After a long break, Missouri is back as a bellwether. But this time, we’re not a vote indicator — we’re an alarm echoing the nation’s ongoing culture wars. The incident surrounding Columbia Public Schools and the Columbia Values Diversity celebration late last week immediately erupted into social media political fisticuffs rather than our community working together to solve the issue. If this pattern of over-politicizing continues, we all lose.
The reaction to this event is the perfect microcosm of what is going on in our country at large: State Sen. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, tweeted that his office had been inundated with calls from upset parents and linked to a highly controversial, apocalypse-style private publication. This succeeded in lighting a match under his supporters.
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Let us know which John Darkow cartoon you would like as a reprint.
About the opinion page
The Missourian’s Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form.
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