The Demonization of David Hogg

One of the things that has angered me since the Parkland shooting is the treatment of the survivors who have become activists for gun reform, specifically David Hogg. Perhaps my specific anger at the hate towards Hogg is related to the fact that we are similar people. We are both tall, lanky high school seniors who take AP Government and consider ourselves journalists because we write articles and interview people. When I see the hatred shown towards him, I see a hatred shown towards myself because I hold the same beliefs as Hogg when it comes to gun reform. However, I remind myself that the basis of this hatred is fear. People are scared of Hogg and the fact that he is still relevant almost two months after the Parkland shooting.
            Following the shooting, Hogg started turning heads in interviews on the ground in Parkland on cable news channels where he vented his anger and called for action on gun control. The composure of his statements and his well-said answers attracted a lot of attention. Proponents of gun rights showed a fake deference during this time because they assumed that Hogg and his classmates would soon disappear and the whole situation would deescalate.
            When Hogg did not stop appearing on news shows and became increasingly influential and referenced, the deference of the NRA turned into hushed whispers among themselves, scheming about how they could depose this meddling kid. A few days after the shooting, InfoWars started pedaling the conspiracy theory that Hogg was a crisis actor and didn�t even live in Florida. This claim was met with widespread backlash among liberals and conservatives alike and YouTube almost shut down Alex Jones�s channel because of it. However, even after the theory was proven to be false, over time people started to believe it and used it as an excuse to tune Hogg out as a liberal puppet.
            As the doubts about Hogg�s legitimacy started to become more mainstream, more and more people felt comfortable with attacking him and painting the entire Never Again movement as a liberal propaganda machine with these students as figureheads. There was still backlash, but it was more partisan now.
            The hatred started becoming exposed as the criticism went from doubts about his legitimacy to mockery that he didn�t get accepted into college, claims that he is a crybaby, and pure ugliness being shown to him. The laughable part about it is that most of this hatred is coming from adults like Laura Ingraham and Ted Nugent rather than people at Hogg�s age. It�s ironic that these adults are childishly mocking a kid. I�m not saying that Hogg should be exempt from any criticism because he is a kid, but that criticism shouldn�t be based on a false premise.
            Adults are spreading rumors about a kid and childishly calling these students �childish.� It�s that lack of self-awareness that keeps me sane and stops me from throwing my computer out of a window when I hear about these things. There is a sinister force behind the NRA to do whatever it takes to silence and discredit anybody who pushes for gun control measures in the slightest. They paint themselves as ultra-American but reek of the type of dangerous nationalism that fueled Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
            It�s also important to point out that these criticisms are not related to the gun control debate. The NRA and proponents of guns cannot find a fault with the mission of the Never Again movement so they resort to personal attacks. When the debate descends from the actual issue to the people on either side of the issue, it�s not really a debate anymore.
            This article was a bit didactic, even for me. I intended to begin this week�s blog with the David Hogg story and lead into something else, but that did not happen. I usually try to be objective and maintain a somewhat casual persona during these blogs but that also did not happen. Sometimes it is good to break away from the norm. That�s all for this week.