this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2024
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127
Moms for Liberty Completely Collapses in Former Strongholds (newrepublic.com)
submitted 9 months ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/politics@beehaw.org
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Moms for Liberty experienced a meteoric rise at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as local chapters sprang up to push back against coronavirus restrictions in schools. The organization soon expanded to pushing book bans and opposing discussion of LGBTQ issues and race and diversity in classrooms, prompting the Southern Poverty Law Center to categorize Moms for Liberty as an extremist hate group. [...] But on Tuesday, the local chapter in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, shut down due to lack of interest. The chapter had 200 members when it first formed in 2021, but just three showed up at a diner in Allentown to vote to dissolve the group, The Daily Beast reported.

Participation also appears to be flagging for a key Moms for Liberty chapter in Florida. The Brevard County chapter was the national organization's first chapter. A local group was already in action against Covid-19 regulations in schools when Tina Descovich, Tiffany Justice, and Bridget Ziegler founded Moms for Liberty in Florida. Descovich approached the Brevard County group about merging with Moms for Liberty, and the local group agreed. But on Wednesday, the Brevard County school board held a meeting, in part to discuss a challenge to the books The Kite Runner and Slaughterhouse-Five. Only one Moms for Liberty member showed up.

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[–] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 74 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I wonder why the sudden loss of membership?

But on Wednesday, the Brevard County school board held a meeting, in part to discuss a challenge to the books The Kite Runner and Slaughterhouse-Five. Only one Moms for Liberty member showed up. All the other attendees spoke in favor of keeping the books on the shelves—and heavily criticized the parental rights organization. One attendee compared “the growth of the Taliban and its repressive autocracy in the name of religious nationalism” in The Kite Runner to “the rise of parental rights groups that want to limit what students learn.” The Moms for Liberty member did not speak and eventually snuck out of the room. The books were not banned.

Oh, they didn't like being outnumbered at meetings! It just goes to show that when more people participate in local affairs it silences the extreme voices. Political apathy is dangerous.

[–] snooggums@kbin.social 34 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Moms for Liberty flourished when they came out in numbers while reasonable people were being cautious about covid.

[–] SharkAttak@kbin.social 18 points 9 months ago

A little part of me like to think that's how they got infected and died, and the reason why there's less of them.

[–] BeardedSingleMalt@kbin.social 14 points 9 months ago

Just like that kid in the school yard who thinks he's tough as shit...but only when he has someone backing him up

[–] bedrooms@kbin.social 10 points 9 months ago

Indeed, extremist groups do their discussions in their echo chambers. These simple minded people have never learned to do serious debates. The closest is perhaps "Lmao you are the stupidest person on earth".

[–] GammaGames@beehaw.org 49 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Good riddance

[–] SharkAttak@kbin.social 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The bad part is, they didn't go away, they just went back in hiding.

[–] JCPhoenix@beehaw.org 18 points 9 months ago

We'll never get rid of these bigots. They've always existed. But at least they stayed away from library and school boards and other governance positions back then. Let's hope they keep doing that going forward.

[–] frog@beehaw.org 22 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I wonder if a big part of it was that there wasn't as large an overlap between being unhappy with coronavirus restrictions in schools and being opposed to children learning about diversity as the Moms for Liberty group thought. All the mothers who were only thinking about how the restrictions were impacting their kids social, emotional, and academic development (and those concerns did have some validity) have now got what they wanted: their kids are back at school and growing up normally. They don't feel the need to go on a crusade against minorities because that was never what they were worried about.

[–] tesseract@beehaw.org 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The only reason I can think of for anyone opposing covid-19 restrictions is covid-19 denial. While it's true that the restrictions caused mental and emotional distress to the kids, parents would have considered it as a necessary compromise if they took covid-19 seriously.

It isn't inconceivable that there is a great overlap between covid-19 deniers and those who are opposed to diversity. Then why isn't it so? Did I make a mistake in the assumptions I made?

