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MAGA's goal is to use the government to carefully teach FEAR [1]

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Date: 2024-09-19

The 1949 Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s South Pacific musical included the song, “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught”. For folks unfamiliar with the lyrics, they include:

You've got to be taught To hate and fear, you've got to be taught from year to year It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear You've got to be carefully taught. You've got to be taught To be afraid of people Whose eyes are oddly made And people whose skin is a different shade You've got to be carefully taught.

I have been repeatedly reminded of this song as I do excursions with my young granddaughter. At parks, pediatrician offices and church, she has met many small children of multiple backgrounds and the only thing on her mind has been to make friends and play with them. The giggles, the looks, even the gentle forehead bumps she does with other children to show she likes them, have made grown ups laugh out loud at the overwhelming cuteness of kids enjoying each other’s company.

She sees their parents, some with ethnic attire that is quite different from what she is used to, it makes no difference to 2 and 3 year olds. She sees parents whose skin is a different color from her parents, it makes no difference. And it has made no difference to the other children that her parents are different from theirs.

I strongly feel this is how it should be — whether toddler or adult, to be accepted for what you are and not to be taught to hate, fear, or otherwise diminish a person who looks/sounds different from you. I also feel MAGA folks are scared to death of this reality — the possibility that their child might be accepting of others with different skin tones, different types of parents, different beliefs, etc. The MAGA fear about this has permeated the red state’s educational system, generated book bans, and even now wants to the government to inform the medical community what they can and cannot treat in children. Their purpose is to hide the information that it is perfectly normal to be different. And that it is acceptable to discriminate or otherwise discount folks that are different. To help them, they want to take over the government for the purpose of making it clear what is acceptable to teach a child, what healthcare is appropriate for a child — essentially to have the government become their parenting partner in what a child is allowed to learn and see in school and the doctor’s office.

The MAGA community is scared to death that due to availability of factual information on from birth control to gay parents to critical race theory, that their kids might become enlightened and that is not acceptable to MAGA! Prior to the internet, it was easier for conservative parents to maintain a tighter iron grip on their kids and make sure they had limited to no exposure to ideas that were not MAGA parent approved. A child who was “different” received firm feedback that it was not allowed, their feelings were wrong, they were confused, etc., and as such, children who were different often suffered significant mental stress. It was not uncommon for a family to “disown” an adult child who insisted on being their true self instead of the “acceptable self” their parents would allow.

In the 21st century and with the advancement of information available on the internet and the use of social media, children are able to find alternative facts to what they are told by their parents. They might find a book in their school library on a child with two dads, gasp! They might find information on slavery that indicates it was something much worse than a path for forced learning of “useful skills”. And when they ask their questions to their parents on these subjects, the parents are forced to defend why that information is wrong.

Instead of the parents themselves broadening their understanding of very complex issues, they are frustrated that the world is moving forward on a path of acceptance of “different” and so they are determined to have the government back up their racist and discriminatory beliefs by banning books, banning teachings, banning medical practitioners from offering factual truths on these points.

Fear of different is what is driving this election in 2024. Fear that MAGA parents are being left behind, being considered more as “Flat Earthers” by their own children, is driving them to take over the educational system in the US and to remove all those “different” elements that their child might be exposed to. And that Fear is on show everywhere in this election, complete with made-up stories to drive Fear into others.

It is clear that many of the MAGA folks spouting the fear, realize it is entirely made-up, but they move forward promoting it over and over to attempt to scare others into supporting them. Folks that are so busy working 2 jobs and raising kids that they rely on the soundbites and headlines to give them some idea of what the election is about, and making their voting choices based on that.

Elon Musk uses his tweeting platform to promote arresting people who provide trans care to minors. He is unhappy that his daughter, Vivian, experienced significant mental anguish in her biological skin and as her parent, he approved the medical care she needed for her mental health to allow her to become the girl she knew she was. HE APPROVED IT. His son did not go to school and come home a girl with the school system providing drugs and surgery, etc. Rather, Elon met with medical professionals, was quite concerned about his child’s mental health, and physically signed the paperwork as he was concerned his child might otherwise commit suicide. And the result is a vibrant woman proud to be who she is. He believes that her access to information that it was OK to be different, provided information she should not have had. He felt pressured to make a choice he didn’t like and doesn’t want other parents to be faced with having that choice — one caused by dhildren learning about options. Rather, he feels knowledge is bad and it is critical to remove/limit a child’s ability to get knowledge contrary to what the child’s parents are saying. Thus Elon’s support for banning the books, the information, the medical professionals, and the care his daughter received after he, as her parent, signed the permission forms. He doesn’t want any parent to have that choice, to approve or not. Rather, he feels it is best if there is no choice.

MAGA would have you believe that a school or dr’s office would offer transgender medical care without a parent’s approval. False. But yet a large FEAR that MAGA folks keep pushing.

MAGA realizes the world is moving forward and leaving them behind and that can’t be allowed. Rather, MAGA needs to take control and ensure that their children have limited access to any data that disproves the MAGA talking points. They must be “carefully taught”. It is the same approach they have used for years on birth control. MAGA is a big proponent of abstinence-only birth control teaching in schools. Ensuring the government is only able to parrot the MAGA birth control story in schools. Looking at Florida for example, Florida classrooms generally use abstinence-only material, which focuses on not having sex outside of heterosexual marriage and does not include material on birth control or safer sex. Prior to Roe being overturned, Florida had one of the highest rates of abortion — 20.3 out of 100,000 (Statista 2021). Perhaps more realistic teaching on safe sex would have resulted in that rate going down.

The 2024 election is unbearably close, it really has turned into an election on either Fear or Love. Fear drives us to hunker down and try to protect what we have. MAGA is preaching fear and to vote on fear, and they will make up whatever stories they need to make up, in order to make someone fearful… MAGA needs the government to back them up on their lies — to be their parental partner in ensuring their child has few opportunities to become “enlightened”.

Love drives us to reach out , learn facts, protect others and grow the social fabric of our nation. Children are born choosing Love — watching my granddaughter’s interactions illustrated that point.

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