Current Events > Article about book-banners increasingly harassing teachers online and irl

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/07/15/1055959/book-bans-social-media-harassment/

Nancy Vera was awakened suddenly at midnight on July 12 by the sound of a single gunshot, the bullet ricocheting off her home. She looked at a security camera just in time to see a truck speed away.
Vera was shocked but not surprised. The president of the Corpus Christi, Texas, branch of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), she had recently handed out books with LGBTQ characters at a pride event for local students, alongside a drag queen.
Vera thought the event was a fun opportunity to connect with local parents and distribute books to kids. But conservatives, including her local sheriff, called the event an example of the "grooming and indoctrination of young people in our country." "Grooming" is a slur commonly used by devotees of the conspiracy theory QAnon, which claims that powerful people and institutions are ensnaring children in sex trafficking rings.

On July 9, the conservative group County Citizens Defending Freedom (CCDF) held a public seminar in Corpus Christi about monitoring school curriculums and researching social media of teachers, school board members, staff of school districts and elected officials, effectively teaching people how to stalk and harass educators online.
I have been tracking this current movement of book banning since last summer, and this is the first I have seen of a deliberate effort to track or monitor teachers and staff, says Jonathan Friedman, the director of Free Expression and Education at PEN America, a nonprofit that defends free expression.

Other conservative groups are also tracking teachers social media accounts. Moms for Liberty and its offshoot group, Moms for Libraries, have been engaging in this type of monitoring and have also started distributing liberty-minded books with conservative publishing house Brave Books, which claim to empower this generations youth with conservative values while glorifying the Lord in all we do.
The Leadership Institute is another conservative group that has justified this tactic. Anyone who wades into the public discourse using social media is presenting their personal or political views for all to see, Matthew Hurtt, the director of graduate relations at the Leadership Institute, said in an email to me. If teachers, administrators, and elected officials espouse objectionable views on social media, there is a good chance they are espousing those views in the classroom or in school board meetings.

One clear pattern is emerging: educators who support teaching sex education and discussing LGBTQ issues are labeled groomers.
Gloria Gonzales Dholakia, a school board member in Leander, Texas, says she was called a groomer at a school board meeting that was broadcast online, leading to a slew of hateful comments. A man who attended the meeting made several highly personal remarks, including suggesting that Gonzales Dholakias husband, who was sitting just a few feet away in the room, must be abusive. My kids were watching this online at home. I was so angry and was ready to quit, she says.

Just some excerpts

Remember when I got banned for posting a clip from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade in response to a story about book banners lmao. Funny shit.

Book Banner
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/8/9/AAEhCpAADdMF.jpg

I wish there was a hell, so every single conservative could fucking burn in it