Have you ever seen urban legends, myths, and outright lies become so entangled that they cause mass delusions, take on a life of their own, morph into a political poker chip, and even proposed legislation to battle an “urgent problem” that doesn’t exist? Well, there is an example of that happening right now that involves public education. I’ve even gotten caught up in it myself this week. That’s why I’m here now. Get a load of this.
It's unclear exactly when this myth got started but sometime in 2021, false information began to be passed along through social media that public schools were starting to put litter boxes in school bathrooms to accommodate the needs of students who identify as “furries.” A furry is a person who is a part of the Furry Fandom community. According to Wikipedia, the furries are “a subculture interested in anthropomorphic animal characters.” In other words, furries are way into the idea of animal characters exhibiting human characteristics and traits. I loved Scooby Doo and Bugs Bunny as a kid—was I a furry and didn’t know it? Furries exhibit their interests in various ways. Some even like to dress in animal costumes and pretend to be animals. No one is trying to claim that furries don’t exist. No one is even trying to claim that there are some students in public schools who are part of the furry fandom subculture. But a lot of people have been misled to believe that our public schools are full of kids who are dressed up as and acting like animals. That’s just silly. Sillier still are the claims that schools are putting litter boxes out for them to use. That is absurd! I mean, my God, can you imagine the health code violations if that were actually happening? Think about the logistics, people, use your heads! The litter box thing is simply not happening. Anywhere. Hard stop. It’s a myth that has been debunked time and time again. Yet, some on the far-right are still perpetuating this nonsense to their constituents who have bought into the bizzarro Q-Anon conspiracy universe.
I got involved with this issue this past week when a Sports Illustrated article popped up in my Facebook feed about Tony Dungy apologizing for a tweet. As an Indianapolis Colts fan, Tony Dungy holds a dear place in my heart. So, I opened the article and was disappointed to see that the tweet he was apologizing for was about the litter box myth. Dungy is a devout and outspoken Christian, so it’s no surprise that he has opinions about the LGBTQ community that aren’t exactly what one would label as “woke.” In the case of his controversial tweet, he was responding to a story from Minnesota about a state lawmaker who had promoted the idea of putting feminine hygiene product dispensers in boys’ bathrooms in schools (an idea that has about as much chance of becoming law as a snowball fight in Hell, by the way). But in his response, Dungy spread the false litter box claim that just won’t go away.
Here is original tweet:
“That [the feminine hygiene story] is nothing, some school districts are putting litter boxes in the school bathrooms for the students who identify as cats. Very important to address every student’s needs.”
Dungy’s sarcastic response, no doubt meant to be funny, crossed the line not because of its tone or the point he was making, but because it spread false information. He could have made his point without sharing a persistent lie.
So, despite my better judgement, I committed the cardinal sin of social media…I commented on the article.
Here is what I posted in the comments:
“I love coach Dungy, but in this case, he spread false information. It can happen to anyone. He should just say, “my bad,” and move on.”
I felt like that was a pretty measured, reasonable, and non-confrontational response…boy, was I wrong!
Before I move on, let me just point out that, to his credit, Tony Dungy did say my bad. He also deleted his tweet and issued a heartfelt apology. I forgive him.
As for me, on the other hand, I got attacked for suggesting that Dungy had done anything wrong whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I was assured by dozens of people that schools in their various towns were indeed putting litter boxes in school bathrooms for furries to use. For a while, I engaged with them. Over and over, I asked any of them to provide proof that there were litter boxes in their towns’ school restrooms. It seems like a really easy thing to verify, doesn’t it? I provided links to articles that prove that this isn’t happening. Not one person was able to provide proof (you can’t prove it because it’s not happening). Lots of people suggested that I was a far-left nut job for believing anything the mainstream media says. Let me just offer you a sampling of some of the actual responses I got from my seemingly benign comment. (Note: these are directly copied and pasted. The spelling and grammar are theirs, not mine.)
· “it’s happening in Georgia in my daughters children’s school district. Unbelievable”
· “It’s happening in Ohio. Litter boxes in a high school in my hometown.”
· “he didn't spread false information and has nothing to apologize for! My friend is a mental health specialist who works in NY. The kids ARE asking for litter boxes! When they don't get their way they say they're going to kill themselves. It's really sick what society is teaching these kids.”
· “do your homework before you go all Darin on us and woke. Kids are shitting in school here in Indiana, doing all kinds of feline stuff and other animals. People let them get away with it because they don't want to hurt their feelings. Well spade and neuter them and send them back home to their owners.”
· “this is laughable….what was the misinformation?!”
· “he did not spread false information. The public schools and parents are allowing children/students to identify as cats, dogs, called furries. Putting out litter pans and trying to decide how to deal with feeding them too!!!! I know how to feed and educate them. Send them home. Public education is down the tubes and we tax payers are paying for this stupidity!”
· “How about leaving it up to the reader to determine if it is false information or not? I guess your into Big Brother telling you what to believe.”
· “sure, I'll ask my friend who is a teacher to come to your house and explain it to you but you won't believe her anyway until the ladies on "The View" tell you it's true.”
· “People have a right to their own opinion, regardless of whether you or anyone else thinks it's "false information". If he was posting on his own personal line using his own name, that's his business.”
· “it was hyperbole… not false information. The schools has been pushing perversion now for more than twenty three years. Normalizing perversion. Sexualizing our children.”
· “maybe not now, but I betcha in a few years possibly, the way morality has declined.”
Scarier than all of those, one man responded that it should be the job of public schools to shut down any kind of “deviant” thinking in students and keep them from saying or believing anything that isn’t “normal.”
Eventually, I just had to give up trying to reason with some of these people. How can you reason with anyone who is so brainwashed by a particular ideology that nothing else is real or relevant to them?
This is where we are in society now. Thankfully, these types of people are in the minority. I did have a lot of other people, by the way, who took up my case and stood with me in that thread. But that minority is still quite a large, angry, and vocal group. They are at war with truth and empathy. They are at war with public schools and will do anything and everything they can think of to attack and discredit public education.
Just yesterday, in my home state, a state senator, Jeff Raatz (R), stood before the Indiana Senate and proposed legislation that would allow schools to enforce rules to forbid students from dressing up as or acting like animals. This proposal is not at all about fixing any real problem (there is no “furry problem”), it’s about rallying his supporters around a fear-based myth that they can use to further impugn and vilify public education in an effort to force in their narrow-minded and non-inclusive agenda.
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