Woke under fire

When it comes to education, it’s tough to beat Florida. It ranked first among states for fourth graders testing at or above basic in mathematics on The Nation’s Report Card, the largest ongoing assessment of U.S. students based on NAEP data.

Florida also ranked second overall in the Report Card on American Education’s 22nd annual publication from the nonpartisan American Legislative Exchange Commission.

It achieved both distinctions by spending less per pupil than 41 other states. Similar-population-sized New York, in contrast, spends two and a half times more than Florida to earn a 40th place ranking on The Nation’s Report Card.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rightly takes pride in the Sunshine State’s public education prowess, and his approval ratings indicate that a lot of Floridian parents support his policies.

Indeed, one silver lining to the ill- conceived school shutdowns during the pandemic is that millions of parents have been mobilized by revelations they observed or discovered while looking more closely at their children’s studies and curricula.

At school board meetings across the country, parents are reasserting their primary rights.

Last month, the Florida state legislature passed, and DeSantis signed, a Parental Rights in Education act that banned any “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties to children on sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade.

That law was in response to incidents in some districts in which teachers or counselors had unapologetically discussed such issues privately — and at times even helped supply hormones to students — without knowledge or notification of parents.

Even though the statute never mentions the word “gay,” critics and the LGBT crowd quickly gave it a “Don’t Say Gay” moniker.

Woke employees at Disney, whose Orlando theme park has been a Florida fixture for 50 years, nearly revolted over the entertainment giant’s initial silent response, and before long the CEO vowed Disney would work to overturn the legislation.

DeSantis was swift and sure in his response.

“I’m not going to let our state be hijacked by a bunch of California corporate executives,” he said in a national radio interview. “We’re going to govern this state based on the best interest of the people of Florida, not what any corporation but particularly that corporation is demanding.”

Disney’s sense of entitlement in Florida runs deep. In the late 1960s, the company negotiated a special agreement with the state that allowed Disney World special legal exemptions and privileges.

Disney World basically controls its 25,000 acres like a municipal government, setting its own standards and policies and operating its own police force. But it does so at the pleasure of the Florida legislature, and this week the Florida Senate voted to revoke Disney’s self-governing status next year. It now goes to the House.

The Disney dynasty has faltered financially recently, and critics have long blamed its decline on losing sight of the family wholesomeness that made it famous. But published quotes from two executives in late March tell a startlingly different story.

Disney has not only deliberately steered itself away from the traditional family values that once defined it, but also is actively and openly engaged in promoting the gay rights cause as a principal company priority.

Disney Television Animation producer Latoya Raveneau admitted to having a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda.”

“I was just, whenever I could, adding queerness,” she said about her work.

And Karey Burke, president of Disney General Entertainment Content, said she had been dismayed that the company had only a “handful” of queer lead characters in its content, and promised that at least 50% of its characters will be LGBT or racial minorities by year’s end.

According to Gallup, 7% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual. In a random crowd of 100 people, there would only be a handful of LGBTs.

Conversely, the percentage of Americans who attend church in some fashion is 10 times higher. In that same crowd of 100, there would be two church-goers for every one who didn’t go.

Therein rests the difference between propaganda and proper representation, and not just for Disney. Movie and television programming in general over-represents LGBT characters, and under-represents religious characters and activities that play a prominent role in more than 130 million Americans’ lives.

And yet, had a Disney executive candidly admitted on video to a not-at-all-secret religious agenda — which is much more in line with correcting TV show content to match audience demographics — it’s hard to believe she would still be employed there.

There’s a dictatorial arrogance among the woke elite that insists on capitulation, and views compromise and contextual comparison as failure. The kind that celebrates a gay agenda, but would crucify a religious one.

Woke is a notoriously intolerant state of mind, and its double standards, hypocrisy and militant misrepresentation may now be the Disney way. But that’s not the way of progress or principle toward a more perfect union.

DeSantis has raised the most money ever in a gubernatorial race ($100 million) solely from donations. Lessons from Florida may prove not only insightful for the rest of the nation, but instructive as well.