Trolls Are Attacking Parkland Students On Social Media Because Of Course They Are

Internet trolls are ruthlessly attacking Parkland survivors on social media

The student activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School probably never expected to become household names before reaching voting age. They also probably never expected their school to become nationwide news in the wake of one of the deadliest mass shootings in our country’s history.

Ever since the survivors of the Parkland shooting began to mobilize for the cause of better gun laws and ending school shootings, they’ve been in the spotlight. Sadly, being that famous means people feel the need to criticize you on social media — and the detractors of these brilliant teens don’t seem to care that the people they’re trying their hardest to take down are literally children. Traumatized children, at that.

The most egregious example of this group’s willingness to have basically no decency — or brains — is the rapid spread of a fake video of Parkland activist Emma González. In the original video, González is shown in a clip for Teen Vogue tearing apart a gun range target. In the doctored up internet troll version, she’s tearing up the United States Constitution.

The original image was an empowering statement about kids refusing to be the target of gun violence any longer, but of course, NRA supporters twisted it to fit their own sick narrative.

Even more disturbing than the fact that someone felt the need to create this fake footage was that many thousands of people were only too happy to believe it was real.

There are simply no words for how vile these attacks are — over something that isn’t even true.

I will happily tell you, Dennis. Most internet-savvy teens probably knew immediately that this footage was fake. The kids are leading us because the adults have failed — and the adults have failed because some of them are morons.

Oh I’m betting a month from now, her already-massive Twitter following will have doubled, actually. No one’s forgetting this brilliant young woman any time soon.

Apparently not as clueless as the gullible idiots who fell for this literal fake news.

But the fake footage of González is only a small piece of the repulsive bullying aimed at these kids on social media since they started speaking out — by fucking adults. And those of us who aren’t horrible bullies have had about enough. Thankfully, the Parkland student activists have gotten plenty of support from sane adults amid the gross attacks from the right.

This about sums it up.

Yes, it seems grown adults are so terrified of these brilliant, articulate teens who are demanding change that they’ve resorted to tearing them down on social media.

These attacks are repulsive and need to end, but their deeper meaning is somewhat encouraging. If they didn’t feel so threatened by the passion and brilliance behind the Parkland students and the #NeverAgain movement, they wouldn’t feel the need to stoop so low.

Keep on keeping on, kids. Believe it or not, some of us adults aren’t completely awful and are only proud of the incredible work you’re doing.