The Hogg Effect: How David Hogg and the Parkland kids are destroying free speech
Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg is looking to take apart the Constitution one Amendment at a time, as evidenced by his attempts to destroy the career of Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
Ingraham made the mistake of tweeting a mild jab at Hogg who, along with the other liberal survivors of Parkland, have been dubbed untouchable by both mainstream and social media. Any perceived attack on them has been met, and will continue to be met for the foreseeable future, with harsh repercussions.
While it does seem to be good decorum to handle kids who have just been through a tragedy with kid gloves, many of these kids have painted themselves as fierce warriors. That is, until someone takes a shot at them. Then they are only kids and saying anything to them is tantamount to a capital crime.
I have had the honor and privilege of being friends with young, conservative activist CJ Pearson since he began his foray into the political arena. In that time I have watched as he has been attacked by adults on a consistent basis, calling him brutal, vicious names for being a young, black conservative.
In that time, I have never witnessed Pearson shy away from the battle or hide behind the fact that he is a kid. Instead, he fights for what he believes in and has never asked for special treatment. And from what I know of Pearson, he would be angry if anyone suggested that he should get special treatment.
He wants to be taken seriously as a voice in the world of politics, which is what we were told Hogg wanted. After all, he has leveled vicious verbal assaults at those he disagrees with while hiding behind the shield of his youth. Firing back at him could be career suicide, as Ingraham has learned this week when she mocked him for being rejected by his colleges of choice.
It was not a smart move by Ingraham, but she quickly apologized. Sadly, for her, that was not enough for Hogg.
In truth, there was nothing she could have done or said that would have been good enough for him. He saw his opening, as a liberal from a liberal family, to take a shot at destroying a conservative career that Ingraham spent decades building.
As of this writing, seven advertisers have abandoned Ingraham and Hogg has shown no signs of calling for a truce as he is pressuring more advertisers to pull their support.
You can argue that this is how the free market and free speech work, and you would be correct. But the precedent being set by this is terrifying.
In the age of social media, it is not uncommon for someone to speak off the cuff and make a comment they regret. If people must watch every single word they say for fear that it could end their career, it could put an end to punditry and opinion writing.
As an aspiring journalist himself, what Hogg is creating could come back to bite him in the future.
David Hogg & Laura Ingraham, Please Both of You Shut Up, Signed – A Concerned American
Absolutely ridiculous comparison! David Hoggs did not actively seeking out media attention. If a pyscho armed with an AR15 didn’t go and shoot up his school you would never have heard of him. If the conservative God’s like Alex Jones and Sean Hannity didn’t call him a crisis actor and tell stories about him not attending parkland schools he wouldn’t have had to fight back. If a grown fucking woman like Ingraham didn’t mock him like a typical bully for not getting into some colleges she wouldn’t have a problem.
Seriously?!? David Hogg actively seeks out media attention every single friggin day!! Can’t even go one full day without hearing about this bratty kid… can’t wait for wannabe journalist’s fifteen minutes are up!
Couldn’t agree more!
Something about that kid that put he off immediately.
How is pointing out the truth, that he was rejected from 4 universities anything beyond reality.
With a 4.2 GPA I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that he should reflect on the fact his social media accounts, and present closed mindedness is very unflattering and is doing exactly what the victims of this shooting want:
People no longer listening or giving concern because he’s interested in nothing but hearing his own voice and seeing himself on TV.
Ironic how he was the first person involved in all of this and seemed unaffected by the totality of what had happened.
There is a time and place for everything. Granted it’s hard to tell anymore about what us fake news but I’ve read articles that show he’s contradicted himself and also claimed he was in two places at once. That only furthers my firm belief that he’s an attention seeker.
He can’t consider himself an adult and advocate and hide behind only being a kid and acting immature because he’s disliked and his vocalized views are interpreted negatively. What he does when he advocates is no different from others.
Just because he wants and needs attention is repulsive to me because I can’t be the only person who was actively behind the stricter gun laws regarding background information, not banning guns however, and now have gotten annoyed leading to skipping right past those articles.
I read this article because I was happy to see a point that f view similar to mine.
