RICHMOND — Virginia lawmakers have passed a bill that prohibits schools from teaching that the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection was a peaceful demonstration or that there was massive fraud in the 2020 presidential election, the first Democratic state to try to shape how such events are taught.
“The White House webpage says January 6 was a peaceful protest, and people who instigated it were the police and National Guard,” said Del. Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax), the sponsor of the bill, which passed the state Senate this week and the House of Delegates last month. “This is a preventative measure against a massive disinformation campaign on the part of the White House.”
Historians might say more of history is contested than we might realize. In my lifetime, I learned that Thomas Edison was a brilliant inventor who made the light bulb through perseverance; not a ruthless businessman who stole ideas from interns and sabotaged Nikola Tesla.
So, it may be best not to codify things into law if they have even the slightest chance for debate. Hence why Germany made laws against denying the holocaust specifically.