(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)
So let’s talk the Parkland shooting and March For Our Lives. We’re watching teens band together and inspire others to band with them, to take on our country’s gun laws to stop the school shootings that have destroyed so many lives.
These kids are getting attacked, being called fakes and part of a conspiracy. They’re being called opportunists. They’re being called impolite. They’re being mocked.
They keep going. More and more are banding with them.
So let me drop my usual civil discussions and rant a bit about these kids.
These kids are not naive about this issue. They know the score. They hear about people their age being shot. They see the news, the guards. They know – and they know none of the solutions work.
They know what people say and they’ don’t care. They’re young enough to have not been indoctrinated into our automatic pundocracy and political catchphrases.
They’re not ignorant. They’re wired, online, paying attention. Welcome to generation internet.
They’re connected. They’ve been raised on social media and they’re using it.
No, you can’t intimidate them because they see the state of the world. They know the client is burning and the economy isn’t working for most people. They know they can’t trust the President. They know their future is imperiled, and they’re fighting back.
No, they don’t respect their elected officials. Their elected officials screwed up.
No, they don’t respect the President. Because they know the President is a sell-out, probably mentally ill, and he damn we’ll doesn’t show respect to anyone else.
No, they’re not polite because politeness doesn’t stop a bullet from a guy who shouldn’t have a gun.
All those dystopias we raised them on? Turned out they were for real. They’re fighting back.
And no, they don’t give a damn about the people mocking them and critiquing them and coming up with conspiracy theories. Because they’re not talking to them, they know they’re lost.
Start learning from them. They can teach us what we need to know – and what we forgot.
– Steve