Parkland and the Pigg-let - Some Perspectives

This weekend, some things have been troubling me about the recent Parkland shootings in Florida, in particular regarding this kid, David Hogg (whom I will be referring to as the Pigg-let), and his arrogant, nasty, and disrespectful demeanor.   I was also able to read up on some things about the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, and much about what I have seen is revealing.  But, before I get into all of that, I want to just share a little bit of my own experience when I was in middle school.

Honestly, my 7th and 8th-grade years were one of the most hellish experiences I believe I have had to ever experience, and I literally hated that time in my life.  Although things would dramatically turn around for the better by the time I got into my freshman year of high school, middle school is a part of my life at times I just want to forget.   Kids who are in their early teens tend to be cliquish, and they also tend to be some of the cruelest and hateful individuals in general that walk the earth - many of you know exactly what I am talking about.  For some, that continues into high school.  In my case, I went to middle school in the mid-1980's, and at that time there was a very identifiable materialistic attitude among most of American society, but middle-school kids often took that to extremes.  Let me tell you a little of what I was like at that awkward time between the ages of 13 and 15.  I was from what is often called "the wrong side of the tracks," in that I was from a broken home (my parents divorced when I was very young) and my mother, who raised me, also was not what you'd call a model parent - we were poor, she had a serious drinking problem, and she was often detached from me when I was a kid.   This happened when I was in elementary school, but it became more pronounced as I got older and I was often forced to sort of fend for myself a lot of times because my mother was not all that involved in my life unless she had to be.  We were also extremely poor - at that time, our household subsisted on food stamps and about $100 in child support per month we got from Dad.   This meant that I didn't get my clothes from trendy stores either.  Most of what I wore was purchased from the local second-hand store, and at times the sizes were disproportionate and they wore out quickly - I went to school a lot with missing buttons and well-concealed holes in my pants.  That fact alone set me up to basically be singled out for derision by classmates.  Also, I had my own unique interests and personality traits that didn't exactly mirror my classmates then either - for instance, whereas many of my classmates in those years listened to Michael Jackson or Madonna, I was collecting and listening to Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, and Lawrence Welk.  I also didn't wear jeans (still don't) or tennis shoes, or any other faddish clothing of the time.  Naturally, all of this together got me singled out and slapped with the reputation of a "geek," and that too often invited persecution from others, the more popular kids.  Let me elaborate on that a moment.

For those who lived through the experience of middle school, you know often that if a kid is made fun of for being "different" or a "geek," there are two ways this happens.  First is outright bullying - the "tough" kids will often do vulgar things, or they will even get abusive - they pick on those they see as weaker than they are based on their own insecurities a lot of times but also because they know they can.  And, in the mid-1980's, the emphasis on preventing bullying didn't exist, and I have actually witnessed even teachers allowing it to happen and laughing at kids who were being treated in such a way.  The other way this happens is from the other extreme - the "popular" kids will do this sort of patronizing snobbery of kids that don't "make the cut," and although they are not physically abusive (in most cases anyway), they get a sadistic joy in belittling and acting condescendingly of those they feel are "geeks" or just not as "popular" as they are.  These "popular" kids are the ones who sport their designer clothes, have the latest this or that, and they are often the ones who are the big shots in sports or student organizations - your star football players, head cheerleaders, and the like.  Also, the mid-1980's were a time when this "political correctness" we see so prominently today didn't exist, and these two groups (the "toughs" and the "popular kids") would often employ pejorative terminology to label and deride those of their classmates they thought of as "undesirable" - terms such as "retard," or even pejorative homosexual references, were common.  Any way you look at it, the "popular kids" and the "toughs" were both bullies.   I witnessed a lot of this behavior in my junior high years, and was also on the receiving end of way too much of it, and therefore today it is more important than ever that kids be taught how bad and destructive such behavior is, and looking at the Parkland tragedy and other issues, bullying can lead to this easily.

Bullying of any sort is something that those who are on the receiving end of it can find it difficult to deal.  And, despite a greater awareness of the negativity of bullying as well as the proliferation of "political correctness," not much has changed since the mid-1980's when I was in middle school.  When a kid is subjected to this type of treatment by his or her classmates, it is important to understand how that kid feels sometimes.  If you are in that position, you want to escape it fairly quickly, so you are going to try to keep a low profile to avoid attracting unwanted attention.  However, kids can be cruel, and they will often hone in on one of their own like buzzards on a gut wagon and then they pick, and pick, and pick - emotionally, it causes a lot of difficulty for the one on the receiving end of this treatment, and that person wants to just be left alone.  This happens at lunch, often during classes, and then if that isn't enough, they are subjected to it on the ride home on a bus, sometimes for over an hour at a time.  The kid's home and the solitude of his room is his only sanctuary, and at least he can have some respite until the next day.  However, in this day and age of technological convenience, now there are "smart phones," social media, and computer access 24/7, and as if getting bullied in person is not enough, now such a person is subject to being trolled, bullied, and slandered on social media too.   There are limitations to the human experience, and there is a point where a person breaks from all this abuse and mistreatment, and if pushed far enough, when that breaking point comes it can be tragic not only for the kid subjected to such treatment, but also to society as whole.  And, that brings me to Parkland.