Wrong Chris, he had a similar but lesser crusade in CA. His mother is from CNN. His goal is indeed being in the media. All easy to find truth. That said, any excess “protection” for this kid is wrong. He’s clearly being used by MSM, clearly been given a green light to be rude, demanding and to disrespect our gov’t and anyone who happens to be pro-gun, pro-NRA, or pro-2A. If what Laura Ingraham said/did was an “attack” then I should have been publicly executed by firing squad a long time ago. Rather than coddle and comfort someone in the public eye in such a prolific manner I think it’s better to teach them courage in their convictions and coach them with integrity. This is another example of participation trophies and excess attention to a minor’s self-esteem. A search for excellence and achievement would never reveal this kid’s name, in fact it’s becoming quite clear that the opposite would be closer to the truth. Shame on his “handlers” and shame on him for not having the maturity to stand up for himself. The Parkland tragedy has NOTHING to do with my outlook on this, and I find it morally bankrupt to see or hear anyone using it to further an agenda or themselves. I further find extreme cowardice in using anyone opposing this minor’s view for their own virtue signaling, when in fact very little of his views are his own. That much is so easy to see, unless of course one were in pure denial.
Good observations Carmine, thanks…
This young man is not destroying free speech. Laura Ingraham bullied a minor on Twitter and is now paying the piper. The government is not prosecuting her for what she said. If it were, then her freedom of speech would have been compromised.
Freedom of speech does not make one immune to the fallout that results from what you say in the court of public opinion.
Laura Ingraham is a grown adult that acted like a middle school child. She has no business, in many peoples opinion, having a public platform to spew her vitriol. Especially on a child who just very recently lost 17 classmates to a mass shooting. She’s a loser and deserves to fade away like O’reilly did.
Mel and Chris you are both way off base. Mel it was not 17 classmates who perished, hence the inability you have in NOT calling out Hogg’s own bullying and disrespect he has shown adults including Conressional members. There were 14 children and 3 ADULTS killed by a young man who we now know was relentlessly bullied by the Gonzalez girl (she said she did) and other students who thought him different. Chris you are completely hysterical and exaggerating the simple observations Ingraham made that Hogg did not get into the colleges he applied to. David, his sister, and the other 4 students who are spewing vitriol on every major network are bullying anyone who dares to disagree or have an opposing opinion. These young people are trying to use their victim status as a shield as they tap their inexperienced, raging hormonal, profanity-laced diatribes ad nauseam for anyone who will listen. Unfortunately, adults with enough common sense see through the ruse the far left is perpetrating by using these young adults for their own agenda. Hogg’s Dad, an FBI agent along with the Broward County Sheriff’s office opened the school doors and let the Cruz boy shoot up as long as he pleased! Their failures should be the catalyst for everyone’s anger, not a pundit 6 weeks later.
Hogg thinks the 1st amendment is only for himself. Hogg is the bully he probably bulled Cruz.
There is an Essential Distinction Between Force and Violence
In law, ‘force’ is a measured, “proportionate response”; ‘violence’ is an unwarranted escalation, a “disproportionate response.” In this, the principle of self-defense is founded.
The issue now isn’t whether one agrees or disagrees with the merit/wisdom of Ingraham’s tweet; the point has grown far beyond that minor matter; it has been irresponsibly escalated into the setting of an untenably pernicious precedent: the vindictive design to destroy a career – which is far worse.
There was nothing in Hogg’s response that anyone can deem as “measured” &/or “proportionate.”
Hogg pulled the trigger on the biggest gun he could lay his hands on – or rather, the biggest gun his exploitive-‘adult’ enablers could put into his hands.
Hogg, the exploited child activist, has graduated to extremism; to perpetrating violence – the very malidy the innocent Hogg championed against!
This is now the crux of the issue, the determining point of right vs wrong that everyone is failing to recognize:
The essential distinction between force (good) and violence (evil).
Ingraham had no intention of apologising. She apologised AFTER Hoggs released the list of her advertisers due to which the advertisers started distancing from Ingraham. Ingraham would not have apologised had she not faced monetary disadvantages. Besides all of her sudden changes in her view are clearly visible from the way she addresses the survivors before and after her advertisers started pulling back.