Parents Rights My Ass!

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

The wealthy white right continues its all out frontal assault on Democracy. The 1st District Court of Appeal overturned a temporary stay on Governor Ron DeSantis’ effort to impose financial sanctions on 13 Florida school boards defying his mandate that districts cannot impose mask mandates.

Wait a second. Local school district officials are taking local actions to help save children from the COVID virus as they see fit and they are being told “No,” you can’t take action to save the lives of your kids because a Republican governor, for reasons still unbeknown to me, says that he “will continue to fight for parents rights.” DeSantis argues that the new Florida Parents Bill of Rights law “reserves solely for parents the authority to determine whether their children should wear a mask to school.”

I don’t think that this mask mandate decree from the governor has anything to do with parents rights at all. It is yet another effort by his Republican party to chip away at the rule of law. They are hell bent to to reinterpret the Constitution to suit the desires of an existing power structure in the United States that could not and would not survive in the world of a diverse, multi-ethnic , pluralistic democracy. The Supreme Court that Sen. Mitch McConnell has assembled appears positioned to restructure the law of the land to suit its partisan political views. Moreover, to effectively end democracy.

Consider this action by the Florida governor in context. Red state legislative attacks on voting rights law and the blocking of federal voting rights legislation by right leaning members of Congress point towards a fundamental effort for the dissolution of democratic processes in our great country.

On its face, you might say that a Republican governor taking away the local rights of neighborhood school boards runs directly opposite of Republican orthodoxy that favors local control over “big government.” Why would a Republican governor act in this manner?

That is the question that needs answering before we allow our Democracy to be dismantled and destroyed before our very eyes. I cannot stand still without at least saying something about it in this small forum of mine.

That is how I am making sense out of this continuing stream of illogical, immoral and inhumane actions coming from the political right. If you have a better explanation for our current divisive situation, I’m all ears.

One final though here. On the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, how dare these anti-democratic forces be allowed to function in broad daylight without more outrage from good people like you.