WE'RE NOT FIT TO BE PART OF DECENT SOCIETY, AS USUAL

Here's an excerpt from an appearance on Fox News by David Mamet, the world-renowned playwright whose politics are exactly like those of your right-wing uncle:

David Mamet on Fox News: "Teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia" pic.twitter.com/azAlXPWRUc

— Madeline Peltz (@peltzmadeline) April 11, 2022

MAMET: We have to take back control. If there's no community control of the schools, what we have is kids being not only indoctrinated but groomed, in a very real sense, by people who are, whether they know it or not, sexual predators. Are they abusing the kids physically? No, I don't think so, but they're abusing them mentally, and using sex to do so. This has always been a problem with education, is that teachers are inclined -- particularly men, because men are predators -- to pedophilia, and that's why there were strict community strictures about it, thank God. So this started to break down when the schools said, "You know what? We have to teach the kids about sex. Why? 'Cause what if they don't do it at home?"

A few thoughts here.

First, good job by Mamet sticking to the script, at least at first. They want you to say "groomer," you say "groomer"! Hit that meme hard! Mamet shows his Hollywood training: Even though it's unlikely that he's being paid for this appearance on Fox (he's promoting a new Broadway revival of one of his plays), the appearance is effectively a work for hire -- the bosses want him to say particular things, so he gives them what they want. They want a hack? He'll be a hack.

But then we get the notion that all teachers are inclined to pedophilia, especially male ones. That would seem to be a problem, no? I guess we used to keep this under control with "strictures," and I guess we don't have any strictures at all now -- it's perfectly legal to do anything you want to a child if you're a teacher! Under these circumstances, I guess we'll have to stop hiring adult teachers altogether. In fact, we should stop hiring post-pubescent teachers, because puberty is when we all become predators. And definitely no male teachers -- also, by extension, I suppose we should stop hiring male coaches for school sports. Is that really what Mamet wants?

No, he wants those strictures, and they'd better be "strict," which they will be if they're "community strictures."

Of course, we've always had "community strictures" -- it's just that some of us don't agree with David Mamet on what they should be. Some of us have concluded that it's okay for teachers and school counselors, in an appropriate way, to acknowledge children's same-sex parents or gender dysphoria. But in the same way that Republicans don't believe Democrats are actually entitled to vote, right-wingers like Mamet don't believe that people with different ideas about these issues are entitled to have a say in the "community."

So there are two possible paths here, according to Mamet: We can get rid of all the adult teachers and coaches, or at least all the adult males -- or we can declare that all liberals and moderates are unfit to be members of the "community." It's obvious which path Mamet prefers.