A media training session at the organization's annual conference provided a rare look inside the effort to control the narrative.

PHILADELPHIA ā€” Last week, a local Indiana chapter of Moms for Liberty attracted attention for quoting Adolf Hitler in its newsletter. After the local paper reported the story, the group added additional ā€œcontextā€ but kept the quote. Eventually, after it faced even more scrutiny, the organization removed the quote and apologized in a statement posted to its Facebook group.

That, however, was a big mistake, according to advice at the Moms for Liberty national conferenceā€™s media training session Friday.

ā€œNever apologize. Ever,ā€ said Christian Ziegler, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party. ā€œThis is my view. Other people have different views on this. I think apologizing makes you weak.ā€

He advised the attendees to instead make it clear that the Hitler comment was ā€œvileā€ but to immediately pivot to make the point that Hitler indoctrinated children in schools and that thatā€™s what Moms for Liberty was fighting against. Ziegler warned that any apology would become the headline, so that should be avoided.

You read that right. He said to not apologize for quoting Hitler. Thatā€™s what weā€™re dealing with now.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
    2Ā·
    1 year ago

    The opponents were not the ones coughing. Donā€™t gaslight.

    And their quote was in big letters in a box by itself with no context, so yeah, it is an indictment of their character. Then they did a half-apology. Then they walked it back. Theyā€™re proud of their Hitler quote and they happily interrupted a moment of silence for Holocaust victims by coughing through it.

    • Dienervent@kbin.social
      12Ā·
      1 year ago

      The opponents were not the ones coughing. Donā€™t gaslight.
      How can you be this dense? Where did I say that the opponents were coughing? Nowhere. So try again to understand what Iā€™m saying because you clearly didnā€™t understand and I donā€™t know how to make it any more clear. Read what I said again and I recommend you try to use your brain this time.

      And their quote was in big letters in a box by itself with no context
      There was context: the content of the article calling for increased ability for individual parents to have control over what their kids are taught. This opposes the concept of centralized control over what children are taught which is what the Hitler quote was promoting.

      The weird thing is that Iā€™m still fairly confident that the Moms of Liberty do have as their end goal to gain control over education curriculum and make it heavily ideologically based on their own anti-lgbtq+, pro religious and eventually racist ideology. But all this ā€œevidenceā€ youā€™re giving me is starting to make me wonder if Iā€™ve been bamboozled.

      None of this changes the fact that you still have failed to condemn a comment on this very thread that is part of your community, supported by your community and is calling for genocide. Which is IMO still far worse than anything Iā€™ve seen you (possibly falsely) accused the Moms of Liberty of doing.