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As someone who has taught media literacy to students K - 8, I can't NOT say something about this. I used to teach propaganda to 5th graders. We looked at Propaganda for Japanese-American internment. We looked at Leni Riefenstahl's nazi propaganda. (1/19) https://twitter.com/NYCMayorsOffice/status/1304167812672479233
Now I will be adding this from the @NYCMayorsOffice to the list of disturbing propaganda. Firstly, the city has no money and is possibly laying off 9,000 teachers… yet they put money into creating this propaganda. Someone had to film this. Edit this. (2/19)
The original messaging from the city was that low income families NEED to get back to in-person learning because they have to go back to work. The fact is, they aren’t the ones that signed up for full remote learning. (3/19)
Instead, privileged families have been the ones to opt-in for remote learning which is I guess what lead to the creation of this video. (4/19)
These are the Foleys. Tom says they’ve been remote since March of LAST year, which I can’t decide was intentional or not (untrue, either way). Their son is looking forward to seeing his friends again and doing stuff in person. (5/19)
It doesn’t seem that their son understands that he won’t necessarily be with his friends. He’ll be in one room the entire day, with a mask on, six feet away from other children. Since lunch is during instructional time, he will be working, not socializing with friends (6/19)
[Child wailing] with a shot of their other child throwing a tantrum. As someone who thinks about how media might make someone feel, I wonder how this child will feel when they’re old enough to see how they were used for this purpose (7/19)
![[Child wailing] with a shot of their other child throwing a tantrum. As someone who thinks about how media might make someone feel, I wonder how this child will feel when they’re old enough to see how they were used for this purpose (7/19)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ehlz0O3XsAAA2G9.jpg "[Child wailing] with a shot of their other child throwing a tantrum. As someone who thinks about how media might make someone feel, I wonder how this child will feel when they’re old enough to see how they were used for this purpose (7/19)")
Cut to Dad explaining how hard remote learning is with four of them at home. It looks very cramped in there with Connie’s spot in one corner and Tom’s in the other corner. (8/19)
We see what appears to be a nice new air conditioner in the kid’s room…. (9/19)
I spot two iMacs, a MacBook, and an iPad… (10/19)
10 bottles of wine… (11/19)
a robot of some sort… (12/19)
A cappuccino/espresso maker… (13/19)
A Bose sound system and fireplace… (14/19)
I count these things not because they’re not great to have, but because most of NYC school students don’t have these luxuries. 114,000 NYC students are homeless and I’m sure they’d love to do their work in either Tom or Connie’s corners. (15/19)
“Having two kids at home with no childcare is definitely challenging.” I have a number of students who lost parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents due to COVID-19. Also, cool having a photo of your son with the words "definitely challenging" underneath. (16/19)
“The cuteness has worn off. ‘Ugh, you’re kid’s [sic] there’” … Connie, 103 children have died from COVID-19. So maybe don’t say something like this? (17/19)
![“The cuteness has worn off. ‘Ugh, you’re kid’s [sic] there’” … Connie, 103 children have died from COVID-19. So maybe don’t say something like this? (17/19)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ehl2e0RX0AEQEQe.jpg "“The cuteness has worn off. ‘Ugh, you’re kid’s [sic] there’” … Connie, 103 children have died from COVID-19. So maybe don’t say something like this? (17/19)")
![“The cuteness has worn off. ‘Ugh, you’re kid’s [sic] there’” … Connie, 103 children have died from COVID-19. So maybe don’t say something like this? (17/19)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ehl2f73WoA07_Ek.jpg "“The cuteness has worn off. ‘Ugh, you’re kid’s [sic] there’” … Connie, 103 children have died from COVID-19. So maybe don’t say something like this? (17/19)")
“Iver had a real hard time adjusting to online school.” Yes, we all have, but I’m wondering how Iver will feel in ten years when he sees how he was used in a piece of propaganda. Maybe that will impact him more than the online school issue. "Definitely Challenging." (18/19)
The fact that the @NYCMayorsOffice created this video and didn’t see how problematic and tone deaf it is just goes to show how in trouble we are. I am not one that tends to get loud but to see children exploited in this way is disgraceful. Shame on all involved. (19/19)
Can someone please ask @NYCMayor about how this video got made? @MOREcaucusUFT @ChalkbeatNY @AGZimmerman @hgoldman77 @HDTGM
