Furries Forever: News Miner 20

Notes on objectivity, Peotter, furries, Ganahl, crime, and more.

Bias and Objectivity

In my recent article for Complete Colorado, I discuss aspects of bias and objectivity particularly with respect to the media. I discuss some common biases (including confirmation bias), review Heidi Ganahl’s nonspecific claims of bias at 9News, and mention a couple real cases of biased reporting by 9News. I write:

It does not help when journalists themselves have no idea what objectivity means. Recently Colorado Public Radio’s May Ortega claimed that “the definition of objectivity as we’ve always known it has been created by white, cisgender men.” Okay, is her claim objectively true? If she says it is, then her claim is self-defeating. If she says it isn’t, then we have no reason to believe her.

Objectivity means that something is the case regardless of someone’s opinion on the matter. The earth is spherical even though some people claim it is flat, even if their “lived experience” (or whatever) suggests to them that it is flat. Joe Biden won the 2020 election fair and square, despite some people’s claims to the contrary. . . .

You can’t step outside of yourself. What you can do is strive to overcome your biases to bring your beliefs into better alignment with the objective facts.

Read the entire piece.

Rand on Objectivity

If you want a fuller explanation of objectivity, Ayn Rand offered a good discussion:

Objectivity is both a metaphysical and an epistemological concept. It pertains to the relationship of consciousness to existence. Metaphysically, it is the recognition of the fact that reality exists independent of any perceiver’s consciousness. Epistemologically, it is the recognition of the fact that a perceiver’s (man’s) consciousness must acquire knowledge of reality by certain means (reason) in accordance with certain rules (logic).

We might summarize: Facts are what they are independent of what we think, and to learn complex facts we have to think in certain reality-oriented ways.

Updated Peotter Article

If you read my article, “Brian Peotter’s Strange Libertarian Platform,” via email, please be aware that I updated the article based on Peotter’s updates to his web page. Specifically, he changed his language about “a woman sell[ing] a child” to “a woman sell[ing] a right to raise a child” (an improvement). He also added in a (bad) section, which I address, on transgender care for minors.

Also, on Twitter Peotter writes:

Also yes I got the idea on adoption markets from either Rothbard, or secondary writing off of him. It is a great idea to fix a broken system, where people already pay for the right to raise a child to no benefit of a mother.

Furries Forever

Recently I went on a bit of a (uh) hissy fit on Twitter and complained that Colorado conservatives can’t seem to let go of the “furries” issue. Prominent conservatives keep talking about it, so I keep talking about it too.

I summarize and comment on the story in my October 9 article. The upshot is that, yes, a few students are wearing cat ears and the like to school, and various conservatives, including candidate for governor Heidi Ganahl and Representative Lauren Boebert, are needlessly freaking out about this. They are, indeed, generating a moral panic about “furries,” and some people are actively bullying them.

Now Colorado conservatives have helped inspire an in-depth, national story on the topic from NBC by Tyler Kingkade, Ben Goggin, Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny. On Twitter, Kingkade posted a clip of Ganahl talking about “furies.”

The article begins:

At a luncheon for Republican women in Mesa County, Colorado, last week, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., warned that educators “are putting litter boxes in schools for people who identify as cats.”

NBC in its first paragraph links to a story by the Colorado Times Recorder, which also first picked up on Ganahl’s comments on the matter.

Boebert’s claim is total bullshit. But where did this strange claim come from?

NBC continues:

At least 20 conservative candidates and elected officials have claimed this year that K-12 schools are placing litter boxes on campus or making other accommodations for students who identify as cats, according to an NBC News review of public statements.

Podcaster Joe Rogan is among those promoting the claims:

Joe Rogan told former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard that a litter box was installed in a school that his friend’s wife worked at for a girl who “identifies as an animal.”

Ganahl has not made the claim about litter boxes, although she’s the person who turned “furries” into a large Colorado political story.

Notably, NBC does provide additional evidence that a few children are wearing animal attire to school (I discussed other sources of evidence in my previous article):

Three school-age furries told NBC News they have at times dressed up at school, typically wearing just part of their full costume such as a mask or gloves that look like paws, but they’d never heard of any furry ever asking for a litter box.

NBC points out, as Colorado sites also have reported, that some schools are keeping litter in classrooms, not for use by “furries,” but in case a mass-shooter attacks a school and a child has to use the bathroom while in lockdown.

After reviewing the many claims about furries around the nation, NBC closes by quoting a Colorado student:

Kymera, 14, of Colorado, said being a furry is “just a hobby,” akin to being a mascot.

“I have never once heard a furry say they want to use a litter box,” Kymera said. “These rumors put us at risk of being hurt or bullied.”

Following are scattered additional notes on the topic.

