In politics, you’re either on-message or you’re losing. Let’s get to it.
Welcome to On Message, a weekly look at where the battle lines are drawn and who is winning the war of words.
This week… Caught in the Middle.
One side effect of living in a divisive and politically charged time is that there are plenty of apolitical organizations that get caught in the crossfire.
Special interest groups, movements and advocates are constantly looking for ways to advance their agendas and they don’t hesitate to use innocent bystanders to get what they want.
It leaves those bystanders in situations where it is simply impossible to make everyone happy and forces them to take a position on something outside their mission.
Take for example school districts. Education leaders have found themselves being pulled into manufactured controversies like Critical Race Theory (which is not taught in Utah schools), mask mandates and other parts of the ongoing culture war where the only winners seem to be those who love the drama and know how to use it to their advantage.
None of it leads to productive dialogue where each side is willing to listen as well as speak. And it all pulls educators away from their core mission of providing quality education to students and preparing them to succeed in their lives and careers.
Case in point, the recent report that the Davis School District has opted to remain neutral on controversial issues, most notably by telling schools not to fly the Black Lives Matter or LGBTQ flags in their buildings.
The district’s position is clear: they recognize the politically contentious environment and they are trying to stay out of it altogether. Students can express themselves by wearing those symbols or discussing the related issues with their peers, but the schools themselves are staying out of it.
And everyone took the news in stride, did their best to understand the district’s position, and went on with their lives.
Of course, they didn’t. This is 2021 and even saying you are neutral is seen as an activist position.
On one side, there was a backlash against the decision saying it made minority students feel less safe, while others spiked the football as a victory over identity politics. And caught in the middle is a school district just trying to do its job of educating young people.
So, what’s the lesson?
If you don’t have an agenda and a strategy, you are just asking to be leveraged to advance someone else’s. Even if your agenda is to just stay out of the drama, you better have a game plan. If you don’t, you are a sitting duck and sooner or later, you will find yourself pulled into someone else’s fight.
The best way to position yourself to work on your mission without being drawn into someone else’s battle:
1) know your mission
2) understand where you are vulnerable to being leveraged
3) state your position clearly and early and
4) remain vigilant by keeping tabs on those who may try to drag you into a fight you don’t want.
All of that is much more complex than just four steps. Having an experienced communication expert work closely with your senior leadership team is no longer a luxury, it’s essential.
The Davis School District made the right move in the long run by taking one tough round of news stories as it declares its neutrality. In doing so they sent a signal to activists on all sides: We’re here to teach kids, not advance your agenda. Go leverage someone else.
That’s it for this week.
More On Message in the next issue of the Utah Political Underground.
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