R: How dare Sesame Street advocate vaccination when it has become such a partisan and divisive issue
D: How do you suppose it “became” partisan
R: Clearly Dr. Fauci, the CDC, and all pro-vaccine scientists are involved in a major Deep State conspiracy
D: That sounds reasonable
R: Besides, the safety of the vaccine has not been settled
D: You say that about any issue where you don’t like the results
R: That’s ridiculous
D: Like climate change
R: Needs more study
D: Or the 2020 election
R: Voter fraud
D: Or the Mueller Report
R: No collusion
D: Your resistance says more about you than it does the vaccine
R: What’s wrong with my body, my choice? HUH?
D: Because eradication of a disease requires—
R: HYPOCRITES!
D: Your allegation of hypocrisy does not make the situations analagous
R: I distinctly said “hypocrites”
D: Does it make sense to you that Sesame Street would become politically divisive after all of these years? We’re talking about a public-TV show that teaches children of all races to get along & helps them learn basic reading and math skills
R:
D: On second thought, never mind
• • •
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R: Schools are teaching our kids CRT
D: Show one example
R: Well, they’re forcing it on teachers
D: Name one school that does this
R: Well, it’s clearly infecting the curriculum
D: Be specific
NYT: Democrats Take CRT Literally But Not Seriously
R: WE WIN AGAIN 😂
D: There have been multiple court hearings & thousands of pages of documentation demonstrating that Trump covertly sought Russia’s help in getting elected
R: You have no evidence LOL
FOX: There’s a nationwide plot to shame white children for being racist
R: YOU HAD ME AT HELLO
CNN: The Coronavirus death toll continues to rise among the unvaccinated
R: Ehh, CNN and the Democrats are just trying to scare us
FOX: A teacher somewhere in California used the words “white people” & “racist” in the same sentence
While I do not entirely dismiss your goal, I regret to inform you that there is no way to “talk about race” that will not alienate the segment of the voting population that adamantly takes offense at any suggestion that racism remains a thing
The last six months of CRT-related discussion has hammered home the point that there is literally nothing you can say about racial inequality that won’t disturb the Princess-and-the-Pea-level sensitivity of a MAGA conservative: “STOP ACCUSING MY WHITE CHILDREN OF BEING RACIST!”
So although I am certainly open to a realpolitik solution that would incentivize white voters to embrace racial progress, I struggle to consider exactly how such a thing could be done outside of “slip it into the background without really talking about it.”
Yes, but if angry white parents spent months complaining to school boards that their kids were being taught about institutional racism, it would be less “gangbusters electoral strategy” and more “those feral rednecks are insane”
And for the record, I have not conceded that Rufo just “gave a name” to a thing that was already happening: he used the name of an existing legal academic theory to describe something completely different. It’s a little like calling the Native Americans “Indians.”
I am well aware that informing conservatives that they are factually incorrect is exclusively the domain of pointy-headed political naifs, as it changes the minds of no one and makes our side appear fussy, pedantic, & completely out-of-touch with the pulse of Real Americans