‘Porn literacy’ debacle collapsed immediately. It shows Freedom Foundation’s weakness
Last week, a report published by the Idaho Freedom Foundation claimed that the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare was pushing “porn literacy” on young kids.
The report was authored by Boise State University professor Scott Yenor — who is not teaching classes at present after making the somewhat unpopular claim that women are “medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome,” costing his school in both reputation and donor dollars — and Freedom Foundation analyst and serial right-wing think tank employee Anna Miller.
A series of reports argued that a “shadow government” within the Department of Health and Welfare is trying to push porn on kids. Imagine that.
“If this can happen in Idaho, it can happen anywhere,” Miller intoned breathlessly on Twitter.
The stunning report raised important questions. Questions like: What are the folks over at the Freedom Foundation smoking? And: Was their childhood diet mainly lead paint chips?
The report was immediately debunked by, well, nearly everyone. The Department of Health and Welfare released a blanket denial of Yenor and Miller’s claims. Daniel Walters of the Inlander published a cutting takedown of their claims, pointing out that “the Idaho Freedom Foundation didn’t have a single example of a single Idaho school actually teaching ‘porn literacy.’” National Associated Press fact-checkers declared their assertions unequivocally false. Kevin Richert of Idaho Education News followed with another.
But as important as the slew of record corrections is the fact few came to the Freedom Foundation’s defense. From the national right-wing media who had initially broadcast Yenor and Miller’s claims, including Laura Ingraham of Fox News, there were crickets. Idaho lawmakers are by and large laughing off the report.
This is an important change because Miller and Yenor have been behind past lies that got some traction — even changed policy.
They released reports claiming that critical race theory (a school of legal and philosophical thought you might be introduced to in graduate school) was being pushed on grade schoolers. That laughable assertion resulted in Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s indoctrination committee which — though it didn’t do or find anything of significance — helped lend credibility to the falsehood.
They also spread the lie that a $6 million grant to help Idaho preschoolers learn some basic reading skills was in fact a front for teaching those preschoolers CRT or Marxism or something equally sinister. From that lie sprouted their singular legislative achievement, killing the grant and depriving school kids of services.
But a similar outcome doesn’t seem likely this go-round. Because while there are no consequences for lying in the far-right media ecosystem, there are sometimes consequences for looking like a clown. And last week the Freedom Foundation called the national spotlight on themselves — and then face-planted spectacularly while everyone was watching.
They didn’t look like they were standing up for traditional morality against encroaching cultural liberalism. They looked like they could fool themselves into believing anything, no matter how cockamamie. They looked credulous and naive.
This is the second time the Freedom Foundation has taken a significant thumping this month. They fought tooth and nail to get lawmakers to oppose increases in education spending — but only managed to pull 15 of 105 legislators to their side.
With equally conservative but less kooky outfits like the Mountain States Policy Center entering the scene, the Freedom Foundation may one day soon find itself confined to the same market as the backyard bunker construction industry.
This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 4:00 AM.