I can recall a time when the older folks would give the younger generation words of warning about buying into claims made on the then-nascent internet. Nowadays, it seems that the older generation is buying into what I call the economy of outrage, lock stock and barrel, and the younger generation is more apt to fact check and exercise some media literacy.
Case in point: so many in Texas have been going scorched earth on social media over a fake pamphlet mailed out to Lord-knows-how-many Texas households titled the “Texas Trans & LGBTQ+ Student Resource Guide.” The pamphlets were addressed to the “student” of Texas households and included information encouraging LGBTQ+ youth to seek help from several advocacy groups if parents don’t support their gender identity.
Of course, the timing of said pamphlet’s delivery should tell anyone with a good bull manure detector in working order everything they need to know. The delivery coincided with the beginning of the early voting period for the midterm election, which has been, to say the least, interesting, here in this great state. Still, there’s something extremely sad, and telling, about a political movement that believes in frightening people about children being a good way toward winning elections.
In seeing several posts concerning these pamphlets, but not having had received one myself, my question initially, when the furor online began was “what in the world of all that is holy is this trying to accomplish?”. In a contentious midterm season, the mass mailing of literature about transgender teenagers deserves scrutiny, and not simply for what is contained therein the pamphlets, but for what the goal is by whomever is responsible. When political messaging transforms a marginalized population into campaign props, it’s worth asking whether the goal is to inform the public or to manufacture outrage, and especially when it is a marginalized population of young people who are already among a high rate for self-harm.
Sadly, trans people, especially the younger ones, have becomes convenient targets in a political environment that thrives on culture war nonsense. Instead of addressing issues that most reasonable Texas taxpayers are affected by every day, such as public school funding, healthcare costs, teacher shortages, housing affordability and the future of our state’s water resources, shrewd political operatives can send a fear-mongering pamphlet through the mail and invite recipients to believe that somehow trans people are an existential threat lurking in their communities.
Some good reporting from the Texas Tribune has deduced that the pamphlet’s supposed sender the “Texas Transgender Student Union” was registered as an LLC in Wyoming last month, while the actual organization itself has publicly denied creating, authorizing or distributing the pamphlets. While the origin of the mailers is unknown, it took millions of dollars to pull it off, and one West Texas DA, Sarah Stogner, has opened a criminal investigation into the matter. Forgery, after all, is a state jail felony under Texas law.
Alarming language to some coupled with carefully selected graphics and a few claims that might be stripped of context creates a perfect storm to agitate voters, which arrived in many Texas mailboxes in a tri-fold format. Our mailboxes are already a sewer of political hysteria during election seasons. I can’t count the number of curse words I’ve uttered in response to asinine political mailers that deride opponents or their policies in back-and-forth fashion. This, however, is a horse of a different color.
It was sad to me, in looking into this topic, just how gullible many folks showed themselves to be. Media literacy and critical thinking skills seem to be needed in an alarming fashion. For many, nuance is the enemy and context is inconvenient, and for a teenager who might be facing questions of gender identity, navigating the already awkward and difficult business of high school and growing up, they become a useful character in someone’s election-year morality play. It’s purely hokum disguised as public concern.
Voters do, legitimately, have questions about school policies, parental rights and gender-affirming care, and those questions should not be dismissed, but public policy deserves serious discussion, and legitimate disagreements should be examined honestly. However, there is a galaxy of difference between a good-faith discussion of policy and a mass-produced scare campaign that is obviously designed to provoke fear or disgust toward a minority group. It’s the difference between understanding and ruthless vote-seeking, and it is also the point to where media literacy becomes essential.
Regardless of one’s political beliefs, we should all be questioning messaging that is designed to provoke fear, outrage and anger before we’ve even had so much as an opportunity to examine whether it is true or not. A pamphlet, just because it arrives in one’s mail, is not hard evidence of anything, nor is a photograph, in of itself, proof that something happened just because text is printed underneath it.
Voters need to ask a few basic questions about political mailers, or anything that arrives making claims:
Also, to that end, and maybe most importantly: what type of emotional reaction is the literature attempted to provoke to the audience? If that answer happens to be fear, disgust or anger before you’ve even finished reading it, then take a breath, or go outside and touch some grass. That reaction might be exactly what the sender/producer created.
Media literacy and critical thinking does not hinge on agreeing with a political party or rejecting everything that challenges our existing beliefs, but applying a set of standards of evidence to claims that we like as well as claims we dislike and distinguishing actual reporting from propaganda.
Instead of being distracted by culture wars, let’s ask of those running for office, particularly the incumbents what they have accomplished during their years in office. Texas certainly has no shortage of actual problems that demand the attention of voters, and should be of paramount concern to lawmakers, or hopefuls, but turning trans teenagers into midterm election villains does not solve a single thing.
Children deserve better than to be reduced to political talking points, and voters deserve better than to be manipulated by sensationalism.
The next time a pamphlet calculated to outrage you lands in your mailbox, don't let the fear and anger do your thinking for you. Instead, read it critically, check the claims and most importantly, follow the money.
In an election season full of noise, the ability to recognize nonsense might be one of the most important civic skills a Texan can possess, and most of us should be able to recognize bull manure when we smell it.
Chris Edwards is editor of the Tyler County Booster, a sister newspaper in the Polk County Publishing Group. He can be reached at cedwards@polkcountypublishing.com.
