"Positively Dystopian": Federal Judge Blocks Florida Stop WOKE Act

[kpete]

A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction against Florida's so-called Stop WOKE Act, slamming the brakes on the state's enforcement of the controversial law that restricts teaching about systemic racism in public schools.

In a 139-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee blasted the Stop WOKE Act, now known as the Individual Freedom Act, which had been championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The judge ruled that the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by barring Florida's educators from expressing certain viewpoints in university classrooms, while permitting "unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints" favored by the State of Florida.

"This is positively dystopian," Walker wrote. "It should go without saying that if liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’”

Promoted as the Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act, the bill signed into law earlier this year restricted educators and corporations from broaching sensitive topics about race.

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/positively-dystopian-federal-judge-blasts-floridas-stop-woke-act-15724123

[mitch96]

1. And "Woke" is what ever de satin says it is.. a wild card to persecute....nt

[NullTuples]

11. No, the text of the law was crafted specifically to allow & encourage racism

[mitch96]

15. Ok, todays "woke" law is about racism.. Tomorrow's "woke" law will be about

what ever the playground bully de satin choses... Pick a group to hate and "they" will call it
woke...
m

[Caliman73]

16. Yes but...

The poster you are responding to is saying that the term "woke", which actually has a context and meaning in culture, specifically Black American culture, has been corrupted by Conservatives to mean "whatever I don't like or whatever scares me".

Of course the law was written to promote only a specific, racist, Conservative point of view. The poster seems focused on the term "woke".

[NullTuples]

24. I understand now; thank you.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. It's going to be appealed and the appeal will fail.

It will never withstand judicial scrutiny.

[brush]

4. Dystopian is the right word. How could they ever think they could...

hide evil history of racism, antisemitism and misogyny in this country's history.

And this also points to DeSantis not being all that smart if he thought all of that could be hidden from childred forever.

[Traildogbob]

6. New name

For trump to throw at DeSatan. Dystopian DeSantis. But he can’t spell it and Steven Miller likes dystopian ideology. And he writes all trumps shit.

[Caliman73]

18. Well, it has been "hidden" pretty well up to now...

I am being somewhat facetious, but the reality is that the real history of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and basically the wealthy treating everyone else like shit, has been minimized in our understanding of our history. A real, hard, truthful look at that history goes against the mythology of "the melting pot" or "the land of opportunity" that has been taught in school. It goes against the, "shining city upon a hill" narrative that Conservatives pushed with Reagan.

Trump in his vulgar, ugly style took the mask off. He says the country is a hell hole (which it can be for some), except he attributes the causes to the wrong thing. He thinks it is the Black and Brown people who make it a hell hole when the reality is that the wealthy people taking all the resources and pitting the Black, Brown, and poor White people against each other for the scraps that turn it into a hell hole for many. Trump works in unfiltered racism whereas the "traditional" Conservative relied on this mythology to do the heavy lifting for them.

As the voices or women and people of color grow stronger, those who benefit from White Supremacy see their total control slipping away and so they seek to keep up the mythology because it has served them well for over 240 years.

[brush]

20. Agree they've been minimizing it all along but to actually try to...

codify with a law named for it...that's even over the top for them.

[Caliman73]

22. Definitely.

I have said this about Conservatives and their political vehicle the Republican Party before: One thing you can ALWAYS count on from them is overreach.

It is in their ideology. They believe they are either "ordained by god" or by "the natural order of things" to be in charge. Whereas liberals get their authority from the evidence and from the people they govern (consent). When we liberals think that we should be in charge, it is usually because we think that our ideas will help the most people and we want to make that effort to try them out. When Conservatives think they should be in charge it is because of a "higher power". They do not care about the consent of the governed because like the monarchs that the ideology was conceived of to defend. If they shouldn't be king, they wouldn't be king. Democracy and the will of the people is an inconvenience or sometimes a straight up problem for their plans.

I would argue that "nothing is over the top for them". Fortunately it is over the top for Judges and voters who still have some authority over them. As long as they continue to overreach, they will have at least those momentary falls, which allow us to entrench democracy and the rule of law.

[catbyte]

3. It makes me queasy thinking about what a DeSantis presidency would look like.

[yankee87]

5. You're correct

Reeducation camps, rounding up LGBTQI citizens, forced church attendance, removing any minorities from textbooks.

[NowISeetheLight]

23. DeSatan is 100x more dangerous

He’s intelligent and dangerous. I can totally see him as a conductor on the “Christian Taliban” express train.

[blm]

7. GOP to PCF. Perverted Control Freaks

[Jimvanhise]

8. DeSANTIS KNOWS BETTER

DeSantis is a lawyer. He knows perfectly well what the First Amendment says, that the Government cannot make laws restricting free speech, but he does it anyway and his Republican cronies in the Florida legislature go along with it!

[jaxexpat]

9. I can't think of a single statute that deserves blocking more than this one.

This is the root of the DeSantis Nazi-like plague to perpetuate and standardize ignorance and totalitarianism. It cannot be allowed to flourish or even survive. I have an in-law who is similarly consumed by such malignant wrongheadedness. He does not speak to me and I do not speak to him. Not even as much as a hello in 10 years. It is good we don't have to commune in the same orbit, or it would be difficult on the grandchildren.

[republianmushroom]

10. this after the elections, he still got the publicity for it.

And the fools eat it up.

[Major Nikon]

13. This is exactly how organized religions work

Stamp out any opposing ideas while promoting magic. Ironically those who are all for the elimination of critical thinking consider themselves enlightened as if they have the slightest clue what that word really means.

[czarjak]

12. How about don't say Evangelical when you don't know what the fuck it means, Brandons?

[Hekate]

14. KnR

[SouthernDem4ever]

17. This whole "woke" crap is stupid beyond comprehension

So that means repugs would rather it be "unconscious" so they can be rape and pillage others without their knowledge. They think they look so intelligent when in reality they just look really dumb.

[Caliman73]

21. To us, they look dumb. To their supporters and those worried about changing demographics...

Not so much. You need to remember that this isn't for anyone but the people who are scared of the "browning" of America. The right wing's bastardization of "woke" is for people who are either ignorant and racist or afraid of losing the privilege of not having to understand the struggles of women and people of color. Ian Danskin, a YouTube creator made a good video about the problems with "anti-racism" in a series titled "The Alt-Right Playbook: The Cost of Doing Business" where he discusses the reasoning behind the reluctance of many White people to really address racism, and you can apply the same concepts to sexism.

To us, it is really dumb, likely because we have grown out of, or maybe never experienced the fear and ignorance of racism and sexism. We are already "woke". We see the problem with trying to hold back a group of people based on the color of their skin, their sex and gender, their sexual orientation, their immigration status, etc...

To the Conservative, it is "longing for normal", the way things used to be (in their mind at least).


I actually do not think that DeSantis has as big a shot nationally. He is popular because he has the power to do things in his state because he has a fully compliant legislature. When he has gotten blowback, he has folded. I think that he could win the nomination and maybe even get elected, but like his predecessor Trump, the national government would chew him up and spit him out. He doesn't have the spine to battle it out with the opposition OR with the bureaucrats who are just trying to make sure that the lights stay on.

[IronLionZion]

19. SLEEP Act