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Using children as political tools is disgusting. It's blatantly manipulative. Throwing them into the cess-pool of public politics and then acting as if you're s

Using children as political tools is disgusting. It's blatantly manipulative. Throwing them into the cess-pool of public politics and then acting as if you're shocked they're in a cess-pool, and using that shock to try to score political points, is one of the more reprehensible tactics in the modern play book.

scarmig 7y ago
Even if it's wrong for parents to expose kids to toxic online environments like Twitter, surely you'd agree that someone trolling kids online (like with "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!") should be ashamed of themselves and driven out of polite society, yes?
- AlexB138 7y ago
  > surely you'd agree that someone trolling kids online ... should be ashamed of themselves and driven out of polite society, yes? I think pretty much everyone involved here, aside from the children, ought to be ashamed of themselves. I don't buy into the idea that people ought to be driven out of society though.
  - scarmig 7y ago
    So parents are just as bad for letting children engage in activism as the people threatening to murder and rape them?
    - authoritarian 7y ago
      I'd be curious to learn how many of these children actually decided to engage in activism themselves. If there's anything I learned while in competitive sports, it's that parents have no problem forcing their kids into things the kids don't care about because they want their kids to be famous professional athletes and I imagine this situation is similar.
    - whenchamenia 7y ago
      Its like taking your kid to a strip club. Its putting your child in danger to begin with. Of course trolls are still responsible for their behavior, but the parents are not off the hook.
anarchy8 7y ago
This isn't about politics, it's about survival.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
daenz 7y ago
Not only that, but their age and lack of development is actively used as a shield for the ideas they're representing: "How dare you attack a child!" It's so duplicitous I'm surprised more people aren't condemning it.
api 7y ago
I agree, but it's also disgusting to troll, harass, and personally attack children who are thrown (or throw themselves, she's a teen) into the political cesspool. Everyone involved should be ashamed. I must point out that the larger problem here is that our politics is such a cesspool of trolling and sensationalism and personal attacks. We have lost the ability to even have a rational discourse about issues with the dialogue now being dominated by shrill fanatics and attention whoring trolls on all sides.
bfdm 7y ago
Maybe perhaps we could try to raise the level of discourse across the board? Why does it have to be a cess pool at all? We really have to do something to reduce the firehose of twitter/FB bots and trolls with no accountability. It's like the old days of email spam, but with targetted abuse and harassment.
- viklove 7y ago
  The problem is that the only thing you can do is limit free speech, and that has far worse implications than just dealing with the trolls. Silencing people based on their opinions, however much you may disagree with those opinions, will lead always result in dystopia.
- bassman9000 7y ago
  Weaponizing children can go in both directions. Isn't it abuse and harassment telling children that they're doomed, that they have no future, that earth will be ruined in 10 years? If crime increases in the neighborhood, do you tell your children they're going to die? No, you tell them to be careful, to follow some simple, easy-for-them rules, and that things will be fine.
jakobegger 7y ago
Yeah, kids have no place in politics. They should stay quiet, play minecraft, impress their parents with fun science projects, but under no circumstances should they speak out, and anybody amplifying their voice is disgusting and reprehensible.
- faissaloo 7y ago
  Just keep playing Minecraft until you stop thinking about how to deal with reality.
- repolfx 7y ago
  It's amazing to me this is actually a debate. The US Constitution forbids people under 25 from being in Congress because children are not expected to have reasonable political opinions. They're children! They've never paid tax, worked or truly made their own decisions or experienced the consequences. In this case, do you think these children are being presented with any alternate views at all? Are any of them being presented with the arguments of climate change skeptics in a neutral forum? Of course not. Most adults are never presented with these arguments, let alone children. No, they're being told that for inexplicable reasons the world is filled with evil people who want everyone to die and they ... children ... must fight them or the world will end! That'd have been like telling 8 year olds in the 1950s they had to fight communism. There's no way bringing children of that age into things can ever be a good idea.
  - freeplay 7y ago
    Have you considered the possibility that these kids are actually just passionate about it? And what are these "alternate views" regarding climate change you mention? There is the truth and there is misinformation perpetuated by the oil/natural gas/plastic/etc companies and those getting paid by them. Think about it. When you're a kid, you're not yet jaded by the harsh realities of the world. That corporations drive everything and we are basically just along for the ride. The kids are looking at our dying planet and wondering "why is nobody doing anything?!?" I often feel the same way. The difference is, I have to go to work and focus on providing for my family. I also know that no amount of protesting or public speaking will change the path we are on in any significant way. Children still believe they can make a difference and I admire that passion. They are not worried about how old they are because they are watching the "adults" sit around and argue over even the smallest of corrective measures (carbon tax).
yogthos 7y ago
You're a real piece of shit.
- dang 7y ago
  Personal attacks will get you banned here, regardless of how wrong some other commenter is or you feel they are. You've done this more than once lately (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041166 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041166) and I don't want to ban you. Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here?

scarmig 7y ago

Even if it's wrong for parents to expose kids to toxic online environments like Twitter, surely you'd agree that someone trolling kids online (like with "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!") should be ashamed of themselves and driven out of polite society, yes?

