this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023

106 points (92.7% liked)

CanadaPolitics

2840 readers

6 users here now

Placeholder for any r/CanadaPolitics refugees

Rules

Keep the original title when submitting an article. You can put your own commentary in the body of the post or in the comment section.

Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca also apply here. See the sidebar on the homepage: lemmy.ca

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

lightrush@lemmy.ca

grte@lemmy.ca

106

How ‘parental rights’ language smuggles anti-LGBTQ hate into mainstream politics | Ricochet (ricochet.media)

submitted 2 years ago by grte@lemmy.ca to c/canadapolitics@lemmy.ca

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 18 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 27 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

So-called parental rights necessarily come at the direct expense of existing and needed child's rights.

[–] baggins@lemmy.ca 26 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

The uninspired mashup between "think of the children" and "state's rights" is fooling people?

[–] Kichae@lemmy.ca 22 points 2 years ago

It's more like "property rights" than "state's rights". A lot of people just kind of quietly believe that they own their kids, as if "owning a human being" doesn't have a name that differs from "parenthood".

[–] grte@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It works because it's essentially hitching it's wagon to a general milieu of reactionary media that a good portion of the country is already immersed in. It doesn't have to be inspired, it just has to reference the various issues these people are already being riled up about.

[–] MyFairJulia@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Lois Griffin on stage: "Think of the children."

(audience cheers)

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago

It also works because parents see schools making mistakes with their kids. Every parent I know has a story about how at least one teacher has done a bad job at something.

With those experiences it's pretty easy to get parents to think they'd provide their kid with more help than the school.

[–] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago

People will believe anything if they want to believe it.

[–] spacecowboy@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Its not "smuggling" anything. Its extremely obvious.

[–] nik282000@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago

Yeah, I thought the 'parental rights movement == blatant bigotry' was common knowledge.

[+] sbv@sh.itjust.works -10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

It is worth trying to understand where general support for "parents rights" comes from. I live in a rural area where it's getting a fair bit of support. From the parents I've talked to:

Parents care about their kids. If their child is facing something monumental, they want to help. They feel that they will be able to help their kid navigate the situation. They are less concerned about other kids who might be harmed by their parents.
Parents have had bad experiences with teachers. Many parents can name one or two members of staff that have treated their kid poorly, ignored problems, or done a bad job teaching.
Parents don't have good experiences with school policies. Parents see math and reading being taught badly, and don't think schools will do a good job helping their kid understand their sexuality.

[–] Jason2357@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That's not understanding, that's whitewashing (or being naive). Those 3 points don't actually add up to "parents rights" unless you add one key additional component.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

I'm not saying they add up to "parents rights", I'm trying to get across that a lot of parents feel like they've been let down by their kids schools.

That makes for fertile ground when a right wing campaigner comes along and says "do you trust the school?"

[–] snooggums@kbin.social 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

No, it comes from concern that their kid might be exposed to something that differs from what they are taught at church. Then it expands into nobody else's children should be exposed to what they are taught at church.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

I can guarantee you something, most of them don't go to church. I know many people in that crowd and none of them practice anything related to religion except sinning.

[–] jadero@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You must know a different set of parents than I do. Over the couple of decades raising my kids, interacting with other parents, and dealing problems at school, my experience is that people in general and parents in particular typically complain a lot more about other kids' lousy parents than lousy teachers or lousy schooling.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think it depends on the kids and their situation.

One of my kids had no problem with reading, but the other had a really hard time with cueing. I was surprised to find that it's part of the curriculum in both Ontario and NB. Fortunately, both provinces seem to be switching back to phonics.

Another parent in my cohort found their daughter was having difficulty with math, got little support from the teacher, and ended up teaching her daughter remedial math in the evenings.

So far, other kids and parents have been fine.

[–] jadero@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago

Those stories mirror my own experiences with school and teachers. I, too, had to take on teaching math and, more surprisingly, how to actually approach the challenge of learning.

Yet, somehow, at the block parties, dinner parties, BBQs, picnics, and across the back fence I could always count on people to complain about how badly this or that person or couple was at parenting. Rarely did I hear people complain about schools or teachers except in the most egregious failures.

[–] Rocket@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Hilariously, the most vocal people I know worried about their "parental rights" homeschool their kids.

You have to wonder if it has never occurred to them that they can tell themselves if their child/student chooses to use a different pronoun at home/school.