Can't we all just agree that bullying kids is a no-go? (Image Credit: YouTube/Celebrities TV)
This last Friday happened to be the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Or, as he has dubbed it going forward, “A National Day of Patriotic Devotion.” I’ll keep a no comment policy on that for a hot second, only because adding my commentary would take up an exorbitant amount of article space. And no one came here to read a diatribe on the creepy North Korean echoes emanating from this new “holiday.”
So on Friday, I watched the inauguration, kept an eye on Twitter, and ended up penning an article about some deeply disturbing tweets targeting Barron Trump. The reactions to my article, and to the topic in general, exemplify why reaching bipartisan agreement that kids shouldn’t be attacked online by adults remains an ever-elusive goal.
For starters, there are complaints from right-wing activists that speaking out against cyberbullying Barron Trump is really a calculated, veiled way of getting a bigger audience for the mean tweeters.
Uh…
Then, there are those on the left who immediately argued that no one came to the defense of Sasha and Malia when they were targeted.
But that’s not true. The Republican staffer who in 2014 went on an etiquette rant against President Obama’s daughters ended up resigning because of the political fallout. And as for the nastiness of a dependable flamethrower like Ann Coulter, or the mindless tirade of Bristol Palin, all I can say is that their reputations precede them.
But if your knee-jerk reflex was to justify cyberbullying Barron because Sasha and Malia had to endure it – so hey, fair game – I’ll direct you to that final scene in The Hunger Games trilogy. The other side’s nastiness doesn’t get wiped out by an adoption of their sick tactics.
In other words, we expect childish and mean commentary from childish and mean people. That doesn’t make it right. Sasha and Malia deserved to be left out of the press entirely, and that anyone would drag them into a political spotlight is wrong. Period.
What made the commentary about Barron Trump stand out – apart from the fact that, again, adults were publicly mocking a kid – was important. Because some of it came from famous people of the sort who usually brand themselves as fair-minded, progressive, inclusive.
And I get the Inauguration Day angst. I really do. Everyone thought Secretary Clinton was going to win, everyone predicted Donald Trump would never even manage to wrangle the Republican nomination.
Everyone believed that “grab ‘em by the p*ssy” would be the end for Trump.
They knew attacking the Khan family meant the final days of his legitimacy.
And on, and on, and on.
But Barron Trump is not his father. For all we know, he’ll grow up and denounce his dad in toto.
It doesn’t matter. Barron Trump is a kid. And if your first instinct is to imagine that defending him is somehow a liberal hand feint, meant only to promote the spread of cruelty towards him, then you might want to rethink how far out on the partisan branch you’ve managed to creep. Because, trust me: that shrinking twig won’t hold you up in the realm of sanity much longer.
But if your knee-jerk reflex was to justify cyberbullying Barron because Sasha and Malia had to endure it – so hey, fair game – I’ll direct you to that final scene in The Hunger Games trilogy. The other side’s nastiness doesn’t get wiped out by an adoption of their sick tactics.
Barron is an individual, and he happens to be a child. He shouldn’t have to pay for the sins of his father, any more than anyone else.
Period.
