Government

Florida's Anti-Woke Law Is So Bad For Free Speech That Teachers Are Having A Hard Time Constructing Curricula Around It

'And here's where I'd mention that the reason there are so few mummies is because Europeans ate them, but I'd run the risk of losing my job.' - Some teacher in Florida during World History

By  
on
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Campaigns With Senate Candidate Adam Laxalt In Nevada

No way that actually happened. (Photo by Ronda Churchill/Getty Images)

Florida is being Florida so hard that it has become difficult for teachers to do their jobs. No, I’m not referring to their ongoing teacher shortage or their refusal of books during said school crisis for fear that they may be too woke, even when said book is the dictionary. Actually, I lied — that part is what I’m talking about. The STOP Woke Act, the PC name for Florida’s law that censors speech, is being taken to court because its rigid enforcement of political correctness when discussing facts is making it difficult for teachers to, you know, teach

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being sued over his “STOP Woke ACT,” over claims the law violates free speech and hinders “professors’ ability to teach and students’ ability to learn.”

Bracketing that this looks like a goofy attempt at a hip-hop album cover, it is great to know that not everyone is okay with America being one of those countries where only some facts can be relayed to the general public without fear of losing your job or being outcast. That would be totalitarianism or something. Forgive me. Let me not call them totalitarians before they wryly overidentify with another adhom to somehow prove a point to the libs.

No seriously, they do things like this and get mad when they get accused of fascism or racism.

Sponsored

Am I missing something, or is it ridiculous to call out CRT for “Creating Racial Tension” on the one hand and self identify as a (white) Christian Nationalist prepared and happy to start crusading on the other?

Just to be clear, my money is on the anti-woke law not allowing the former but seeing the latter as just a natural set of affairs children of all ages are prepared to be exposed to.

Sponsored

Oh, and about the mummies thing? That wasn’t an absurdist joke. Europeans have been eating mummies since the 12th century as medicine. Giving an adequate lesson on historical developments in health, medicine, and race may just happen to involve sharing that information with young adults who, once better informed, could make better decisions for the future. For example, maybe if more people were aware that the gains in knowledge we have in gynecology were made possible because the father of the modern practice performed horrible experiments on enslaved women, maybe there would be more awareness when it comes to how Black women are treated in medical settings today. Doctors routinely assume that Black (and Asian) women have a higher pain tolerance than women of other races and that ignorance is a likely factor in why Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause. And it’s not just a class issue either — remember Serena Williams? This is just an example of a discussion that could be prevented from anti-woke laws, and that is a disservice to our children.

Ron DeSantis Faces Florida Lawsuit Over Anti-Woke Law [Newsweek]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

Topics

, , , , , ,