Michael Shermer, lead skeptic and an expert on conspiracy fantasies, Tweeted:

Classic FOAF (Friend of a Friend) Urban Legend myth-making happening in real time, this one about schools providing litter boxes for students who identify as cats. Did you hear about alligators in NYC sewers? Needles in Halloween candy? Cowtipping?

Tom Palmer, one of the remaining sensible libertarians, pointing to a video from Tennessee, Tweeted:

This is astonishing. Crazy people—yes, truly crazy people—are propagating a lie about children peeing in litter boxes—“across the state”—because they identify as cats, as part of a truly bizarre political strategy to tear apart American society.

Despite the “furries” issue substantially derailing Ganahl’s campaign, many of Ganahl’s supporters continued to push the story. Mandy Connell Tweeted (and see more by Connell):

Hey look, a whole bunch of emails proving that furries are an issue and JeffCo knew it. I think this is what “journalism” is supposed to look like but what do I know.

Connell points to a Tweet by a Beth Parker:

So two main components in journalism are accuracy and research. A dedication to “the narrative” should never outweigh the truth. B/C when the lie is exposed, your “journalism” becomes a fictional story. Here are the facts.

Parker in turn points to a web page of Jeffco Kids First, which points to a 39-page pdf file.

A general note here: both Connell and Parker claim that journalists covering this story somehow have screwed it up. But, as I’ve pointed out, major media outlets, specifically the Denver Post, Arvada Press (republished by the Colorado Sun), and now NBC have all reported that a few kids wear cat ears and the like to schools.

But Ganahl’s initial claim was not merely that a few kids are wearing cat ears. Rather, what Ganahl said is that “kids [are] identifying as cats”—not just dressing up, but living as animals—“all over Colorado,” that “schools are tolerating it,” that the practice interferes with “teaching basics,” and that it’s part of a “woke ideology . . . infiltrat[ing] our schools” that drove Ganahl to move across the state. So evidence that a few kids are wearing cat ears and the like does not support Ganahl’s strong claims on the matter.

At the same time, various school districts, especially Jefferson County, were not completely forthcoming with their initial statements on the matter. If the districts had simply said, “Sure, a few students have come to school wearing cat ears and the like, this is not generally a problem, and if it becomes a problem principals have the authority to adjust their dress codes,” that would have put an end to the discussion. Instead districts tried to play coy.

The document from Jeffco Kids First hardly demonstrates Ganahl’s strong claims about furries. Instead, it shows that many parents hounded the district about the issue. Do I really need to point out that conspiracy fantasists harassing the school district about furries does not constitute evidence that furries are a substantial problem in schools? The few specific claims made in the emails are, at best, unverified second-hand accounts by obvious partisans. Even if we take the complaints at face value, we are talking about a handful of serious complaints in the context of schools already acting to tighten up policies.

Let’s put this in context. Back in “my day,” “furries” simply were not a thing. Back then, various students self-sorted into “Goth” and “stoner” groups, among others. Goths wore dark clothing; stoners wore flannel and jeans with holes (to grind the stereotypes). So, although I was surprised to learn that some students these days dress in cat ears and the like, I was not surprised to learn that some students dress for personal experimentation or “in-group” identification. I mean, that’s just not news.

Within any subgroup of students—green eyes, red hair, Goths, furries, whatever—you’re going to find some examples of disruptive behavior in school. I mean, come on—these are adolescent kids in public schools we’re talking about. Again, kids being disruptive in school is hardly news, especially in aftermath of the pandemic. So should we be surprised to find any cases of kids dressed up in cat ears “hissing” at other students or the like in a way that’s mildly irritating? Probably not. I find it hard to believe that being “hissed” at is such a big deal anyway. When I was in school I was physically assaulted, so maybe my “bar” is set higher. Anyone wanna bet that other students are being about as equally disruptive? But no one is collecting anecdotes (real or imagined) about all those other students. My guess is that the sort of kids likely to dress in cat ears are almost always on the receiving end of bullying.

The problem comes when fear mongers try to isolate and demonize a particular subgroup of students and look only for evidence that those students are being disruptive. This leads to a cycle of confirmation bias. So that’s what I think is happening here. Like I said, this is a moral panic that in some cases has become an active campaign of harassment of the students in question. That doesn’t mean that there are no underlying issues that schools need to address. But we are hardly seeing a moderate, cool-headed call by conservatives to address some minor problems.

I guess Ganahl can claim victory, if she wants, that she has pretty well demonstrated her weak claim that some tiny subset of Colorado students have worn cat ears and the like to schools. Pyrrhus would be proud.

Ganahl Shies Away from a Conspiracist

As Kyle Clark reports (based on Sean Price’s original reporting), Ganahl’s running mate Danny Moore at one point was slated to appear at an event with Joe Oltmann, who has suggested that the governor be executed. Clark reports that Team Ganahl pulled out of the event; “A Ganahl spokesperson says the campaign agreed to participate prior to the inclusion of Oltmann and cancelled after seeing the flyer.”

