“A Tale of Two Bills” or “Wingnut Trolling is a Bitch to Tackle”

Thanks to my Facebook friends I was alerted to two bills filed in the state legislature that have drawn some very counter-productive attention. The first one is a bill that would make verbally assaulting someone using the term “bitch” a finable offense in Massachusetts. The second would ban organized tackle football for children not yet in the eighth grade. Both bills have produced the predictable partisan outrage from the Bay State’s easily triggered culture warrior set, but neither bill is what these critics want their audiences to believe they are.

One of my more astute Facebook friends (a group of above average thinkers I might add) pointed out that although the news reporting about the bill to fine those using the term “bitch” didn’t mention it, the bill was not filed by a radical Democrat bent on destroying personal freedom, but rather was a product of the state’s “by request” process. “The state constitution [ ] allows citizens to ask their legislators to present bills “by request” (these bills do not necessarily have the support of the legislators who file them).” This means that the legislator whose name is on the bill was merely doing his duty when he filed this bill on behalf of a constituent. It’s not surprising that the MassGOP Twitter feed has exploded over this “issue.” They are in the business of distorting the truth. However, it is a shame that many of the journalists who reported on the story were not aware of the state’s “by request” process, an awareness that would surely have prompted some additional digging before going with the story. For a more complete analysis of this bill go to Michael Jonas’ excellent piece in Commonwealth Magazine here.

On the bright side, my astute friend took it upon himself to inform the journalist who wrote the story and that reporting has since been corrected to include this crucial context. Not surprisingly, the right wing parade of outrage over the story continues unabated. The MassGOP, for example, is hardly going to let the truth ruin a great wingnut rant.

The bill calling for the elimination of tackle football for kids not yet in the eighth grade, however, is not a “by request” bill. Its lead sponsor is an actual elected member of the legislature. Surely, this bill is a direct threat to personal freedom being snuck through the legislature by radical Democrats bent on destroying America, right? Alas, no. Representative Paul Schmid from Westport has clearly indicated that his bill is intended to spark a public conversation about the health risks of tackle football. He is trying to call the public’s attention to the science on this, not to short-circuit Bay Staters’ right to make this decision for themselves. Nonetheless, the folks whose politics dictate that everything Democrats produce is evidence of political correctness gone mad will undoubtedly insist that this conversation be about politics, not science or health and safety. The Bay State’s Rush wannabe radio talker Howie Carr likes to joke about how the sponsors of this bill must have always been picked last for teams as kids, using ostensibly comedic dog whistles to discourage thoughtfulness. One fact about the tackle football bill you will not see on the MassGOP Twitter feed or hear about on right wing talk radio is that 6 of the bill’s 16 co-sponsors are Republicans.

The moral of this story is that those who would exploit and perpetuate public ignorance for partisan political purposes have to be actively and aggressively called out by journalists and by non-journalists with the knowledge and will to push back in social media. Under paid and over worked journalists will not always be able to get the story fast (necessary to keep their jobs) and get the whole story (necessary to short circuit 21^st Century-style ignorance peddling). Trolls like the folks at the MassGOP count on this unfortunate reality in order to prime their faithful with disinformation and isolate as many voters as they can from the “reality-based community.”

I’m afraid there is no short cut or easy way to fight back. Every literate, fair minded American has to step up in the fight against the 21^st Century’s enemies of deliberative democracy whose legions (sadly) include millions of our fellow Americans. America’s democratic experiment cannot withstand this ongoing assault without mass resistance and counter-attack, especially since it is being aided and abetted by one of America’s two major political parties and foreign enemies, all armed with seemingly bottomless resources and cutting edge technological weapons.