Let Parkland Students Speak, But Don’t Glorify Them as Experts
Don't use kids to further your own agenda. It hinders productive debate, and it definitely won't help the kids.
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, have been busy. In less than two weeks many have traveled to Tallahassee, to the White House, participated in a town hall with CNN, led protests, and made the rounds on national TV.
After a former fellow student gunned down 17 of their classmates and teachers in cold blood, many are demanding gun control. As they’ve made their emotional pleas and accusations, I’ve refused to criticize them personally. No, I don’t agree with their proposals, though I’m sympathetic to their calls for action. Yes, their attacks on the NRA are misguided, though I acknowledge emotions are raw and it’s easy to pick one entity to blame.
Not Just the Left
The right has the same tendency as the left to exploit people who are too young and inexperienced to have trustworthy opinions.
Tomi Lahren is one example. She began hosting her own show when she was 22 and fresh out of college. She quickly became a viral darling among conservatives — not because of any expertise in conservatism or politics. But because she went on feisty rants that tickled the ears of older conservatives.
Her ineptness in understanding true conservatism became obvious when she declared she was pro-choice on The View, drawing a constitutionally-illiterate connection between limited government and the “right” to abort.
Only then did some conservatives really begin to distance themselves. Many did not. Lahren still hosts her popular Final Thoughts on Fox News Insider and is a Fox News Contributor. Why? Because she’s a fresh, young face who parrots the same emotion-driven arguments that some conservatives have droned on about for years.
In short, I don’t feel the need to pick a fight with high schoolers who just saw their friends murdered. As an adult, I believe there are more appropriate targets for my criticism.
Like the adults using these kids to promote their own agenda.
What Grown-Ups Want to Hear
Some of these teens may never have thought seriously about guns, the Second Amendment, school safety or the NRA until now. They didn’t have to. It’s understandable that they demand action from lawmakers after surviving a horrific shooting. It’s also understandable, given their inexperience, that the action they demand may be the wrong one.
So why do liberals continue to highlight these students for their political takes and policy suggestions?
Because the kids are saying exactly what the adults want to hear. The liberals now glamorizing the Parkland students for their gun control demands have made the same demands for years. They’ve called the NRA complicit in murder and said conservatives don’t care about dead children. They’ve held law-abiding gun owners responsible for the actions of evil men.
Now, fresh, young faces straight from the crime scene are doing it for them. Look at how wise these young people are! They cry.
Young People Can Make a Difference — But They Need Guidance
Some of you are angrily flipping your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4:12, ready to hit me over the head with the words “Let no one despise you for your youth.” There are plenty influential young people God uses, you say. Trust me, I know. I believe young people should be a vocal part of civil discourse, not silenced because of their age.
As a high school student, I regularly wrote columns for my local newspaper. I spoke at and organized local political rallies. Looking back, I thank God for those experiences. But I also thank God I wasn’t catapulted into the national spotlight just then.
Why? Because my opinions changed. The ones that didn’t became more nuanced, thanks to real-world experience and exposure to diverse viewpoints. In short, I was the furthest thing from an expert, still figuring out my own beliefs.
Again, that isn’t to say that young people can’t make a difference. In addition to receiving counsel from law enforcement, mental health and other experts, President Trump, Florida Governor Rick Scott and other lawmakers have spent hours listening to the Parkland survivors. And now, they’re making concrete proposals. Their proposals may fall short of what many Parkland students want. But there’s little doubt that the students’ passion and persistence are big reasons many officials, from the president down, are determined to act — and fast.
Even still, those students aren’t above counsel. There are things they don’t understand. And in the long run, they’ll benefit much more from wizened adults who balance encouragement with guidance, than adults who praise them nonstop and shove them into an arena for which they’re ill-prepared.
Stop Using Kids
When a fresh, young face repeats your own words back to you, it feels good. It’s invigorating, infusing your position with new life. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to exploit those young faces and their green opinions for political gain.
So to Democrats, liberals, and the news media, I say this: let the Parkland students speak. Hear their stories. Recognize that as survivors of an event the rest of us pray we’ll never experience, they can bring unique perspective to the table. Cover newsworthy activism, like their meetings with lawmakers.
But don’t glorify them as experts on complex issues that actual experts have debated for years — and still not resolved. Don’t favor the hot takes of tragedy-stricken teens and ignore people with decades of relevant experience. Most of all, don’t use kids to further your own agenda. It hinders productive debate, and it definitely won’t help the kids.
