The Post That Went Viral: The Mis-Education  of Critical Race Theory 

By Tempestt Tuggle, UnKoch My Campus Operations Manager

I enjoy a good viral social media post, whether it be a meme, gif, or status update. For me, the magic of social media involves mindlessly scrolling so I can laugh uncontrollably, escaping the pain of our world, investigating new, innovative ideas from folks around the globe, or learning that cool TikTok dance that I will never actually upload. Those parts, however, are weighted down by all the rampant amount of misinformation on social media platforms that are allowed to exist without being fact checked or deleted (unlike Black and Indigenous folks who are targeted by social media, their posts coming with a warning label). Yet, even with these types of posts, I find myself scrolling endlessly, wondering who is behind the widespread disinformation that many seem to accept as truth. This is truly the magic of social media.  

Honestly, the online world has a funny way of telling stories that have multiple truths combined with multiple lies. We saw this happen recently with anti-Critical Race Theory rhetoric that started to slowly bubble up on social media, seemingly out of nowhere.

Critical Race Theory, in its original context, is a set of ideas developed in the study of law, examining how social and economic differences between races are created by the legal system, rather than by the actions of individuals or psychological factors. It is not, in fact, a set curriculum that has been taught or introduced at the K-12 level. But looking at social media, you’d have no idea that’s the case. 

Just who started the current conversation about Critical Race Theory? On social media, a man by the name of Christopher Rufo created a thread of tweets about anti-bias training held for the city of Seattle employees. Rufo is a conservative blogger and long-time contributor to City Journal, a publication of the Koch-network funded Manhattan Institute. Like many others, Rufo produced right wing media and platformed his ideas via Koch network support. This is not the first time the Koch network has found itself involved in education. In fact, it is instrumental in advocating for the privatization of public education and eliminating the department of education. 

That particular thread of tweets from Christopher Rufo has been retweeted over 12 thousand times and liked over 17 thousand times in just over a year’s time. While the views were not in the millions like other viral content we’ve seen, it did allow the Koch network to mobilize their ideologies via social media with little recourse when it came to fact checking. 

After coining the phrase Critical Race Theory in the summer of 2020, Christopher Rufo visited the Tucker Carlson show in September 2020, and went on to appear on other media platforms, eventually calling on Trump to ban anti-racist training at the federal level. What started as a viral sensation soon spread to the federal level. By September 22, 2020, Trump had signed Executive Order 13950, Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping (the “EO”), which indicates that it seeks to “combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating,” and end so-called “divisive concepts” promulgated in workplace employee trainings. Shortly after, the Koch network and allies found their “in” amplifying the messaging of anti-Critical Race Theory, and went full speed ahead.

By the start of the 2021 legislative session, not only had a certain false narrative of Critical Race Theory spread throughout the country as parents attended school board meetings in droves to protest a curriculum that doesn’t exist, but it also made its way to state legislators. While the legislative session hit its peak in the spring, Rufo using his twitter fingers once again to insert how they are “driving the brand toxic”

Over the summer, UnKoch My Campus published a report reviewing the published materials of 28 think tanks and political organizations affiliated with the Koch network and analyzed the rhetorical tactics Koch network think tanks have deployed around Critical Race Theory and their efforts to ban it from public schools. During the investigation period, it was discovered that Koch network think tanks published 146 articles, podcasts, reports, or videos about Critical Race Theory.  

This influence was not without consequence: State politicians were almost entirely silent on the topic until Koch-funded entities started pushing the issue earlier this year. Now, more than 25 states have introduced legislation or taken other action that, backers claim, is aimed at banning Critical Race Theory from schools and government programs. Several of these states have already passed these bills. And to think, this all started with a viral tweet thread full of misinformation.  

The irony of viral truths and lies is that the latter is the one which is most recognized and gains the most traction. Folks looking for a quick retweet have become a pawn in the Koch network’s political strategies by misconstruing the truth to fit their agenda. In this instance, it played right into the hands of the Koch network’s long-standing agenda to infiltrate and privatize K-12 education. 

The Koch network utilizes the media in various ways to insert their ideologies and create chaos - all to their benefit. Now our education system is in critical danger because of a viral tweet thread and dark money fueled think tanks and organizations capitalizing on the power of both traditional and social media to spread misinformation. Don’t let these types of viral tweets be the reason you ignore a very real threat to the power of the people. And the next time you go to like or retweet a viral post, take a moment to stop and think about what might actually be at stake.