
The NRA feels threatened by the incredible success of Teen Parkland school shooting survivors. Now they’ve stepped up their attacks. And they playing dirty. The NRA, and their surrogates, do not have logic on their side. So they turn to smearing and name calling. The American people have to step up their support for these teens. They are our children. The “March for our lives” was part of how we send a message. But we need more. In order to defeat evil we must fight on many different levels. That’s what the civil rights movement did. They are the blueprint for what we must do to defeat the gun lobby’s hold on Washington.
One of those NRA thugs is Rick Santorum. He had some fatuous comments to make after MFOL Saturday:
“How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that,” Santorum said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
It turns out that Santorum, while he was in the Senate was the 3rd highest on the list of “top 5 politicians in the pocket of the NRA.” That tells you everything you need know.
And now FOX News is stepping up the attacks. That was predictable. Here’s what a patronizing Tucker Carlson had to say:
This is the problem with letting children write news stories. The articles tend to be dumb, and intentionally or not, they tend to be inaccurate and dishonest. Worst of all, they tend to reinforce the fantasy that complex problems have simple solutions, because that’s what most children believe. In real life, nothing is simple.
…The self-righteous kids screaming at you on television over the weekend aren’t helping at all.
The Parkland students have become enemy number one:
And as of this weekend, this group of idealistic young people have officially become the right’s leading hate figures.
The first and most repugnant strategy was to directly attack high-profile campaigners, especially students David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez.
Running short of reasoned arguments, many attempted to push conservative buttons with high impact visuals. Alt-right social media company Gab was one of many that disseminated a doctored animation of Gonzalez in which she falsely appeared to be tearing up the US constitution. Cartoonist and Trump sycophant Ben Garrison depicted Hogg as an assault rifle, wielded by CNN, and loaded with Marxism. Breitbart re-published a round of tweets accusing Hogg of throwing a Nazi salute.
The right has even turned to hoaxes in a pathetic attempt to try and discredit the Parkland students:
Far-right trolls created a fake image and GIF of survivor Emma González tearing up the Constitution. Along with appearing on Squawker, the fake image and GIF subsequently spread on Twitter, where those pushing the bogus graphics included Gab, a social media platform for white nationalists, and actor Adam Baldwin. 4chan /pol/ (4chan’s “politically incorrect” message board) users subsequently celebrated the news that the fake image had been shared on Twitter. The hoax was based on a video from Teen Vogue of Gonzalez tearing up a target.