Republicans hope to use education wars to turn purple suburbia red. In one Pennsylvania district, that backfired

“Monster Liberty”: That’s how the otherwise excellent closed-captioning service in the auditorium at Pennridge High School interpreted “Moms for Liberty,” while one of several dozen citizens who had waited in line to lambast the group spoke at the podium. A chuckle rose up among the parents in the crowded school board meeting, held on a late August evening after the first day of classes for the Pennridge School District in suburban Bucks County, Pennsylvania. “Fair enough,” one mother whispered to another.

    • gsfraley@lemmy.world
      23·
      1 year ago

      It’s a rough definition, but astroturfing is usually rooted in goals separate from or even counter to the stated movement. E.g. in your example outside support for a labor movement wouldn’t necessarily be astroturfing if it’s genuinely supporting labor. A fake labor movement sprouted by the companies themselves to take the wind out of the sails of real labor movements would.

    • Neve8028@lemm.eeEnglish
      17·
      1 year ago

      Wikipedia has a more specific definition in the first paragraph:

      Astroturfing is the practice of hiding the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious, or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from, and is supported by, grassroots participants. It is a practice intended to give the statements or organizations credibility by withholding information about the source’s financial backers.

      I think it’s pretty hard to argue that labor unions can be astroturfing. It’s not like they have a lot of wealthy donors who are secretly trying to push narratives to encourage workers organizing.