[–] frog@beehaw.org 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I dunno, there were plenty of parents over here in the UK who took Covid seriously, but still opposed the degree of restrictions in schools because of the impact it had on their kids. It basically came from a place of being aware that children were much less at risk from Covid than older people, so they accepted the need for measures that protected the vulnerable while still disagreeing with the need to keep children so isolated.

(Interestingly, the ongoing government inquiry here about the government's response to Covid has concluded that if any women had been involved in the decision-making on Covid restrictions, the restrictions on children would not have been as extreme as they were - not because women are inherently Covid-deniers, but because they would have considered the long-term impact on children, which the entirely male decison-making team simply didn't think of.)

So my assumption is that many mothers in the US felt the same way - and these people aren't Covid-denying, anti-vax, racist, homophobic, transphobic bigots. They just wanted their kids to be able to go to school normally. While undoubtedly the loudest voices in Moms for Liberty were Covid-deniers, I would expect that the majority of those who joined the group were just normal mums worried about their kids during the pandemic.

[–] pbjamm@beehaw.org 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

being aware that children were much less at risk from Covid than older people

That was not really the problem though. Those kids interacting in small classrooms would undo all the work of controlling the spread of the disease. They infect each other and then carry it back home to more vulnerable people. Or to the teachers, administrators and staff members working at the schools.

[–] frog@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago

That doesn't mean that the parents' concerns about how so much isolation would impact their childrens' mental, emotional, social and academic development weren't valid, though. In fact, it's pretty obvious at this point that many children were adversely affected, many in ways that will impact them for the rest of their lives. It is definitely not a given that the people that joined Moms for Liberty because they were worried about their children being so isolated during critical stages of development are also Covid deniers and bigots.

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

being aware that children were much less at risk from Covid than older people

Except that this is only true for mortality. Younger people were just as likely to suffer both the immediate damage from the infection itself, and the post-infection symptoms. The difference is that a young person with moderate lung or heart damage is not at all likely to outright die. But it doesn't mean the damage is not there, or that it's okay, or will fully heal, especially when it comes to cardiac health.

We're going to see a LOT of now-children-or-teens, in 20-30 years start developing cardiovascular issues, far younger than normal.

[–] frog@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago

That was not known at the time, though. What was known was that children were at a much lower risk of dying (and of getting seriously ill), and there were plenty of parents who had very valid concerns about the impact on their children. What we're going to see over the next 20-30 years is an awful lot of children growing up with severely stunted social and emotional development, which was a much more foreseeable outcome of Covid restrictions in schools than long Covid.

I'm not saying having restrictions was right or wrong. There was probably an ideal balance in there somewhere, but given the situation, it would have been a damned miracle if anyone had figured out what it was. What I'm saying is that the parents with entirely valid concerns about how the restrictions affected their childrens' development were not necessarily Covid deniers, and are certainly not necessarily bigots.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 19 points 9 months ago

Reminds me of a story I heard from back when PCP was just getting started. A nurse reported that onc of her overdose patients told her that PCP was safe to use if you didn't mix it with angle dust. The addict didn't realize that PCP and angle dust were the same thing.

Same with MAGA. They want the hate rush, and keep looking for a newer, stronger high, never realizing it's all the same thing.

[–] LocoOhNo@lemmus.org 1 points 9 months ago

These are the same shitty mothers whose main complaint about schools being closed was that they couldn't get blackout drunk before 11am because now, the kids they had (for the same effect as carrying around a Chihuahua in a bag), were now having to stay home.

One of these women was on the news in Florida saying "I just don't know what we're supposed to do with our kids if they're not in school."

I dunno, raise them, simple bitch. These people legitimately want the State to teach their kids but also, don't you dare teach their kids...

These are the same women who are shitty to their kids and show them pictures of when they were cheerleaders in high school saying "Mommy had a great body before you ruined it."