HS Alliance
A right-wing group in Missouri has launched a “woke heatmap” documenting cases of “waking up” in an effort to combat “critical race theory” and alleged “grooming” in schools across the state.
The group, dubbed the “Liberty Alliance,” says it is “committed to fighting the Woke agenda that pervades all of Missouri.”
“The first step in fighting back is to uncover their crazy ideas — from critical race theory to preparing toddlers with sexually explicit books,” the organization states on its website. “That’s why we’ve officially launched the Woke Heat Map – an interactive tool designed to expose the senseless actions of the radical left. This map will alert Missourians to the madness happening in their own communities.”
As of this writing, the group has listed twelve individual cases of awakening. One of the “hotspots” on the map points to an article about a pro-life exhibit at Saint Louis University that was allegedly vandalized. Another directs users to a tweet from US Senate candidate Eric Schmitt, who expressed concern about an Arnold school district using a diagram of a “gender bread person” to break down the differences between the gender identity, gender expression, biological sex, sexual attraction and romantic appeal.
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Liberty Alliance’s map is not the first of its kind. Over the years, many right-wing groups have created rankings, watchlists and cluster maps to track alleged left-wing influence in health care and education as well as corporate America.
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Last October, Salon reported on a custom Google Map created by trans activist Erin Reed that provides those seeking hormone replacement therapy with the names and locations of nearly 800 informed consent clinics across the country. In February of that year, Reed told Salon, her card was repurposed by anti-trans activist Alix Aharon as a resource to organize protests against doctors who provide gender-affirming care. This new map, called “The Gender Mapper”, was quickly removed for apparent copyright infringement. However, a new one has since appeared in its place, listing about 200 clinics in total.
On its website, The Gender Mapper accuses “Big Gender” of testing “experimental drugs” on “confused and vulnerable children”.
“GenderMapper volunteers work in secret, around the world, to gather evidence and document what is happening,” the site adds. “Gendermapper volunteers are not well known [sic] heroes – and data is our truth.”
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Right-wing groups have also sought to suppress leftist “indoctrination” on college campuses.
Notably among them is Turning Point USA, a young conservative advocacy group, which operates a “teacher watch list” designed to keep right-wing students informed about “college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance left-wing propaganda in the classroom”.
“The project,” its website states, “is made up of published news stories detailing instances of bias, propaganda, or speech violations on college campuses.”
The site allows users to submit advice and search for teachers by name or university. Some professors on the list include activist Angela Davis, linguist Noam Chomsky, author Ibram X. Kendi and former FBI Director James Comey. In 2016, there were around 200 scholars on the list.
In the private sector, conservatives similarly harass companies that engage in “woke” actions, arguing that Corporate America prioritizes political correctness over profit.
RELATED: Republicans go after ‘woke’ businesses – but want to keep massive corporate tax cut
Alliance Defending Freedom has its “Viewpoint Diversity Score”, an index of 50 companies that “evaluates companies’ policies, practices and activities to determine whether companies respect the freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief of their stakeholders as an integral part of doing business.” The list specifically details each company’s support for free speech in the marketplace, workplace and public square, analyzing everything from political donations to DE&I; (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies.
On the index, companies like Facebook and Meta – which face baseless accusations of anti-conservative bias – score significantly lower than most. None of the companies on the list scores higher than 35 out of 100.
“The results of our first Business Index reveal that there is a lot of work to be done. Company scores ranged between 2% and 35%, with an average overall score of 12%,” wrote Jeremy Tedesco, vice president senior corporate engagement officer for ADF, in the Wall Street Journal. “The poor performance confirms that there is an alarming trend among major corporations to favor virtue signaling, even at the expense of basic American freedoms.”
Companies have no legal obligation to promote free speech, a constitutional right designed to protect Americans from government censorship and coercion.