Media top headlines February 21
In media news today, PolitiFact gets ripped for a fact-check comparing the Super Bowl to schools in masking debate, The Atlantic argues mask mandates 'don't need to make sense,' and Brian Stelter addresses past communications between Allison Gollust and Governor Cuomo.
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo thanked John Oliver, host of HBO’s "Last Week Tonight" for doing an unintentional favor for his movement against critical race theory in schools.
On Sunday, Oliver spent 28 minutes attacking critics of critical race theory being taught in schools, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, whom he called a "f—cking knob."
John Oliver arrives at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, U.S., September 19, 2021. (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)
"The debate around critical race theory is both very loud and very, very dumb," Oliver said. "But unfortunately it is important to engage with it because if we don’t, the endpoint that we are heading toward is that honest discussions of race will be shut out of public schools even as some parents f--k off to voucher academies where their kids can learn a version of history that is basically antebellum fan fiction."
Another target of Oliver’s segment was Rufo, who has documented and exposed examples of critical race theory in K-12 schools. While Oliver attacked Rufo for pushing ideas he claimed don’t exist, Rufo still complimented the comedian for giving him publicity.
"’What Rufo has been cleverly doing is cherry-picking the worst examples that he can find of lessons in classrooms or training materials for teachers and saying, "that is CRT" ... And the thing is—it f--king worked.’ Even my enemies can't help but give me the W," Rufo began.
He added, "John Oliver spent 28 minutes hyperventilating about the anti-CRT movement, repeating the dumbest tropes, like ‘CRT is graduate-level legal theory’ and never taught in K-12 schools. But he's doing us an unintentional favor: the more the public learns about CRT, the more we win."
Chris Rufo (Fox News)
Rufo said despite efforts by Oliver and other liberal media pundits, 61% of swing district voters agreed with the statement that "Democrats are teaching kids as young as five Critical Race Theory, which teaches that America is a racist country and that white people are racist."
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He closed his thread slamming Oliver and fellow left-leaning comedian Trevor Noah for prioritizing defending establishment politicians rather than being funny.
"The delight of political comedy comes from the assumption of risk. The jester, if he errs, might get beheaded by the king. He goes right up to that line and, consequently, has the audience in rapt attention. Oliver and Noah risk nothing: they are bland propaganda for the regime," Rufo tweeted.
Signs opposing Critical Race Theory line the entrance to the Loudoun County School Board headquarters, in Ashburn, Virginia, U.S. June 22, 2021. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
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Although Oliver dismissed calls protests against school boards as "manufactured panic," critical race theory has grown to a significant political issue in recent elections. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe attacking its use in Virginia schools. On Tuesday, three progressive school board members in San Francisco were recalled in part for prioritizing political ideology over education.