Sunday, July 28, 2024

Pass On This

I could have sworn I'd written in the past about one of the weak-minded "Pass It On" billboards, but I just checked the whole blog for the word billboard and I don't see one. You've probably seen them out in the world at some point, since they've been around since just after 9/11.

Here's a current example:


Sam Bergman (@violanorth.bsky.social), who saw this one in an airport, responded to it on BlueSky with this:

Hey, thanks... I guess I was unaware that Lincoln preserved the union and ended slavery through the cunning use of [checks notes] “civility.”

Someone commented to him:

did ... did they misunderstand what "civil war" means

Other commenters supplied the funding source of the Pass It On campaign as the Foundation for a Better Life, which in turn is funded exclusively by the Anschutz Family Foundation.

The billionaire Anschutz family, whose money comes from oil (and then real estate, railroads, and other tycoon-type investments) is a backer of several conservative media outlets, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, and films like the public-education-undermining Waiting for Superman.

Most of the billboards' messages are weak tea, offering individualized answers to systemic problems, but this misuse of Abraham Lincoln is one of the worst.


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