted and talented programs are "white supremacists"?
— AltAzn 🇺🇸 (@Alt_Azn) December 23, 2021
This will end with segregated schools again.
— Control Group (@Orbosterva) December 24, 2021
The people pushing censorship are the ones who are also pushing the most misinformation.
— John J Rambo (@JohnJRamboEsq) December 24, 2021
New movie idea:
“How to Lose the Suburbs in Less Than 12 Months”
— Political Sock (@politicalsock) December 23, 2021
I love it when people complain about "platforming" because it is a tacit admission that in their world people aren't able to think for themselves and need to be told what to believe.
Can't just have people going around saying stuff or else dummies will automatically believe it
— Dimetap🍇Bordeauxchambord (@DavidBowiesCock) December 24, 2021
Public schools are no longer fit for purpose. Teachers have been allowed to abandon any pretense of education in favor of playing psychotherapist/community organizer. The message for school districts needs to be: get back to your core purpose, or be defunded.
— Auklet (@aukletqd) December 23, 2021
Does anyone still read Buzzfeed for anything other than a blatant lesson on what biased media looks like?
— TDL (@TDL_Coop) December 23, 2021
Not surprisingly, it’s an argument in bad faith; the writer thinks white parents equate critical race theory with “attempts to eradicate histories of race in the U.S.” And as someone suggested above, where’s the proof that “white parental anxieties” are strictly held by one race? And there’s this conflation of “the marginalized”: Are we supposed to believe black parents’ interests directly line up with the trans community?
Related:
‘You will not quiet me today!’ Calif. public school parents whose children were secretly ID’d as trans by activist teachers are fighting back [videos] https://t.co/kcGbgHVInh
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) December 16, 2021
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