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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 26, 2023

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Arguing against teaching something at school still allows for things to be taught at home, or other contexts that parents have control over. Setting out to influence someone else's children against the parents' wishes is qualitatively different from that. It might still be legitimate, but there's no way to claim these things are similar.

I don’t understand the difference. Isn't that true of everything that is taught at school? If I argue against the teaching of creationism, I am "setting out to influence someone else's children against [some] parents' wishes," am I not? Ditto re arguing against teaching "CRT." Ditto re "influencing the perception of children towards the Civil Rights movement" and "influencing the perception of children towards the BLM movement" (in either direction), and "influencing the perception of children towards free market economics." Why should there be a special rule re "influencing the perception of children towards the LGBT movement"?

More importantly, as I said, trying to "influence the perception of children towards the LGBT movement" is not secual assault.

I don’t understand the difference. Isn't that true of everything that is taught at school? If I argue against the teaching of creationism, I am "setting out to influence someone else's children against [some] parents' wishes," am I not?

No, you're not. If you were arguing for teaching creationism you'd be doing that. Arguably you'd be doing that if you argued for teaching evolution as well, which is were the drama around the topic came from, and which is why I said depending on the situation it could be legitimate.

In any case forbidding something, in a context where attendance is mandatory, is clearly not the same thing as demanding something be mandatory.

How is that a meaningful distinction? Schools teach for things all the time. Some teach that Christopher Columbus was a great hero, even though some parents think he was a genocidaire. Most teach that Jim Crow was wrong and that the Civil Rights Movement was a moment of great progress, even though some parents disagree. Economics classes often extol the virtues of the free market, even though some parents disagree. Some schools teach patriotism and "family values," even though some parents disagree. When teaching sex ed, some schools teach "abstinence only," even though some parents disagree. What to teach is always subject to disagreement, and all sorts of groups try to influence what is taught. So, again, why should there be a special rule re "influencing the perception of children towards the LGBT movement"?

How is that a meaningful distinction? Schools teach for things all the time.

Have you missed the part where I said "Arguably you'd be doing that if you argued for teaching evolution as well, which is were the drama around the topic came from, and which is why I said depending on the situation it could be legitimate"?

How do you not see the distinction between mandating something be taught, and demanding something not be taught in mandatory schools?

So, again, why should there be a special rule re "influencing the perception of children towards the LGBT movement"?

For the same reason there's a special rule re "influencing the perception of children towards Jesus Christ being our lord and savior".

How do you not see the distinction between mandating something be taught, and demanding something not be taught in mandatory schools?

As I just said, that is a meaningless distinction.

For the same reason there's a special rule re "influencing the perception of children towards Jesus Christ being our lord and savior".

That would be a violation of a very specific prohibition regarding freedom of religion. Which is why, although schools cannot teach that homosexuality is wrong because the Bible prohibits it, they are free to teach that it is wrong because it undermines the family, or for 1000 other reasons. And if your school district is teaching that, you are free to lobby it to teach instead that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality, or that people should be tolerant of homosexuality.

As I just said, that is a meaningless distinction.

If it was a meaningless distinction, then mandating that religion not be taught in schools would be indistinguishable from mandating that it be taught in schools.

That would be a violation of a very specific prohibition regarding freedom of religion.

Yeah, that's what I just said. Why are you not questioning why this prohibition is in place?

then mandating that religion not be taught in schools would be indistinguishable from mandating that it be taught in schools.

This is tiresome. As noted, the First Amendment's provisions re freedom of religion creates special rules for teaching religion in public schools.

Why are you not questioning why this prohibition is in place?

Because it is irrelevant. The Bill of Rights puts certain decisions outside the purview of normal democratic processes. That is of course the whole point of establishing rights. One of those decisions happens to be teaching religious views. Whether that is a good thing or not is irrelevant to the issue of whether advocating for a certain view of the LGBTQ rights movement is illegitimate. If you want to argue for amending the First Amendment, have at it. But that is not the topic of the current conversation.

This is tiresome. As noted, the First Amendment's provisions re freedom of religion creates special rules for teaching religion in public schools.

Yes, that was my argument from the start.

Your argument was that the very distinction between mandating something be taught, and mandating something not be taught is meaningless. This would mean the First Amendment is in contradiction with itself.

Because it is irrelevant.

No it's not. You asked "Why should there be a special rule re influencing the perception of children towards the LGBT movement" - it's the exact same reason why someone decided to write the First Amendment.

The Bill of Rights puts certain decisions outside the purview of normal democratic processes.

???

As difficult as it may be, I was under the impression that amending the constitution is very much within the purview of a normal democratic processes. It's not even that hard in countries that are not the US.

If you want to argue for amending the First Amendment, have at it. But that is not the topic of the current conversation.

The topic of the current conversation is "why should there be a special rule...", we are arguing about the why, yes? It's the fact that a similar rule is there in another context that's not relevant to the conversation.

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