When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed the Florida legislature to join his crusade against “wokeness” in public schools, First Amendment experts warned that like many of the anti-“critical race theory” laws around the country, the bills were written so broadly that they could be reasonably interpreted as de facto prohibition on anything other than specifically state-sanctioned speech.
Even critics of “wokeness” have argued that prohibitions on “divisive concepts” and definitions of “truth” are subjective, vague, and destined to sweep up far more content than was originally intended.
And wouldn’t you know it, now that schools across Florida are removing innocuous books because they bump up against certain “divisive” interpretations of gender, sexuality, and racism that could conceivably run afoul of Florida law—DeSantis is crying, “Hoax!”
The governor and his gaggle of sycophantic right-wing media influencers insist the book bans were only meant to go after the “porn” in books like Gender Queer or the “racism” in books like How to Be an Antiracist—and that most of the hundreds of other books facing state censorship were mistakenly included in the purge, or deliberately removed by educators to make DeSantis look bad.
Team DeSantis wants to have it both ways. They deny book bans are even happening, but the erstwhile small government, free marketplace of ideas-supporting conservatives are also openly contemptuous of the free inquiry and open debate trappings of liberal democracy. Better to ban the “bad” ideas than debate them, defeat them, or teach them in a larger context. (But don’t call it a ban, which they contend in the face of all evidence is a “hoax.”)
Or as right-wing activist Christopher Rufo (now a trustee of the New College of Florida following DeSantis’ ideologically driven takeover of the school) put it in a tweet, “We’re in charge now.”
(There’s not enough space in this column to get into DeSantis’ illiberal War on Disney, which New York‘s Jonathan Chait summarized thusly: “First, DeSantis established the principle that he can and will use the power of the state to punish private firms that exercise their First Amendment right to criticize his positions. Now he is promising to continue exerting state power to pressure the firm to produce content that comports with his own ideological agenda.”)
And lest you think Florida Republicans are done trammeling on free speech, a new bill threatens to up the ante.
Here’s how Jeremy C. Young, senior manager of free expression and education at PEN America, describes a proposed law that would (among other things) prohibit all gender studies majors, DEI initiatives, and allow tenure to be revoked on a whim: “By handing politicians and political appointees the power to rewrite college mission statements, ban majors and programs, and hire and fire faculty according to political whims, HB 999 would silence those conversations and enact an unprecedented and unparalleled regime of government interference in public education.”
So, just as broadly written bans on nebulously defined ideas are leading to otherwise unobjectionable books being vacuumed up in the censorial process, Florida will now consider a new law that further narrows the guardrails of acceptable discourse in higher education. (Unintended consequences of overreaching government action…who knew?)
“Even critics of ‘wokeness’ have argued that prohibitions on ‘divisive concepts’ and definitions of ‘truth’ are subjective, vague, and destined to sweep up far more content than was originally intended.
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DeSantis’ other primary culture war battle—his crusade against the “corporate media”—also presents a potential outcome for which he likely hasn’t given much consideration. In the name of “truth,” the Florida governor wants to remove a major legal protection for journalists, even though his own right-wing media buddies would probably suffer the harshest consequences.
Ron DeSantis, Truth Cop
At times, the Florida governor seems like he’d rather be a Fox News host than president. He loves the trappings of cable TV news—the pontificating from the bully pulpit, the non-stop hammering of culture war rhetoric, and the warm, cozy feeling of being safely siloed in an ideological echo chamber, unchallenged and adored.
While cosplaying as a fearlessly pugnacious straight-shooter, , it sure seems like there’s more than enough evidence to clear the bar.
But get this, Fox News lawyers have cited as a defense…New York Times v. Sullivan.
“There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan,” the network said in a statement.
Some legal experts have argued that this case (if decided against Fox News), could actually end up proving that the bar to prove defamation that was set by Sullivan isn’t an impossible one to meet. But surely, without Sullivan, Fox News would already be toast.
If this were a rational political moment, it’d be the time for the governor to choose sides.
Does he really want to remove the robust protections for media freedom that were set by Sullivan? Like his anti-woke education crusade, he might not always be happy with the unintended consequences of his culture war broadsides—which, in this case, could include the death of Fox News.
