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David Frum @davidfrum
, 17 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
A few words about the below tweet, which opens a window into the sadness and ugliness of the gun debate.
Lauren and David Hogg, as everyone now knows, have become vocal and visible advocates in the aftermath of the slaughter at their high school.
For that advocacy, these two traumatized victims of mass murder have been targeted for virulent online abuse, including allegations that David is a paid actor. Some of that abuse gained Twitter "likes" from the son of the president of the United States.
Most recently, however, they opened a new sewer of foulness by posing for a photograph wearing maroon armbands bearing the "peace" symbol. Twitter trolls including the actor @RealJamesWoods - more than 1 mn followers - immediately accused them of drawing inspirtation from Nazism
Because only Nazis wore armbands, right? Everybody who learned their history from "Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom" knows THAT!
Except this guy, who wore a black armband to mourn the casualties of Pearl Harbor
And these guys, literally standing guard over SS POWs
Let's not forget this young patriot, ready to her part in the first World War
Point: the attacks on the Hoggs were undertaken in the most extreme bad faith, in service of an even uglier and stupider claim by the outer fringe of the gun movement: that the Jews fell victims to the Nazis in 1933-45 because of gun control
It truly staggers the imagination how aggressively - even vehemently - ignorant you have to be of the unfolding of the Jewish Holocaust to assert such a wrong claim, with its sinister undertones blaming the Jews for being killed.
This ugly claim comes from a movement one of whose most visible national spokesman, Wayne LaPierre, sounded an anti-semitic foghorn in his most recent major speech timesofisrael.com/nra-head-accus…
But it worked, as Twitter mobbing so often does. Lauren Hogg apologized to those offended - probably none of whom had any personal connection to the victims of Nazism; probably all of whom were gun advocates who heard nothing amiss in LaPierre's foghorn message.
Meanwhile, lost sight of : these are teenagers. They lived through a terror and horror that is regularly disgraces this nation - and no other comparable country. Then, when they speak out against the slaughter - pleading for protection from the adults whose duty it is
... they encounter personal vilification of the most extreme kind, not only from anonymous Twitter weirdoes, but from celebrities, lavishly funded national organizations, and even the presidential family.
Some might wonder, "What is wrong with us?" Except we know the answer to that question. The debate reveals priorities: what American society will protect and cherish, what it does not protect and cherish.
Or ,as was said 2000 years ago: "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"

- 30-
PS - I see more typos even than usual in the above thread, but I hope the meanings are clear.
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