So it’s good that Ganahl’s team pulled out. But we are left with the fact that a Republican group invited Oltmann. Much of Colorado’s conservative movement remains deeply sick.

Thankfully, Pam Anderson, the Republican SOS candidate, Tweeted, “Joe Oltmann is reprehensible and a conspiracy driven grifter. His violent rhetoric threatens democracy and the safety of election officials.”

My general frustration with Colorado Republicans (and, remember, I am registered Republican and have openly hoped for the Republicans to control one of legislative houses) led me to Tweet the following (with added links):

Colorado conservatives:
“Okay let’s run on crime and inflation this year!”
“Yes great! Also about how kids wearing cat ears are ruining the schools.”
“Also the rigged election.”
“Also let’s ban all abortion.”
“Maybe we should kill the governor too?”

Jared Polis at least has a sense of humor. He Tweeted about the Oltmann appearance, “I’m definitely not going to this event.” But, in the bigger picture, Oltmann’s violence-drenched conspiracy fantasies are no laughing matter.

Dierenbach on Crime

A serious report on Colorado crime would take account of the pandemic and police protests and compare crime in Colorado to crime elsewhere in the U.S. So far, no one (to my knowledge) has put together such a serious report on contemporary crime trends.

But a couple of parties have put together limited reports. The Common Sense Institute has out an updated report. And Karl Dierenbach has out an essay with a lot of detail. Both reports rely heavily on correlations and make little effort pin down causal chains. For example, Dierenbach dislikes that Polis signed a bill reducing criminal penalties for possession of fentanyl, but he doesn’t offer any evidence showing a link between that and drug deaths, much less violent crime.

The legislature lowering criminal penalties for auto theft, which Dierenbach mentions, pretty obviously promotes more auto theft. That’s a solid point.

Dierenbach also lists various criminals released “early” who went on to commit crimes. I share the concern that, in some cases, violent criminals “slipped through the cracks.” At the same time, part of the context is that we faced a once-in-a-century pandemic and widespread disease in prisons and jails.

If we ever have a system short of lifetime sentences for every crime, we’re simply going to release some criminals who go on to reoffend. The proper aim of locking people in prison is not to prevent all possible reoffenses once the criminals are released. Instead, we should talk about what penalties are just in light of public-safety impacts, and stick with those. We should try to make prisons humane and rehabilitative rather than hellish schools for criminality. We should try to find ways to reduce recidivism and to make public areas safer. These are hard problems, and Dierenbach’s “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” approach is not helpful toward solving them.

Quick Takes

Secretary of State: The Denver Post endorsed Pam Anderson. That’s reasonable.

Clark: Despite many conservatives’ obsession with Kyle Clark, Clark continues to offer hard-hitting critical analysis of claims by candidates of both major parties. Recently he debunked claims both by Barbara Kirkmeyer and Yadira Caraveo, candidates for congress.

Media: “More than 50 sites disguised as local media outlets . . . are actually publishing Democrat-aligned content in midterm battleground states like Colorado,” writes Vince Bzdek. Conservatives play the same game.

O’Dea: “We need an Educational Revolution,” writes Senate candidate Joe O’Dea. He thinks parental choice regarding tax-spending on education is key.

Education: The group Cherry Creek Parent Advocacy Network makes some strong claims about Cherry Creek schools to the effect that the district has been taken over by a leftist obsession with race and gender. The problem for me is I have no way to check the veracity of any of the claims. Hopefully a news reporter will do a real, in-depth story on the group and its claims. 9News ran a story about Cherry Creek dropping the valedictorian. Meanwhile, Michael Huemer wonders if certain ways of teaching history exacerbate racism.

Solar: Some agricultural enterprises are experimenting with putting spaced solar panels over farm land. Part of the idea is that some plants do better in partial shade. There is such a place in Longmont.

Transparency: “CFOIC [the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition] urges you [legislative leaders] and the entire Democratic caucus to stop the practice, detailed in a recent report by KUNC reporter Scott Franz, of using secret ballots to help determine whether bills with fiscal notes will live or die during the legislative session.”

Debate: You can watch the recent debate between Jared Polis and Heidi Ganahl, if you can stand it.

Abuse: Fox 31 reports, “Colorado requires certain professionals to report suspected child abuse, but a loophole exempts clergy members. It puts the state among 33 that exempt clergy from mandatory reporting laws about alleged child abuse, an Associated Press review found.”

Mars: Wings Over the Rockies has a new Mars exhibit that features a rover trainer, an air-pressure experiment with a bell and boiling water, and other fun things for adults and children.