On the same day we learned that Warner Bros. Discovery was pulling the plug on CNN+, Reliable Sources Daily host Brian Stelter demonstrated why this deserved to be done as he refused to address the “roiling debate” and “ethics” of the Washington Post and hypocritical malefactor Taylor Lorenz releasing the name and address of the Libs of TikTok account owner. Instead, he brought on a radical liberal teacher to rail against the account and concerned parents.
“Let’s just be honest. Hate and homophobia is lurking right beneath the surface in American politics right now,” Stelter bloviated at the top of his dying show. “Years of increasing acceptance of gays and transgenders is provoking a backlash on right-wing talk shows and in statehouses.”
Despite noting “that’s the backdrop for this Washington Post piece about Libs of TikTok,” Stelter openly brushed off the doxxing as a non-issue compared to what the account was doing by simply reposting videos from radical leftist teachers:
That’s the backdrop for this Washington Post piece about Libs of TikTok, a Twitter account that shares and sometimes ridicules public posts from progressive educators and others deemed “libs.”
Taylor Lorenz’s story revealed the identity of the conservative woman running Libs of TikTok and now there’s a roiling debate about her story and the ethics of it. But there’s no debating the influence of the Libs of TikTok account. It’s even helped inform Florida’s recent parental rights law deemed the Don’t Say Gay bill by opponents.
“What’s it like to be caught in the middle of all this? What’s it like for an educator who says the Don’t Say Gay law is a life or death issue for young trans people,” he said.
His guest was Ravi Ramirez, a Florida teacher and liberal activist with ReEnvision Harmony & Social Equity, who had her video shared by Libs of TikTok. Describing what happened after it was shared, she whined that she had received “Lots and lots of trolling.”
Without ever playing her video, Stelter asked her to give an account of what she said:
STELTER [with a scoff]: What did you post that was deemed outrageous or newsworthy by the Libs of TikTok account?
RAMIREZ: It was just a video of my reaction to the first day of this bill going into effect or being passed. And the reaction from teachers in the hallway. Their fear their concern for their kids. Their concern for themselves and their families.
In her video below, Ramirez lies about Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, claims she can’t say “gay” in her classroom, raged at other teachers, and claims kids are dying.
Florida teacher is upset that teachers won’t be able to talk about their sexuality and claims simply saying the word gay can get you fired. pic.twitter.com/2Hf9CY9SDc
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 18, 2022
After Stelter asked her what the “the real agenda” of Libs of TikTok is, Ramirez claims it to “incite and then gaslight” and raged at parents for thinking they have a right to have a say in what goes on in schools:
But for teachers specifically, what they’re doing is they just want us to lose our jobs. They want people who don’t think like them outside of public schools. They don’t want differing opinions. They want to control what their kids learn, how they learn it. Even it’s a lie. They just want to control what their kids learn.
Despite the fact the videos shared by Libs of TikTok are unedited and the teachers speak in their own words, Stelter suggested they were “cherry-picked from random teachers in random school districts that have no relationship to my children” and said they felt “out of context.”
Although, he did say the stuff he was hearing the teachers talk about “doesn’t seem right for five-year-olds to learn, this doesn’t seem right for six-year-olds to learn regardless of sexuality.”
In response, Ramirez whined that radical teachers like her “have had to change the way they speak to their kids.” And she again lashed out at parents, suggesting “they don’t want to make education accessible to all people.” “Kids are dying because of this,” she proclaimed.
Stelter, who’s a parent of two, didn’t care to ask about what they were staying that needed to be changed and did bat an eye when Ramirez declared parents should have a say in education.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN+’s Reliable Sources Daily
April 21, 2022
11:01:39 a.m. EasternBRIAN STELTER: We’re going to have the latest on Elon Musk shortly, but we’re leading today’s show with the rarely seen human toll of America’s latest fight over LGBTQ rights.
Let’s just be honest. Hate and homophobia is lurking right beneath the surface in American politics right now. Years of increasing acceptance of gays and transgenders is provoking a backlash on right-wing talk shows and in statehouses. That’s the backdrop for this Washington Post piece about Libs of TikTok, a Twitter account that shares and sometimes ridicules public posts from progressive educators and others deemed “libs.”
Taylor Lorenz’s story revealed the identity of the conservative woman running Libs of TikTok and now there’s a roiling debate about her story and the ethics of it. But there’s no debating the influence of the Libs of TikTok account. It’s even helped inform Florida’s recent parental rights law deemed the Don’t Say Gay bill by opponents.
So, here’s what I want to know: What’s it like to be caught in the middle of all this? What’s it like for an educator who says the Don’t Say Gay law is a life or death issue for young trans people.
(…)
11:03:03 a.m. Eastern
STELTER: Tell me what the last few days have been like for you ever since one of your TikTok videos was posted on the Libs of TikTok account?
MAVI RAMIREZ: Lots and lots of trolling. Lots and lots of anxiety. But overall surprising – a surprising couple days.
STELTER [with a scoff]: What did you post that was deemed outrageous or newsworthy by the Libs of TikTok account?
RAMIREZ: It was just a video of my reaction to the first day of this bill going into effect or being passed. And the reaction from teachers in the hallway. Their fear their concern for their kids. Their concern for themselves and their families.
(…)
STELTER: You are far from the first teacher to be posted about in this way. Now that you’ve go through it yourself, what’s your impression of what the Libs of TikTok account is doing, what this conservative group – well this woman and the people who retweet it – What do you think the real agenda is?
RAMIREZ: Well, I really think that it’s to cause harm. I mean, the whole M.O. that they go by is incite and then gaslight. Right? Incite all this reaction and then gaslight us into saying ‘oh, that’s not what the bill says.’ So, it’s really just a way to get people riled up and get people angry just to incite a culture war.
But for teachers specifically, what they’re doing is they just want us to lose our jobs. They want people who don’t think like them outside of public schools. They don’t want differing opinions. They want to control what their kids learn, how they learn it. Even it’s a lie. They just want to control what their kids learn.
So, that’s what they’re out to do. Really.
STELTER: This is obviously very sensitive for many people. There are many opinions about this. Sometimes when I’m scrolling through these videos, I’m thinking to myself these are cherry-picked from random teachers in random school districts that have no relationship to my children.
However, there are also moments I might see clips out of context and think ‘this doesn’t seem right for five-year-olds to learn, this doesn’t seem right for six-year-olds to learn regardless of sexuality. Maybe we shouldn’t be talking about sex at all or gender at all.
So, how do you react to those parents. Many – I think many parents have similar reactions. What do you say to them?
(…)
11:07:34 a.m. Eastern
RAMIREZ: Already, teachers have lost jobs. Many teachers have had to take down safe spaces, posters from their classroom. Many of them have had to change the way they speak to their kids.
(…)
And I think it’s a personal attack on public education in general. They want to privatize education. They don’t want to make education accessible to all people.
(…)
But, provide the facts but never forget the real impacts. Kids are dying because of this and that’s my biggest concern.
