There’s something deeply troubling going on within the right-wing media complex. It’s been happening for years, to be sure, but in the wake of the Parkland massacre, everything has been more text than subtext, less “far-out conspiracy theories” and more “the NYT, Fox News and several media outlets are lining up against children who just saw their friends die.” The conspiracies have already started – the children are “actors,” or they’re being used as props by some shadowy, nefarious liberal lobby to… like, stop kids from being gunned down. The children are being told to shut up and respect gun-owners. They’re being told they don’t have the “expertise” to discuss gun violence, having simply survived a massacre. And then there’s this, from right-wing troll Dinesh D’Souza:
Dinesh D'Souza with the expert troll on [checks notes] students who just watched their classmates die. pic.twitter.com/qgJBMgj7CO
— Peter Finocchiaro (@PLFino) February 20, 2018
Dear @simonschuster, your author, Dinesh D'Souza, is using his Twitter account to mock the survivors of the 2/14/18 gun massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. I've attached pictures, and here are the URLs of his tweets. https://t.co/qe3Kgge2Ne, https://t.co/HIlCQsLzS6 pic.twitter.com/AoDyu4eXsc
— Cindy (@cindymclennan) February 20, 2018
So, that’s what we’re up against. That’s what these children are up against. Thankfully, they do have some back-up. Back-up in the form of George Clooney, Amal Clooney, Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.
Five students who survived a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Fla., announced Sunday that there will be a march on Washington, D.C., to call for stricter gun laws. Organized by classmates Jacqueline Coren, Emma Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, David Hogg and Alex Wind, March for Our Lives is scheduled to take place March 24. On that morning, they said, students and their supporters will take to the streets “to demand that their lives and safety become a priority,” and to finally “end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools.”
In a show of support, George Clooney and his family made a donation to their cause. “Amal and I are so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School,” the Suburbicon director, 56, told E! News in a statement Tuesday. “Our family will be there on March 24 to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country, and in the name of our children Ella and Alexander, we’re donating $500,000 to help pay for this groundbreaking event. Our children’s lives depend on it.”
Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg said they would also make a $500,000 donation, and like the Clooneys join the group’s March For Our Lives event set for March 24 in Washington, D.C.
Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw have joined in the pledge started this morning by George & Amal Clooney and then by Jeffrey & Marilyn Katzenberg to help offset the costs of the March For Our Lives event in DC on March 24 to protest for meaningful gun control. Spielberg and Capshaw have matched the Clooney donation of $500,000.
“The young students in Florida and now across the country are already demonstrating their leadership with a confidence and maturity that belies their ages,” said Capshaw and Spielberg. “Kate and I applaud their efforts to take a stand for the benefit of this and future generations. They are an inspiration to us all, and we are joining in this movement with a donation of $500,000.”
Oprah announced her support and $500K pledge on Twitter:
George and Amal, I couldn’t agree with you more. I am joining forces with you and will match your $500,000 donation to ‘March For Our Lives.’ These inspiring young people remind me of the Freedom Riders of the 60s who also said we’ve had ENOUGH and our voices will be heard.
— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) February 20, 2018
Do me a favor and do NOT read the tweets directed at Oprah on that tweet. The Deplorables are out in force – the trigger-happy dumbasses got triggered at the thought of children demanding action on gun control. This is where we are as a nation.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
This isn’t new – those attacking the kids here are likely the same ones who claimed that the Sandy Hook murders was a false flag; they were even demanding that the Sandy Hook kids’ parents prove that their children were gunned down.
That being said, good on the Clooneys and other celebrities for donating! It’s a game changer in a way in that it’s proof that the kids have tangible support behind them.
oh god, I remember that, started by the absolutely insane Alex Jones and the deplorables just ran with it.
The difference now is how mainstream it is. What happened to Sandy Hook survivors/families was awful, but it largely happened on the internet. Alex Jones is a big presence on the internet, but most people in the real world don’t know who he is or what Infowars is, so when something like Sandy Hook Truthers comes up, people like my conservative family dismiss it as internet shenanigans. This time, though, it’s news anchors and mainstream media personalities they know openly mocking these kids, and they are troubled. What’s happening isn’t new, but it’s being broadcast beyond the internet, and for many, especially older conservatives who don’t participate online, they are just now seeing this element at work.
Admirable, but WHERE do all these donations go? And who determines where they go?
I thought it was going towards the cost of the kids heading to DC for the March.
Not just that. They are coordinating mass demonstrations all over the country for that same day, along with the lead demonstration on DC. And of course, no one ever said they’re stopping there. This is a long fight. They appear determined to fight it, for as long as it takes.
That shouldn’t cost a million dollars.
I’m very supportive of this movement and I’m proud of the kids, but …is there a charity set up that will help them? Is this money helping the families of those killed with funeral costs? Are lawyers going to be hired to represent the kids if they want to take this the legal route?
It’s just so vague. $1 million dollars, given to ??? to do ??? I hope there’s a plan in place!
You’ll find a lot of the answers here. https://www.marchforourlives.com/
I can very easily imagine an event like this running up quite a bill, especially if the group is paying the travel expenses for the kids (and their parents).
