It’s not news that Facebook is a key organizing tool for angry conservatives, but the scope of it is still dizzying. Media Matters has identified “at least 860 right-wing parents and school-related groups that are active, with at least 717,000 combined members,” with topics ranging from “critical race theory” (read: any teaching that could be interpreted as anti-racist) to mask and vaccine mandates to the whole cocktail of right-wing positions on schools. The 860 groups Media Matters found include six networks with anywhere from 23 to 135 groups each, many of them private. When you’ve got networks running dozens of groups apiece, that’s a sign that something is going on beyond an organic uprising of frustrated parents. It’s not the first sign of that, of course, with other little hints including the Fox News full-court press to create school-related culture wars, statements from Republican politicians doing the same, Glenn Youngkin’s entire campaign for governor in Virginia, and books being pulled from school libraries around the country. Read more