# How to be hideous: the right wing tries to discredit the Parkland school shooting survivors **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 20, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209 "2018-02-20T17:07:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/121 "2018-02-23T14:05:00Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I saw, and of course re-posted, a meme on Facebook that has a picture of four black men holding assorted firearms, and it’s captioned: > > “LET’S HAVE A MILLION ARMED BLACK MEN MARCH ON DC - HOW QUICKLY WOULD REPUBLICANS FIND THEIR GUN CONTROL RELIGION THEN?” > > ETA: Not four, but five. One is standing behind the others. Yup, the NRA uses irrational fear to sell its product and the main fear it pushes is fear of the black man coming for your women. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/122 "2018-02-23T14:45:03Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > There are hundreds of millions of guns in this country. There is simply no way to keep them out of the hands of the criminal element, and until that problem can be solved I’ll remain staunchly opposed to gun control. You’re lumping together the guns - almost exclusively handguns - used in street crime, with the semi-auto versions of combat weapons used for mass slaughters. The latter aren’t used by the ‘criminal element,’ nor are they much good for _protection_ against that element. The focus of the current set of gun control-related threads is, for obvious reasons, all about stopping the massacres, and the solutions being proposed are pretty much completely disconnected from issues concerning the ‘criminal element’ and protecting oneself from it. > [@](#): > > Still, the regulations and precautions you list are reasonable and I’d have no problem with them except for the fact that the country’s liberals are the ones who are agitating for them, and experience has shown that there never comes a time when the country’s liberals are satisfied when it comes to what I’ll call for now progress on hot button issues. Well, there’s this thing called _democracy_. If “the country’s liberals” pass legislation creating some program to address a particular issue, after awhile public sentiment will either say (a) “that’s fucked - repeal it” or (b) “that’s great the way it is, leave it like it is,” or (c) “that’s a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done.” If (c), then we do more, and it sucks to be you. If (a) or (b), then you have nothing to worry about, given how scared Dem politicians are of going up against public opposition. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/123 "2018-02-23T14:54:15Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > So far I haven’t heard one. single. thing. QFT ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/124 "2018-02-23T15:05:06Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I saw, and of course re-posted, a meme on Facebook that has a picture of four black men holding assorted firearms, and it’s captioned: > > “LET’S HAVE A MILLION ARMED BLACK MEN MARCH ON DC - HOW QUICKLY WOULD REPUBLICANS FIND THEIR GUN CONTROL RELIGION THEN?” > > ETA: Not four, but five. One is standing behind the others. How about this compromise on the issue of school shootings: We arm teachers, but only the black ones. Both sides get something they want, right? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/125 "2018-02-23T15:06:11Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I pissed off a few people on Facebook (and may do so here too) by saying that the people who think they’re going to have their doors broken down and their guns taken probably shouldn’t be owning them in the first place, AND it’s also not a good idea to brag on social media that they have them in the first place. If they’re boasting about their guns on Facebook, it’s hard to take their fears seriously about the Evil Government busting in and taking their guns. If one assumed a government with an inclination to do that, talking about one’s guns on social media wouldn’t be _quite_ as useful to the government as universal gun registration would be, but it would be close. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/126 "2018-02-23T15:18:21Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > So you’re opposed to gun control because the lack of gun control resulted in lots of guns being out there so you’re opposed to gun control because the lack of gun control hasnt proven that gun control would work. > > Wow. > > Well, then. In John Oliver’s brilliant “Daily Show” three-part [story on gun control](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOKWcH1zBl2kfnCwyyZWk5MW28lgaNa7L), he makes the point that, until we have zero drugs on the street, there’s really no need to enforce those pesky drug laws, either. I see this as analogous to \*\*Starving Artist \*\*'s thoughts on guns. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/127 "2018-02-23T15:21:37Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And what if I were to advance that argument in favor of gun control, that no one is responsible for mass shootings but the shooters themselves? What, and abandon your long-established pattern of blaming everything on 1960s counterculture? It’d be a significant improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/128 "2018-02-23T15:24:17Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Still, the regulations and precautions you list are reasonable and I’d have no problem with them except for the fact that the country’s liberals are the ones who are agitating for them, and experience has shown that there never comes a time when the country’s liberals are satisfied when it comes to what I’ll call for now progress on hot button issues. As soon as the practices and controls you advocate are put into place, the wheels will begin turning to expand up them. And then to expand again. And again, until, ultimately, they get outlawed altogether. If you guys had ever given any evidence whatever that a time comes when you feel progress on an issue has gone far enough and accomplished what it was intended to accomplish and then backed off, I think you’d find a lot less opposition toward some of the things you’d like to do. I really don’t understand this line of thinking. I mean, I get it: you dislike liberals and are afraid that they’ll take your guns, increase crime, and whatever other bogeymen your fevered imagination has created. But why oppose reasonable gun control legislation based solely on a blatantly obvious slippery slope fallacy? I won’t even bother trying to argue with your … troubling … view of liberals or ask for cites for your assertions or point out that reality doesn’t fit with your fixed views. Rather, I’m trying to understand why, if I were in your head and agreed with you, you would reject needed changes to legislation to help save lives, decrease gun violence, and keep certain weapons out of the hands of bad people and instead embrace a logical fallacy. