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Man they are still caught up on that fake story somebody sent to one of these morons claiming kids were using litter boxes in school. It never happened but they're going to try to legislate it away anyway.
The lesson here is don't troll these idiots, they'll fucking believe it and then start passing idiotic laws for non-problems.
And when you try and tell anyone who bought it they say there is evidence, while never being able to provide any.
They will say this legislation proves its real. Why else would this legislation exist? I'm sure the lawmakers have all the evidence.
It’s funny a Portuguese person just told me the same story happened in PT to justify anti-trans positions. So it’s the same bullshit story, localized, and repeated.
Just like how antisemitic stereotypes with no basis (blood libel etc.) have been repeated in many countries for hundreds of years. Even before the internet, memes were used for the effective spreading of suspicion and hatred.
The lesson here is don't troll these idiots, they'll fucking believe it and then start passing idiotic laws for non-problems.
Throwback to when 4chan started memeing about pizzas, and the resulting chain of events led to a real pizza parlor being shot up by a right-wing nut job who thought it was full of pedophiles.
The weird thing is for some reason people will lie to perpetuate these falsehoods
Like I do therapy and I talk to teenagers regularly because teenagers need mental health support, obviously. And sometimes they’ll bring up shit like this: “my school installed a litter box because of these woke kids”
But even the most basic of prodding: “did they really” with a tone of like “come on” and they’ll backpedal, “well no, but like there are kids that have fursonas and shit”
It’s crazy to see it start so young. They’re realizing at like 16 they can get adults to gang up on the kid they think is weird by being dishonest, and adults buy into it because it’s a chance to bully someone weaker and politicians jump on it because it’s a new wedge issue to distract people from class consciousness
And what’s crazy is that by some perspectives if I call them out on this dishonesty and point out this cycle I’m indoctrinating them
I always love using that example to dismiss some concerns about deepfakes sparking national conspiracies.
Nobody even tried to fake a picture of it. I've seen photos on lemmy of people shaving their heads in weird ways or making some horrible bean-themed food just for the karma. Throwing an empty litter box in an empty classroom takes much less effort yet nobody even bothered.
I did a small dive and found an account of an apparent legit case of a litter box in a school, but it was for an option for extended school shooting drills
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/03/school-shooting-preparations/amp/
They're going after easy targets like schools because if they targeted furries in the state government, all of the IT infrastructure would crumble.
Hah, that made me chuckle. I recently attended an outdoor market in my area that for some reason had an unusually high number of furries wandering around it. I was really curious what the bus factor of that market would actually be.
I'm frankly shocked it hasn't already, the pay for government IT jobs is kinda shit, and they've been trying to slash federal employee benefits for years (theres been recent rumors of increasing mandatory FERS deductions and turning insurance into a voucher program). they've started going after anyone LGBTQ+ federally as well.
Can we still say "what's up, dawg?"
It is funny that the litter box story was taken as gospel.
What a time to be alive.
Yea, but you can't say "I got that dawg in me."
Play Duck Duck Goose? Jail
Face paint? Beleive it or not Jail
Old McDonald? Straight to jail
It’s incredible that republicans can constantly waste tax dollars on worthless shit like this and still be viewed as the party of financial responsibility by their dumb ass voting base
Texans, next time you look at the prices in the grocery store, remember that this is what your representatives are spending their time on.
Students who bark, meow, hiss or make other animal noises that are not human speech
I'm not quite sure what it is exactly (/s), but maybe—just maybe—this is yet another attempt to fuck over and ostracize transfem and autistic people, but instead of being direct about it, using furries as the boogeyman.
Also to arrest basically any kindergartner.
Besides them being stupid as hell to conduct this ridiculous culture war, I take issue with another thing, the name:
Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education
It's not unlawful until you forbid it. So the title makes no sense. You're not forbidding the unlawful. You're forbidding the previously lawful, making it unlawful.
Stupid assholes.
Plus the acronym rules are inconsistent. It should be FURRE or FURRORIE
Imposing this bullshit on children who often have vivid imaginations and like to play make believe shows just how much the Republican party actually cares about children.
