Scott Tibbs
School boards, rape culture, free speech and domestic terrorists
By Scott Tibbs, October 22, 2021
The threat of violence against public officials does exist, and we should take it seriously. If we do take it seriously, we need to avoid exaggerating the threat and also avoid a disproportionate response. As is often the case, the error comes from an "all or nothing" approach where people either describe bad behavior as the work of a domestic terrorist network or deny that there is any bad behavior at all.
This should be obvious, but people should not
go to school board members' houses and confront them at home. That is a threatening action, and if you want your voice to be heard it should be avoided. Harassing people at home drowns out your message and provides an excuse for a disproportionate response from both school officials and law enforcement. Leave people alone in their private lives.
Furthermore, there have been documented examples of angry parents committing assaults over masking requirements, which is absolutely ridiculous. But the fact that people have engaged in bad and even violent behavior does not mean that there is an organized terrorist group trying to intimidate school systems with threats of violence.
Yes, any criminal activity should be prosecuted. But unless there is evidence of a cross-state terrorist conspiracy, having the federal government get involved is a disproportionate response. This is not something where federal law enforcement needs to be involved. That looks much more like using the biggest gun available to intimidate parents with legitimate concerns over school policies.
It does not help school officials, however, when they exaggerate and lie about interactions with parents. One angry father was made the face of bad behavior when he was arrested at a school board meeting. But the source of the anger was ignored: His daughter was allegedly
violently raped and sodomized in the school bathroom by another student, and the so-called "school" tried to cover it up. The same student also allegedly sexually assaulted a different girl.
The school boards need to actually listen to constituents, instead of trying to limit and stifle speech while smearing parents objecting to critical race theory, mask mandates or transgender bathroom policies as violent extremists or white supremacists. Meanwhile, the Right should not pretend that there has been no bad behavior and that the threats are totally made up. Can we please not retreat into a tribal mentality and actually deal with this in a principled and respectful manner?
It is good to see parents and community members actually getting involved at the local level, though. As I have been saying for years, it is local government that has a more direct impact on your daily life than anything the federal government is doing. This includes public schools funded by taxes and governed by elected school boards. We spend far too much time worrying about what the President is doing and not nearly enough time watching the school boards, county councils, mayors, township trustees, city councils, township advisory boards and county commissioners. We need more of that!
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