In early March, the Governor of Virginia spoke to UVA law students at the 2022 Federalist Society National Student Symposium. After noting that “free expression is a hallmark of a free society,” he declared that the “greatest threat to our democracy today comes not from tyrants abroad, but let me tell you Vladimir Putin is a tyrant. The greatest threat to our democracy comes from a growing tendency to loathe, rather than listen. It comes from a desire to bully and not to persuade. Such a culture of contempt-this ‘cancel culture’-is toxic to our democracy. And unless the schools that exist to teach our young people take responsibility for being a solution, our democracy will indeed be in danger.”
While Ukrainians are fighting for their very lives and way of life, when children and civilians are gunned down indiscriminately in the streets and thousands are pouring over the border to find sanctuary in neighboring countries, our Governor considers Putin’s brutal assault on a democracy less toxic than “cancel culture.”
The fact that Vladimir Putin felt he had the right to invade a neighboring democracy and bend it to his will is an incredible threat to all democracies. His cruel and relentless slaughter of innocent Ukrainians and destruction of their homes, cities and countryside is horrific in its magnitude and scope. Putin belongs in a long line of authoritarians whose contempt for democracy propels their push to destroy it.
But, even if one were to believe that the murder of civilians, particularly children, to take back land wrongfully perceived as belonging to Russia was less toxic than “cancel culture,” this Governor need only look at the actions of his administration. Under the Governor’s orders, the Virginia Department of Education is combing through its procedures, curriculum, guidelines, and materials to ferret out “inherently divisive concepts.” Further, the Governor established an e-mail address for parents to report teachers and staff who are teaching these “inherently divisive concepts.”
Given the vague definition of what constitutes “inherently divisive concepts,” and the possibility of being turned in by parents, school staff and educators will question and second-guess themselves, possibly leading to self-censorship and a reluctance to teach those topics that all students should be taught. Such McCarthyesque tactics of individuals emailing the government to “tattle” and turn in their children’s teachers is the ultimate in “cancel culture.”
Although some teachers may regard this a call to arms to forge ahead with their teaching of the horrific aspects of slavery, lynchings, segregation, the Holocaust, and other difficult topics, other teachers will fear being called out and it will chill their speech. Indeed, James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association (VEA) declared, “It’s about teaching culturally competent lessons that have been vetted, tried and true. Many educators are on edge that no matter what they teach, it’s going to be reported to the snitch line.”
That fear on the part of some teachers to teach an accurate portrayal of history or other subjects may result in students failing to comprehensively learn all the facts. And that ignorance or misinformation is a far greater danger to democracy than the truth.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “If the children are untaught, their ignorance and vices will in future life cost us much dear in their consequences than it would have done in their correction by a good education.” [The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1816-1826,” p. 84.]
