An American neo-fascist propaganda fantasy: Grooming

Propaganda-stoked social ferment

A person has to admit that propaganda gushing from modern American neo-fascists is persistent, creative and without much or any concern for contrary facts, truths or reasonable reasoning. For the professionals of radical right dark free speech and for the most part (completely?), there is no such a thing as an inconvenient fact, truth or reasoning. 

As part of the creativity division of the Republican Party propaganda Leviathan, radical right professionals are road testing a new, divisive lie. So far the creativity division, also know as the DLEMCS (Deceivers, Liars, Emotional manipulators and Crackpots Squad) is working feverishly on the “grooming” fantasy. This has its origins in Pizzagate lies and crackpottery. 

FiveThirtyEight writes on this exciting new Republican lie from the DLEMCS wonks in the Republican Party skunk works (Fox News, etc.):

Why So Many Conservatives Are Talking About ‘Grooming’ All Of A Sudden

“Grooming” has become the most recent scare tactic of choice for the right. Fox News host Laura Ingraham included a segment on her show last month where she claimed public schools have become “grooming centers” where “sexual brainwashing” takes place. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene recently tweeted that the Democrats are the party of “grooming and transitioning children.” Last week, One America News host Chanel Rion even called President Joe Biden “the groomer-in-chief.”

For the unfamiliar, “grooming” is a term typically reserved to describe the type of behavior that child sexual abusers use to coerce potential victims without being caught. But now some Republicans are using it against any Democrat (or company)1 who disagrees with them on certain policy issues. This is a deliberate tactic that was promoted as early as last summer by Christopher Rufo, the same conservative activist who helped muddle the language around critical race theory. “Grooming” is a term that neatly draws together both modern conspiracy theories and old homophobic stereotypes, while comfortably shielding itself under the guise of protecting children. Who, after all, can argue against the safety of kids? But by adopting this language to bolster their latest political pursuits, the right is both giving a nod to fringe conspiracy theorists and using an age-old tactic to dismantle LGBTQ rights.

“There is no better moral panic than a moral panic centered on potential harm to children,” said Emily Johnson, a history professor at Ball State University who specializes in U.S. histories of gender and sexuality.

This most recent round of high-profile “grooming” warnings seems to have started in early March, as Democrats attacked Florida’s law limiting what can be taught in schools. Republican defenders turned to “grooming” as a way to push back.

“The bill that liberals inaccurately call ‘Don’t Say Gay’ would be more accurately described as an Anti-Grooming Bill,” Christina Pushaw, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s press secretary, tweeted on March 4. “If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children.”

Except there’s no mention of grooming in the law. Instead, it prohibits “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade, “or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”  

So if casting those who oppose this law as “pro-grooming” is not rooted in evidence, what is it rooted in? In part, it’s a dog whistle to the party’s most extreme, conspiracy-minded base. The foundation of the QAnon conspiracy theory is that there is a mass, secret, underground ring of Satanic pedophiles whose members consist of Democratic leaders and Hollywood elites. Painting anyone who opposes Florida’s law (i.e., mainly Democrats) as being pro-grooming fits neatly into that narrative and winks at QAnon adherents without requiring politicians on the right to actually endorse the outlandish theory.  

But what’s being normalized here isn’t grooming; it’s the use of homophobic rhetoric and conspiracy theory language. And it’s intended not to protect children but to advance political causes and slander political enemies.

There it is. The newest creation from the DLEMCS. American society is in for a major bout of moral panic with much wailing, gnashing of teeth, hair on fire, and panties twisted in an unpleasant bunch. One can look on with wonder at the endless fascination that Republicans and Christian nationalist authoritarians have with the sex lives of other people. They must be horribly repressed.

This promises to be a wild ride into the Republican Party’s toxic neo-fascist la-la land. It is time to get out the tinfoil hats, gird the loins and install the cod piece. 

Codpiece being modeled by

a sharp-looking metrosexual model