ANALYSIS: Oh, now politically incorrect social media use should have ‘consequences’
A school board member in a Philadelphia suburban school district is under fire for a vulgar comment he made about Kamala Harris on social media.
Souderton Area School District’s Bill Formica wrote “She blew a lot of dudes” in response to a post on X which asked “Name ONE THING this chick [Harris] has accomplished politically?” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
A Change.org petition was started the end of last month calling for Formica’s resignation from the board.
“Bill Formica made waves for his questionable behavior prior to being installed as a school board director, but now he has gone too far,” the petition reads. It currently has 2,000 signatures out of a requested 2,500.
This past Wednesday, the Souderton school board meeting was “abruptly ended” after angry community members who wanted to address Formica’s remark began “shouting.”
District parents and teachers, according to the report, “criticized Formica’s post as sexist and misogynistic, and also say he has a history of making offensive comments.”
Formica’s past remarks allegedly include “I never saw a ‘straight’ parade. No one pushes heterosexuality. It’s just nature’s way,” and “Are men really better at EVERYTHING than women are?” (in response to a transgender woman becoming Miss Maryland).
Souderton teacher Christine Jackson thought Formica’s most recent comment could be construed as “bullying” the vice president, writing on the petition that such “in any form is not acceptable, and that inappropriate social media use has consequences.”
The Souderton Area for Responsible Leadership PAC called Formica’s comment “lewd and offensive” and “urged” the school board to pressure him to resign — and then appoint his Democratic opponent from the last election.
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Formica (pictured) was appointed to the board a year ago, and then won the general election last November. It appears his X account has now been deleted.
Were Formica’s comments about Ms. Harris inappropriate? Yes, they were, especially given his position. He certainly should have exercised better judgment.
But I’d be more sympathetic to those upset about his remarks if the usual narrative/media double standard didn’t rear its inevitable head — again.
For example, the creator of the petition to oust Formica, Natalie Cimonetti, has been accused of “stalking” and “doxxing” community members with whom she disagrees.
A “community organizer” for the group Red Wine & Blue, a “a voting bloc of liberal, suburban, ‘wine moms,’” Cimonetti got a warning letter from the local police chief noting that “criminal charges [were] warranted” and “would be filed” if she didn’t cease her actions.
The Inquirer defended Cimonetti’s organization against its political opposite, Moms for Liberty, noting the (discredited) Southern Poverty Law Center called the latter an “extremist parental-rights group,” and that the local ACLU had jumped in to defend the “wine mom.”
At the recent board meeting, Souderton Superintendent Frank Gallagher informed the audience that “neither the board nor the administration has the ability by law” to oust Formica.
This didn’t please the crowd, which continued to yammer and complain, resulting in the meeting coming to an end.
Perhaps Gallagher and the board could contact Merrick Garland and his Justice Department … to have them look into these school board meeting disruptors as possible “domestic terrorists“?
Or, at the very least, they could contact the new president of the American Association of University Professors to defend Formica in the name of “academic freedom”; after all, he stood up for the Rutgers professor who wrote she hoped the Trump assassination attempt would “inspire others.”
Oops, never mind — wrong politics.
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IMAGES: Tommy NFG/YouTube; Change.org; Souderton Area School District
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