That's possible, Max, but it may be over-thinking it. It's also just possible that the video is an example of the tendency of people on social media, and media in general, to catastrophize. People and groups of all political persuasion do this to the other "side" and their followers eat it up because it confirms their beliefs and prejudices. It's part of the reason we're in the mess we're in. It's a self-fuelling outrage machine. And it exhausts people and stops them looking clearly at the real injustices in front of them. This DeSantis fella is clearly not a good guy. His ideas and educational policies are cynical and draconian, but they need to be challenged for what they are. As soon as we start shouting at a cartoon tiktok version of people we disagree with we're lost and we're part of the problem.
None of this is to criticise John, or his original post. We've all done it, whether we know it or like to admit it. I've done it. The positive that I'm going to take away from this thread, apart from being glad I don't live in the US right now, is what a great and laudable career John had in educational publishing for 30 years.
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