One-upping every conspiracy theory-prone uncle out there, Republican state Senator Bruce Bostelman used his time during a debate over a Nebraska school funding bill to rail against the real issue facing classrooms: furries.
Except not the furries you’re likely now imagining piling into convention halls — adults exercising their anthropomorphic passions.
“If you don’t know what furries are,” Bostelman began his floor speech, before giving perhaps the worst definition imaginable.
“It’s where school children dress up as animals — cats or dogs — during the school day. They ‘meow’ and they ‘bark,’ and they interact with the school and the teachers in this fashion,” he said.
How about we take this to the next level?
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But it gets even worse, according to Bostelman.
He continued: “And now schools are wanting to put litter boxes in the schools for these children to use. How is this sanitary?!”
A floor speech from Nebraska State Senator Bruce Bostelman that "is about something called furries."
Just gonna leave this here: pic.twitter.com/drn6jUgCXf
— Jon Kipper (@jonnykip21) March 28, 2022
“I think it’s very disruptive in the school system,” Bostelman argued. And he’d no doubt be right… if anything he said was even remotely based in reality.
Oh, but theres more. “I even heard from one person recently who said that a student identified as a cat and wanted a litter box, and the school didn’t provide the litter box, so the student went ahead and defecated on the floor. Really. Really,” he said.
Bostelman is the latest conservative state lawmaker to be duped by discredited rumors of school children identifying as “furries” and demanding litter boxes. The rumors started spreading in Michigan late last year, and it’s not hard to see how they could be used to fuel ignorant, parental outrage in the ongoing attacks on transgender students or perceived “wokeness” run amok.
Facing immediate criticism, the senator backtracked hours after the debate and admitted his accusations were false.
“It was just something I felt that if this really was happening, we needed to address it and address it quickly,” Bostelman said, according to the Associated Press.
Josh Fields, the superintendent of Seward Public Schools, called the speech “ridiculous.”
“It’s an ugly rumor,” added Shawn Scott, the superintendent Adams Central Public Schools.
Here’s what some folks are saying in response:
Or kitten you, in this case
— Vidman 📺 Dan Lauckner (@vidman) March 28, 2022
This guy identifies as gullible.
— Rep. Gloria Johnson (@VoteGloriaJ) March 28, 2022
I’m really seeing this as backlash since we stand for LGBTQ+ rights/anti-racism, in an attempt to dehumanize us to try to silence us because of that. They’re playing to the voters that will believe anything they’re told, especially if it’s something they’re not familiar with.
— 🏢🏫Wicked Big Monstah🏫🏢 (@TwitchDaWoof) March 28, 2022
Wait until he hears on FB that birds aren’t real.
— JoeReynoldsChief (@JoeReynolds2020) March 28, 2022
man i bet his browser history is wild
— Dad Jokes Panda (@TrashPandaFTW) March 28, 2022
— sweetydarling (@dynhamohum) March 28, 2022
Max
Bostelman is a moron for both being uneducated about what kids really do and for wasting floor time.
MarcyMayer
This guy is obviously a nut.
Eternal.Cowboy
@Marcy Taylor Greene
He sounds a lot like you. He just need to screech “Red wave in November. Bwahaha!!!“ and there would be no telling you two apart.
ZzBomb
How are these people not immediately embarrassed by saying absurd stuff like this, believing it to be true? Furthermore, how are these people not resigning in shame? They clearly do not have the bare minimum level of intelligence to be debating anything above the appropriate way to peel a potato.
Robert Bradley
More to the point, what kinda moron elects someone like this?
Jaquelope
Tbh, I think there might be an unwritten law in Nebraska against peeling a potato in Nebraska. In the 25 years I’ve lived in Nebraska I haven’t seen anyone prepare fresh potatoes and peel them.
I’m not sure of where his district in Nebraska is, but it sounds like it must be in the Eastern part of the state, and those in the Western part seem to have a bit more sense, even if they don’t know how to peel a potato.
white-queer-african
Only in Nebraska? Actually not. The other red states can identity with this nut case.
Essie
Wasn’t there a politician from another state who said the same thing a few months ago? In fact, when I read this headline I thought it was the same story being re-published. These morons are playing to the dumbest people out there. It’s demoralizing and scary.
Prax07
This guy is yet one more example of why there needs to be standards to pass to be able to seek ANY elected office. Mental fitness and intelligence tests should be mandatory. We probably wouldn’t have idiots like him, Greene, Boebert, Cawley, Trump, etc if there were minimal requirements in place.
jt1990
Sounds like this guy ran across the word and asked his teenage grandkids what it meant. Little smart@sees thought it would be funny to make a fool of old gramps. Similar thing happened to me once. The moustache just made it worse.
Anyway that’s why you always consult the online urban dictionary!
Tombear
When I was 8 years old I had a bear costume I loved to wear and I would growl at people. Does that make me a furry? I know that I’m a bear in my adult life.