A minor kerfuffle in a North Carolina school lunchroom has turned into a massive, artificially-constructed “controversy” on the right wing. I first came across it on Vermont Tiger, GMD’s Internet Brother From Another Mother. Seems that a four-year-old girl had her home-packed lunch taken away by a lunchroom staffer, allegedly because it didn’t meet nutritional guidelines. So instead of her mom’s turkey sandwich, banana, potato chips and apple juice, the girl was given a cafeteria lunch that included chicken nuggets.

Immediately the cries went up: School Lunch Nazis! Government strikes down motherhood! Nanny state! The New York Post ran a photo of Michelle Obama next to its story entitled “Lunch nazis on the attack.” Vermont Tiger’s Geoffrey Norman seized on the story as an example of America’s journey “down that long, doleful road to serfdom.”

His commentary didn’t contain a link to the original story, so I had to find it on the Google. And what I found was a classic example of a tempest in a teapot. Well, actually, more like a teacup. Or a thimble. Or a wet spot on a napkin.

First of all, the story was originally reported on Carolina Journal, an online enterprise of the John Locke Foundation, a right-wing nonprofit organization. (Think “Ethan Allen Institute” with a drawl. And more money.)  So, consider the source.

It concerns an incident that happened on January 30. According to CJ, the girl had her lunch taken away by a “person who was inspecting all lunch boxes in the… classroom that day.”  The girl’s mother says her daughter was instead given a prepared lunch that included chicken nuggets among other items, and that she was charged $1.25 for the lunch.

After the jump: the complicated truth behind a simple story

A spokesperson for the state’s Division of Child Development said the homemade lunch, as described, should not have been a problem, that the staffer shouldn’t have taken away the lunch, and that the parents shouldn’t have been charged.

It’s still unclear exactly who took away the lunch. WRAL-TV reports that the school system said it never took the lunch away or forced the girl to eat cafeteria food.  Assistant Superintendent Bob Barnes said that if a preschooler’s lunch is lacking in balanced nutrition as outlined by the USDA, the school is supposed to offer supplemental items for free. Somehow, the girl wound up in the regular lunch line:

“I don’t know whether the child was confused. I don’t know whether the teacher gave poor direction. I don’t know, but again, that child thought she had to go through the line,” he said. “If there’s a mistake, that’s our mistake.”

Some details remain unclear. But it certainly looks like an isolated incident, a simple screw-up in a crowded lunchroom. The school district wasn’t involved, the state wasn’t involved, the federal government wasn’t involved, and Michelle Obama sure as hell wasn’t involved.

It’s important to remember that this whole thing is like an inverted house of cards. It’s based on what the four-year-old told the mother who told a reporter who reported the story which then blew up on the Internet. It all goes back to the child, and it all depends on her recollection of a single event from two weeks ago.

Thanks to the right-wing echo chamber, though, this little story has been turned into a prime example of Government Gone Wild. And given conservatives’ love of a good meme that supports their opinions and prejudices, the North Carolina School Lunch Nazi is sure to enter the pantheon of right-wing boogeymen, along with the Cadillac-driving welfare queen and the fraudulent ACORN voter-registration drive.

There’s a cautionary lesson for all of us. When you read something that affirms your beliefs or preconceived notions, please take a closer look. You might find a very different reality behind the convenient myth.