Wow.
I remember learning about dinosaurs as an elementary schooler after Jurassic Park came out, and spending a few months on the playground pretending to be a velociraptor (well technically they're closer to deinonychous but w/e) ... apparently that is now banned, because otherwise I might have become a scaly, for life?
Wonderful.
Any behavior humans do is human behavior, this law is legally dubious at best. Mimicking animals has been a human thing since humans came to be.
Okay seriously, did someone write this law just so it could be contested in court??
The forbidden non human speech is written as onomatopoeias. Like how can you call that stuff nonhuman speech after literally writing it in human language? If I read this part of the law out loud am I violating the law?
I could also see the rights to perform cultural religious dances being infringed upon by this law.
Licking oneself or others for the purpose of grooming or maintenance.
Good luck trying to enforce that. Most people lick a small wound on their hands an fingers. It's our subconscious that triggers that.
So they're scared of people becoming furries. I know a few furries, not in the scene myself but furries are genuinely some of the nicest people I know. And also this bill seems ableist because I knew an autistic person that would growl whenever he had a meltdown. He wasn't a furry, it was just how he was wired.
Man, republicans really fucking hate freedom.
“You are only allowed to express yourself in ways that are approved by the state!”
Filing this under “Closeted conservative so ashamed of their kink that, instead of discussing their feelings with a therapist, psychiatrist, or even a trusted friend, believe everyone must share their taboo thoughts and therefore be preëmptively punished to stamp out the contagion since the only honorable alternative is undergoing apoptosis like some malfunctioning cell”.
Man they keep coming back to the litterbox thing, it really freaks them tf out. Even though its been debunked dozens of time, my conservative friends all swear they know a guy that knows a guy that swears he saw one for real!
I can’t wait for all IT infrastructure in Texas to get compromised over this. The amount of excellent it and comp sci guys that are furries is staggering. And there are a few online collectives that can and will do damage to personal and government entities over shit like this
I wonder how much of this is borne out of the hysteria over kids supposedly using litter boxes.
I had some gomer on the Denver Post forums that kept insisting it was not only a thing, but an epidemic. I kept asking him for the supposed evidence of this claim, all he could say was that he "talks to lots and lots of parents and teachers" and "the media won't report on it".
It's trivial to verify. Slap 20 bucks on the table and say "20 bucks you can't list a location with a litterbox for furries"
“talks to lots and lots of parents and teachers” and “the media won’t report on it”.
Ain't gonna get you 20 bucks. Need a location. If you get a location, call 'em. They'll confirm or deny. (They're gonna deny)
Maybe the constitution of the United States of America says something about this? Maybe like the first thing in the bill of rights? Nah I must be mistaken.
So children are not allowed to play anymore. It breaks my heart knowing how important expressing the connection to a favourite animal is for many kids. I know nazis go for easy targets, but the fact they target children is just nauseating to me.
What the fuck are they looking to do, arrest kids who say "meow" in school?
Gives them excuses to punish "weird"/non-perfectly-conforming kids. The definition of the actual law is broad and open to more or less any interpretation you want it to have.
Priorities.
fReE sPeEcH
Why on earth are they pursuing this. We all know this is not a real problem.
If it was a scare crow to attack trans rights, they have achieved that. They have pulverized trans rights in many places, especially bathroom access.
Who stands to gain from this? It is not a real problem!
Sooooo much freeedommmm.... By limiting self expression.
So a furry suit made from human hair is ok? Asking for a friend
Licking oneself or others for the purpose of grooming or maintenance
Wtf, they can't lick their fingers after eating meow? Or use a little spit to fix a popped up hair or eyebrow? This is stupid woof.
i cannot begin to describe how utterly fucking stupid this is.
I genuinely thought i died and went to hell when i first read this, this bill doesn't even make any fucking sense. Child exhibiting "non human behaviors" could be considered "child abuse" according to this bill.
How the fuck do you even enforce this?
If you’re still in Texas, and not a furry, GTFO before they criminalize something YOU think is normal and harmless.