AlexB138 7y ago
> surely you'd agree that someone trolling kids online ... should be ashamed of themselves and driven out of polite society, yes? I think pretty much everyone involved here, aside from the children, ought to be ashamed of themselves. I don't buy into the idea that people ought to be driven out of society though.
- scarmig 7y ago
  So parents are just as bad for letting children engage in activism as the people threatening to murder and rape them?
  - authoritarian 7y ago
    I'd be curious to learn how many of these children actually decided to engage in activism themselves. If there's anything I learned while in competitive sports, it's that parents have no problem forcing their kids into things the kids don't care about because they want their kids to be famous professional athletes and I imagine this situation is similar.
  - whenchamenia 7y ago
    Its like taking your kid to a strip club. Its putting your child in danger to begin with. Of course trolls are still responsible for their behavior, but the parents are not off the hook.

anarchy8 7y ago

This isn't about politics, it's about survival.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

daenz 7y ago

Not only that, but their age and lack of development is actively used as a shield for the ideas they're representing: "How dare you attack a child!" It's so duplicitous I'm surprised more people aren't condemning it.

api 7y ago

I agree, but it's also disgusting to troll, harass, and personally attack children who are thrown (or throw themselves, she's a teen) into the political cesspool. Everyone involved should be ashamed. I must point out that the larger problem here is that our politics is such a cesspool of trolling and sensationalism and personal attacks. We have lost the ability to even have a rational discourse about issues with the dialogue now being dominated by shrill fanatics and attention whoring trolls on all sides.

bfdm 7y ago

Maybe perhaps we could try to raise the level of discourse across the board? Why does it have to be a cess pool at all? We really have to do something to reduce the firehose of twitter/FB bots and trolls with no accountability. It's like the old days of email spam, but with targetted abuse and harassment.

viklove 7y ago
The problem is that the only thing you can do is limit free speech, and that has far worse implications than just dealing with the trolls. Silencing people based on their opinions, however much you may disagree with those opinions, will lead always result in dystopia.
bassman9000 7y ago
Weaponizing children can go in both directions. Isn't it abuse and harassment telling children that they're doomed, that they have no future, that earth will be ruined in 10 years? If crime increases in the neighborhood, do you tell your children they're going to die? No, you tell them to be careful, to follow some simple, easy-for-them rules, and that things will be fine.

jakobegger 7y ago

Yeah, kids have no place in politics. They should stay quiet, play minecraft, impress their parents with fun science projects, but under no circumstances should they speak out, and anybody amplifying their voice is disgusting and reprehensible.

faissaloo 7y ago
Just keep playing Minecraft until you stop thinking about how to deal with reality.
repolfx 7y ago
It's amazing to me this is actually a debate. The US Constitution forbids people under 25 from being in Congress because children are not expected to have reasonable political opinions. They're children! They've never paid tax, worked or truly made their own decisions or experienced the consequences. In this case, do you think these children are being presented with any alternate views at all? Are any of them being presented with the arguments of climate change skeptics in a neutral forum? Of course not. Most adults are never presented with these arguments, let alone children. No, they're being told that for inexplicable reasons the world is filled with evil people who want everyone to die and they ... children ... must fight them or the world will end! That'd have been like telling 8 year olds in the 1950s they had to fight communism. There's no way bringing children of that age into things can ever be a good idea.
- freeplay 7y ago
  Have you considered the possibility that these kids are actually just passionate about it? And what are these "alternate views" regarding climate change you mention? There is the truth and there is misinformation perpetuated by the oil/natural gas/plastic/etc companies and those getting paid by them. Think about it. When you're a kid, you're not yet jaded by the harsh realities of the world. That corporations drive everything and we are basically just along for the ride. The kids are looking at our dying planet and wondering "why is nobody doing anything?!?" I often feel the same way. The difference is, I have to go to work and focus on providing for my family. I also know that no amount of protesting or public speaking will change the path we are on in any significant way. Children still believe they can make a difference and I admire that passion. They are not worried about how old they are because they are watching the "adults" sit around and argue over even the smallest of corrective measures (carbon tax).

yogthos 7y ago

You're a real piece of shit.

dang 7y ago
Personal attacks will get you banned here, regardless of how wrong some other commenter is or you feel they are. You've done this more than once lately (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041166 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041166) and I don't want to ban you. Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here?