The young man who was implicated in the Parkland shootings was a 19-year-old former student of the school by the name of Nikolas Cruz.  I was able to read up a little about his life, and as it turns out he didn't have it too easy at all.  He was adopted at a young age, and also had a form of autism, and he was a loner.  Although he seemed to excel in his studies (he was a B-average student by some accounts and also in the JROTC program), he was nonetheless treated as a social pariah by his peers, who would often make fun of him and cause him problems.  This type of treatment led him to also become very racist, as minority students were some of the perpetrators of his bullying, and his interest in firearms also added to this volatile mix.  It is my guess that after a while Cruz just snapped - he got to a breaking point where he couldn't handle all this nonsense anymore, and given his own state of mind (a developing racism, interest in firearms, and his emotional/psychological condition) it was going to lead to some action on his part.  And, he did act on all that by shooting up a school of innocent kids.   This in no way excuses what Cruz did - this is a heinous act regardless, and he does need to account for that.  But, it leads to some other questions too.  Here we enter "Mr. Activist" himself, David Hogg, the Pigg-let.

I was able to read up a little on the Pigg-let too, and as it turns out he was originally from California, where his parents worked with both the FBI (his father) and CNN (his mother) - his mother was directly tied to the whole Podesta incident too.  For those unfamiliar, the Podesta incident entailed a lobbying scheme around 2009 where extravagant amounts of money were received and thus aroused suspicion, leading to investigations that are currently being conducted.  Podesta is a lobbying and public affairs firm based in DC, and is reported to have close ties to the Democratic Party and the Obama administration ("Podesta Group," at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podesta_Group, last edited 1/5/2018 - Accessed 3/26/2018).  By all accounts, the Pigg-let was the popular kid in school, and his apparent arrogance he displays when he is on TV indicates he had the potential for bullying people himself.  In monitoring the Facebook discussions about this on various pages, some people have even insinuated that the Pigg-let and Cruz knew each other, and they were not the best of friends.  It was even insinuated by some that the Pigg-let may have been directly responsible for the emotional breakdown Cruz had that caused him to shoot up the Parkland school, but this is all speculation although not outside the realmrea; of possibility.  One person on one of the pages actually brought up a profound point in relation to this - if the Pigg-let perhaps knew Cruz, why didn't he reach out to him and at least try to befriend him, or was he too busy making Cruz's life hell?  Many, many questions, in other words.  The bottom line is though that Cruz did snap, shot up a school, and now is in custody probably for the rest of his life, while the Pigg-let is enjoying seeing his name in lights and 15 minutes of fame demonizing innocent members of the NRA, who had absolutely nothing to do with the incident.  Many have rightly discerned that an agenda is afoot, and the Pigg-let, as the newest "golden boy" of the political Left, is playing his role well.   But, those questions lead to some closing observations.

Cruz did a very heinous and evil thing, but let's look at this from the whole panoramic view, shall we?  The cops refused to act when Cruz went on his rampage - maybe lives could have been saved had the cops did their job and neutralized the threat.  But, that leads to another issue, and that road leads right back to Ferguson, MO.  Cops are often so demonized in the media that it could be that many of them feel it is not worth the effort to do their job just to lose it, so in essence the cops may have had some justification - however, it doesn't excuse their lack of action.  Then, let's look at "instant activist" Pigg-let and his role in this, as well as those popular cliques of kids in many schools who often ostracize and ridicule mercilessly other kids they classify as "geeks."  What was true in the mid-1980's when I was in school is still true now, but maybe even worse today - popular kids and strong-arm bullies still like to prey on other kids who don't fit into their definition of "cool" or "popular," and while there is a greater awareness of bullying, often that emphasis is driven by ulterior motives - it is often used as a tool of the "gay agenda" or those who cowtow to Islamism rather than helping real victims of bullying, such as the poor kid who maybe has the alcoholic mother or the kid with a learning disability who has a hard time in English class.  Those types of kids are still marginalized and bullied by the supposed "inclusive" and "politically correct" elite.  And, as we know, kids can be very cruel, as their natural immaturity doesn't often realize the negative long-term consequences of their actions.  However, that bullying, marginalization, and cruelty on the part of "jocks" and "popular kids" can have catastrophic consequences, as the kid they are picking on may be the next Nikolas Cruz or Columbine shooter.  This means that a "popular kid" like David Hogg the Pigg-let may be ultimately as culpable for the Parkland tragedy as is Nikolas Cruz.  That is something the so-called "mainstream media" won't tell you, because they themselves often act like the popular kids in a middle school when it comes to pushing agendas, and thus it makes the environment they generated as big of a factor as anything.  In other words, look at the underlying cause of what made Cruz snap, as there is enough culpability to go around.  That being said, I will add further that the NRA, President Trump, and conservatives in general have little to do with it - they are now the ones being bullied by the "popular kids" of the liberal/progressive establishment.

I could say more, but I think for now this warrants enough.  People will disagree for sure - go right ahead, but if you do, I want to just say "wait and see," and when the real truth comes out, many of you who are detractors have a big "I told you so" coming your way!   The root cause of all of this ultimately is an imperfect society - the more we shut out God and traditional values, the more corrupt and dangerous society gets.  That should be sobering food for thought as well.  Have a good week everyone.