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/129 "2018-02-23T16:00:14Z")
You’ve heard of white knights coming to the defence of the fairer sex, yes? That there is a cardboard knight coming to the defence of conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/130 "2018-02-23T17:32:35Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > More like “you people made me into this monster; it’s not my fault!” More like “I was always this much of a scumbag, but I wanna blame you because I don’t have the balls to admit I was always this way” ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/131 "2018-02-23T17:36:14Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > I’m as old as Starving Artist. Back in my day, advertisements for guns were about hunting and target shooting. People didn’t spend time discussing what kind of ammunition is best for killing people. Someone who advocated stockpiling guns and ammo to fight the government were either deemed crackpots or traitors. > I’m with you. If you think you need to carry a gun just to shop at Walmart, or you worry about the black helicopters you are too stupid/crazy to have one This one speaks the absolute truth. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/132 "2018-04-06T19:31:41Z")
By now, of course, we all are all too aware of the right-wing obsession with the Parkland kids. [Here’s a piece that summarizes the number and type of pieces about them on various right-wing sites.](https://splinternews.com/the-conservative-medias-obsession-with-the-parkland-tee-1824295543) ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/133 "2018-04-07T18:58:30Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Sigh. You joke, but… > > I’m responsible for **Starving Artist** ’s continued existence here. I’m the yoyo. > > Yes. It happened thus: Way back when he first joined the Dope, he came in charging full-tilt with all the blinkered nonsense we’ve come to know and loathe. He was in a fair way to flaming out via banhammer, but, fairly new Doper and softie (softheaded naif) that I was then, I thought, “Gee, he just doesn’t understand the culture here. Let me try to help him.” > > So, amidst the threadful of seasoned Dopers reaming his ass out, egging on his shrill aggression toward bannation, I offered kind words, gentle explanation and instruction in How Things Are Done (and Not Done) here, and talked him down to the point he survived his entry. > > And here we are. > > I am the yoyo. ☹ I meant well. :smack: To the cornfield with you. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/134 "2018-04-07T19:00:14Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I’d share a toothbrush with Betelgeuse if it meant sending _[name redacted]_ to some other netherworld… Me too. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/135 "2018-04-07T19:02:45Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Yeah, if I won the lottery, I’d use some of the money to go down to Florida, help blacks get concealed weapon permits and hold training sessions for them to understand the Stand Your Ground Law and when they can use it. You’d have Fox News calling for gun control by lunchtime. That would be great! ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/136 "2018-04-07T19:14:52Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Sigh. You joke, but… > > I’m responsible for Starving Artist’s continued existence here. I’m the yoyo. > > Yes. It happened thus: Way back when he first joined the Dope, he came in charging full-tilt with all the blinkered nonsense we’ve come to know and loathe. He was in a fair way to flaming out via banhammer, but, fairly new Doper and softie (softheaded naif) that I was then, I thought, “Gee, he just doesn’t understand the culture here. Let me try to help him.” > > So, amidst the threadful of seasoned Dopers reaming his ass out, egging on his shrill aggression toward bannation, I offered kind words, gentle explanation and instruction in How Things Are Done (and Not Done) here, and talked him down to the point he survived his entry. > > And here we are. > > I am the yoyo. I meant well. > [@SteveG1](#): > > To the cornfield with you. > [@Vinyl Turnip](#): > > I’d share a toothbrush with Betelgeuse if it meant sending [name redacted] to some other netherworld… > [@SteveG1](#): > > Me too. As with the presidency of Donald Trump, you have only your own behavior to blame. Not of course that you’ll ever admit, or even be capable of recognizing, that. Assholism breeds assholism. Maybe one day you guys will figure that out. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/137 "2018-04-07T19:20:46Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > As with the presidency of Donald Trump, you have only your own behavior to blame. Not of course that you’ll ever admit, or even be capable of recognizing, that. Assholism breeds assholism. Maybe one day you guys will figure that out. Thank you for the demonstration on how to be hideous. As a bonus, you are also demonstrating how to be fucking stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/138 "2018-04-07T19:35:49Z")
Case in point. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/139 "2018-04-07T19:41:25Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Case in point. Very self referential of you. Just to be clear, you are saying that because you and your friends wanted to piss off liberals that you have disgust and contempt for, and that do things that you hate, you elected trump, and then blamed it on the people who didn’t vote for trump? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209/140 "2018-04-07T20:08:38Z")
We get that the “guns don’t shoot themselves” (although given the almost straight line correlation between the number of guns and the number of gun deaths/injuries, they might as well), but no crazy person ever injured or killed someone by waving their pointed finger around going “Bang, Bang” either. This isn’t a gun or crazy person problem. It’s a gun _and_ crazy person problem and unless action is taken on both sides of the equation, it will continue. You can arm every teacher, counselor, coach, principal and lunch lady, and the shooters will relocate to the movie theater, the mall, McDonald’s, the concert, the church, or the nightclub. (All of which have been venues for mass shootings in the past.) Then what? Arm the cashiers? The ushers? And how long before all those additional guns in all those untrained hands become a problem? Pretty darned quickly, I’m guessing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-be-hideous-the-right-wing-tries-to-discredit-the-parkland-school-shooting-survivors/809209.md?page=8)