Moms for Liberty is Anything But

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

They grew up in the monotony of the suburbs, living lives that didn't match those pictured in the reality shows.    They were far less interesting than those who bared their souls, and sometimes their breasts, on the Jerry Springer Show or Maury Povich.  And they would have gone on bobbing inconsequentially in tn the lesser tributaries of life until they eventually sank out of sight forever were it not for the great loud trumpet that came along at the at the depths of their despair:  Facebook.

People who had once had their vitriol limited to snide attacks on others across the backyard fence on laundry day, now had a means to spew their stuff far and wide and to connect with other troglodytes who shared the same malevolent mindsets.   Groups were formed, actions taken, and suddenly these spawn of Springer were running amok in society and threatening the very foundations of civilization.

Moms for Liberty is one such group.   It is a collection of frustrated individuals whose lives were essentially relegated to those of passers-by until they hit the motherlode of attention-gathering when they discovered the gold in being moral arbiters for public schools.  Now suddenly, through no formal education or training, they have elevated themselves to be the deciders of what is and is not appropriate material in school curricula.  They work as field monkeys for national right-wing groups circulating lists of books that they have never read - and stirring up outrage in their local communities to have those same books pulled from library and classroom shelves.

These people do not want their children exposed to lifestyles that they find personally offensive, and, in particular, they relish targeting anything which varies from straight (heterosexual) male and female gender roles.

The problem, of course, is that they also do not want YOUR children exposed to any lifestyles which vary from what the censors regard as "normal."  Not only do they not want their children, and YOURS, being exposed to real life, many don't even want them to hear the word "gay" uttered in a classroom.  

Pulling books from shelves, banning books, sometimes even burning books . . . it just doesn't feel like education, does it?  Those of us who have been around for awhile understand that the pendulum swings, and when the craziness on the right reaches intolerable levels, it will begin swinging to the left and correcting the excesses of the authoritarians.  Still, the knowledge that things will ultimately get better does not make the chains of ignorance that are currently being used to restrain education any less cumbersome or troubling.

If you want your children to grow up ignorant and out of touch with the world, shame on you - but by all means try your hardest to control their education.  Kids are resilient and many will survive their parents' best efforts to manage their learning experiences and their environment.    But as you manage your kids' education, also be aware that your ideas, no matter how valid they seem to you, are not the gold standard of educational theory.  Other people want other learning experiences for their kids, with other outcomes, 

If you don't want your child being exposed to a particular book at school, talk to the teacher and make an alternative arrangement for your child - but leave mine alone!  If you feel something needs to be pulled from a classroom, pull your child - but leave mine alone!   And if you feel schools truly need more liberty, then go away and let the teachers teach - free of your threats, taunts, and moralistic nonsense. 

Moms for Liberty is truly a colossal misnomer.   There is no "liberty" in them telling the rest of us how to raise our children.