Moral Panic

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• 5/21/2023
  

  Texas Judge Revives Anthony Comstock's Crusade Against Reproductive Freedom

  by Bill Greer

  The career of Anthony Comstock shows what can happen when a highly committed moral crusader gains traction in the political system. His rehabilitation in the contemporary abortion war is cause for concern. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  10/10/2022
  

  The Moral Panic over Activist Teachers Wildly Overstates' Teachers' Power

  by Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz

  Public school teachers have never enjoyed robust academic freedom protections, and have been subject to scrutiny and punishment for "subversive" views, leading to teacher burnout and diminished educational quality. 

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• SOURCE: Scalawag
  6/14/2022
  

  Teaching Black History in Virginia Just Got Tougher

  Glenn Youngkin's attack on "divisive" history lessons clearly put the wishes of conservative whites at the center of the debate about curriculum. Now, a planned change to increase Black history in Virginia schools is on hold and Black students and families ask why their concerns are unheard. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/11/2022
  

  All 133 School Superintendents in Virginia Urge Governor to Scrap Tip Line

  “Division superintendents disagree with your assumption that discriminatory and divisive concepts have become widespread in Virginia school divisions,” states the letter from Howard Kiser, executive director of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/14/2022
  

  New Laws have Teachers Confused, Scared, and Self-Censoring

  Few new laws have (yet) impacted the curriculum or resulted in the prosecution of teachers. But nevertheless, history and social studies teachers across America report a real chilling effect from laws that subject them to community surveillance and censure. 

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• SOURCE: Reuters
  2/15/2022
  

  Death Threats and Intimidation on the Rise Against Local School Boards

  As national conservative groups have mobilized voters and resources around the idea that schools are under seige by radical leftist indoctrination, some school board members have experienced death threats and other serious harassment. 

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• SOURCE: YouTube
  2/7/2022
  

  Is "Cancel Culture" an Existential Threat to America or a Moral Panic?

  by Michael Hobbes

  Podcaster and moral panic debunker Michael Hobbes asks what's really happening with the current "cancel culture" uproar. 

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• SOURCE: MSNBC
  11/15/2021
  

  Texas Principal Officially Fired in CRT Controversy

  The first Black principal of Colleyville Heritage High School in Grapevine, Texas, has lost his job after months of allegations that he was pushing critical race theory on students. 

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• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  11/15/2021
  

  Why I'm Tired of Hearing About "Wokeness"

  by Regina Rini

  "Perhaps the worst effect of the anti-Wokeist rhetoric invading academe is that it drowns out more careful critiques of so-called “Woke” policies."

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  7/9/2021
  

  There Is No Debate Over Critical Race Theory

  by Ibram X. Kendi

  "Republican operatives... 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."

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• SOURCE: Mother Jones
  7/15/2021
  

  The Moral Panic Over Critical Race Theory Is Coming for a North Carolina Teacher of the Year

  Rodney Pierce won honors for going beyond a teach-the-test approach to middle school social studies by pushing his students to understand the history of their local community, including racism. He fears making white parents uncomfortable may jeopardize his job.

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• SOURCE: New York Magazine
  7/11/2021
  

  CRT: How to Manufacture a Moral Panic

  "When an educator exposes the racism that lurks within this nation, they often find themselves at the mercy of an onslaught from the right."