Despite the best efforts of some to stick up for such basic causes as human rights, there remain some — like Donald Trump, of course — who prefer to make cyberbullying a core tenet of their personal platforms.
One such individual is apparently Michael Flynn Jr., who — somewhere inside his head — evidently thought that it would be reasonable, fitting, and appropriate for him to suggest that one of the survivors of last month’s mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, should have been “smacked” more as a child. Alternatively, he couldn’t care less about whether or not his comments are reasonable and fitting. It’s an open question which one is worse.
He made his comments to that effect in response to a post from David Hogg, a student at the Parkland high school where the shooting took place who has emerged in the aftermath of the atrocity as a strong voice on behalf of common sense gun control.
Fox News analyst Laura Ingraham had bullied him on Twitter over apparently being rejected by some colleges that he applied to, but after pressure, she made a show of making an apology. That apology came in the face of a mounting campaign for advertisers to boycott her show that has proven successful, with advertisers fleeing her program even after she made her “apology.”
Hogg was hardly impressed with the host’s apology, writing after the parent of a Parkland victim had expressed similar sentiments:
‘I 100% agree an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough. I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children. Focus less on fear and more on facts. Then we can save lives in this country together.’
It was in response to this post that Flynn Jr. wrote:
‘Someone (hint: parents) clearly didn’t smack this kid much growing up. Your emotional high will run out soon so savor it while it lasts….’
He added:
‘Lot of libs triggered by this comment. If smacking your kid when he gets out of line/mouths off is “troublesome” for you, you’re one of the main reasons our kids (in the US) are #22 in the world in education. Called LACK OF DISCIPLINE.’
Besides the obvious issues here, it’s ridiculous to suggest that smacking children is going to improve the quality of their education. That’s not the way it works. If teachers are well supported, that will improve the quality of the American educational system. In addition, it’s unclear how the state of our educational system is related to the legitimacy or lack thereof inherent in Hogg’s comments. He’s as much of an American as the rest of us, no matter his age.
To be clear, Flynn Jr. is making these comments from a place of having found himself recently under the reported scrutiny of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who charged his father with lying to authorities about communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
It’s not as though that scrutiny has sparked some kind of break on his part, though. All the way back in 2016 he was promoting conspiracy theories on his Twitter account.
Check out Twitter’s response to Flynn Jr. below.
Featured Image via Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
