Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

As this Washington Post article observes, the GOP of Nixon and the GOP of whoever is in charge today have one thing in common: they are willing to use lies to generate fears that prevent rational dialogue and rational decision making. Here are some key paragraphs from the post:

Yet the facts weren’t what mattered. Culture war, as the right had learned, could thrive on conspiracy theories and half-truths — what mattered wasn’t facts, but fear . As the pamphlet’s authors, Gordon Drake and James Hargis, put it: “If the new morality is affirmed, our children will become easy targets for Marxism and other amoral, nihilistic philosophies.”

At the root of the controversy were real anxieties. Many parents in the 1960s were uncomfortable with the idea of the public school classroom being the place where children learned about sex. The country was in the midst of a rapid cultural shift, and the sex education wars reflected that.

But instead of fostering dialogue and deliberation, Nixon and his compatriots used the moment to drive a wedge between Americans, hoping that they could cleave off a large enough majority to win. A contest run simply on the facts didn’t play to Nixon’s favor, after all.

The GOP continues to seek victory at the expense of democracy… but unlike the 60s when the news was filtered by three major networks, we now have unfiltered internet posts and enablers like Fox and Sinclair networks to amplify and reinforce their lies.

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