When conservatives accuse liberals of doing something bad, the liberal defense often follows a three-step progression:
For example, consider the debate about teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools. Republican Glen Youngkin ran for governor of Virginia with a platform that included ending CRT in the schools.
Democrats replied that no one was teaching CRT in public schools. For example, his Democrat opponent, Tery McAuliffe, said in an interview, "We dont teach Critical Race Theory. It's never been taught in Virginia. This is a made-up racist dog whistle." (MSNBC interview. Quote begins at about 2:40.) He and others said similar things on many other occasions.
Then just a few months after the election was over, the media hailed a statement, signed by 5000 teachers, pledging that they would continue to teach Critical Race Theory even if state legislatures passed laws requiring them to stop. New York Post, July 6, 2021))
So in just 7 months we went from "no one is doing this anywhere in the country" to 5,000 teachers publicly stating "yes we've been doing this and we will continue to do this no matter what you say".
JS Jun 28, 2024
What really happens:
1 - CRT is used as an analysis framework in some higher education fields.
2 - Republicans latch onto CRT as their newest boogeyman.
3 - Republicans pass incredibly broad laws prohibiting any discussion of the implications of race (under the guise of prohibiting CRT).
4 - Teachers fight back against this blatant attempt to lie to children by redefining history.
5 - Republicans claim that any attempt to fight their bullshit laws means CRT is widespread in public schools.