The organization isn’t an official charity (donations won’t be tax deductable), because there simply hasn’t been time to do all the bureaucratic red tape required to be designated a 501(c)…plus if their goal is to change laws they could potentially be considered a political lobby and subject to federal taxes.
Some of the donations wound up having to pay for the medical bills of the survivors from what I understand. Yes, you read right. In America, you can not only be an innocent victim of a mass shooting but also find yourself $30,000 for having the audacity to survive it.
Even worse if you die. Funeral costs in this country are astronomical as well.
I believe we are more united on this front than many believe. Something like 98% of people support expanded background checks for gun purchases, and a large majority want stricter gun control like banning semiautomatic weapons. The crazies are amplified online, but in real life there’s more consensus.
Yep. More than half of the country’s gun owners have no problem with going through a background check and not owning a AR-15.
The NRA owns alot of this people in Congress and Rubio better enjoy that money because these kids are here to make sure his days are numbered in representing FL.
I still haven’t decided if I am going to travel to DC for the March 24th demonstration, or if I will march in NYC. But I will be out there supporting these amazing and inspiring kids!
+1
I hope they have a march here in my liberal town in Western Oregon. If one isn’t organized, I’ll do my own march!
There is one in Portland. https://www.facebook.com/pg/marchforourlives/events/
My spawn want to go, so we’ll probably do NYC.
I sadly know a few individuals who think sandy hook was made up by dems to get the gun control ball rolling. I was honestly sickened and floored that anyone with a heart and half a brain would think sandy hook was fake?!?! These children are so brave. I would like to think I would be that brave in their shoes but I honestly don’t know?? They are going up against a true life monster.
I had a coworker who, up until that point, I thought was a more reasonable conservative until he said something similar to me. The propaganda power of Fox News should not be underestimated. They rule through fear of the unknown future where white patriarchy’s power is eroding, and they link the idea of maintaining that power to guns.
That makes me so mad. I swear I want to slap people that say such nonsense. It makes me see red. We have far too many idiots in this country.
Several students walked out of class at a large HS in my town yesterday, and another local school planned a walkout, but too many backed out. School administrators were not supportive.
The comments on the local news articles are 90 percent against the kids (we are in a red area). The talking points are to shut up and obey elders. A couple of comments get personal about the students’ alleged “troublemaking” history. It’s evident that students are going to be pushed against across the country, if they participate.
Taking it finally to the streets. I think citizens have to come out in masses on March 24th to show that there is indeed a big opposition against the current gun controls.
I really admire Amal and George for being the first ones to support this initiative by the students and thus giving it also more credibility in the media. Now some big cats are joining the kids, so you cannot belittle this march anymore.
I know it’s a lot but I wonder if one day a parent of a gunned down child will do what Emmett Till’s mother did and demand we see what happened to their child.
My husband and I have debated this since Sandy Hook, and while it’s just horrific to think what this might do to those parents willing, we wonder what would happen if the parents or loved ones of any of these victims were to march on the Capitol with the post-shooting pictures of the victims?
It’s the age of photoshop. It wouldn’t convince anyone. Emmet Till’s mother was able to convince people because photos were much harder to alter and the public trust was very high. Now, though, airbrushing and photoshop has destroyed that. The same people would just say the photos are fake and the parents would have emotionally eviscerated themselves for nothing.
On top of the usual ‘well we don’t regulate knives or cars’ or guns aren’t bad stuff-they also think that the one kid is a FBI plant because his dad is a retired FBI agent. Sigh.
Honestly I’m proud of the kids for fighting the good fight- for having the march. I hope something changes. After Sandy Hook I just don’t have the energy for the fight anymore. When killing 5 year olds changed nothing I gave up. I hope I’m proven wrong, but I just don’t think I will be.
It’s hilarious to me when people say we don’t regulate cars. I love asking to see their license, looking at the expiry date, and then reminding them they have to go back and retest in a couple years so they can keep driving. I’ve done that several times and it always gets a laugh while lowkey embarrassing the idiot who said we don’t regulate cars.
You know, I really thought there would be a rock bottom for some of these people, but instead, the pebble keeps falling farther and farther into a dark and endless well without a splash.
You got that right.
The only solace I take from seeing this disgusting campaign against victims and gun control advocates is that I believe it is evidence of the NRA’s desperation. I believe they are behind this propaganda. The NRA is on the defensive for once. Public outrage is galanizing around this tragedy. Also, Mueller is investigating NRA financial ties, to see if Russian oligarchs are laundering their money through the organization. Time for the NRA to go down!
Oh really? Welp, there’s no publicity like free publicity, is there?
Where were they with their donations to BLM or Occupy? Or Doctors without Borders or Dentists without Borders, organizations, which, to this country’s shame, are needed by millions of people denied care here in the U.S.? Or desperately needed maternity care for low income mothers? Erica Garner died of asthma, pregnancy-related asthma in connection with her pregnancy. 100% preventable.
I was reading last night that people are claiming that these kids are actors. There are numerous threads trying to claim that David Hogg is a “crisis actor.” It’s honestly sickening.