No, a 14 yr old was not beat up on a bus for wearing a Trump hat. His mom misrepresented the facts..

[Cimorene]

It's been widely circulated that a 14-yr-old in Florida was beat up on his school bus all bc he was wearing a Trump hat. Except.........he wasn't wearing a Trump hat, or anything that had Trump on it, or was at all political. His mom, who has dedicated her Twitter account to giving support to Trump, made that claim and then it was just accepted as truth when it wasn't.
The superintendent gave a statement declaring that during the course of an investigation, the district found “no evidence” that “the altercation occurred because one of the students involved was wearing a political hat showing support for President Trump” or “that [the student’s] wearing of such apparel on a prior occasion motivated the incident.”

According to the school district’s statement, “The incident began with a verbal altercation between two students that escalated when additional students became involved."

The county sheriff's office also released a statement about the misinformation. Also explaining that there's zero evidence this had anything at all to do with Trump or political beliefs.

The boy did get beat up on the bus by a girl, pretty severely. But bc the video doesn't capture audio it's not clear what it is that he said prior to her becoming so furious.

It's frustrating that adults don't make an effort to verify facts, like reading the superintendent's, before just repeating a false claim.

 

[Cimorene]

Please don't post here unless you're a Zoomer. Gen Z. David, Zoii, Jake, Ella, would like your thoughts.

 

[timothyu]

It's frustrating that adults don't make an effort to verify facts

That is what sets them apart from children.

(oops apologies.. didn't see the community. Leaving now)

 

[Cimorene]

That is what sets them apart from children.

(oops apologies.. didn't see the community. Leaving now)

It's ok, it's an understandable mistake.

That is true.

I think having grown up in the age of the internet Gen Z have become more way more weary of misinformation and how it can zoom around the globe, so we're more prone to fact-checking.

 

[Not David]

Well, it is terrible that there is misinformation and I believe this is not the first time it happens because I remember that a woman did the same with a "bullied kid" before. I guess the lesson is to not trust moms?

 

[Cimorene]

Well, it is terrible that there is misinformation and I believe this is not the first time it happens because I remember that a woman did the same with a "bullied kid" before. I guess the lesson is to not trust moms?

I think most moms are trustworthy but a click-bait headline that rests totally on what a mom said about her kid being picked on bc he wore a MAGA hat shouldn't be trusted. I mean it's a natural instinct to want to protect your kids & defend them so in super tense situations like this where there's been an altercation I don't think the moms of any of the kids should be the ones relied on bc they are all going to be mama bears to their own cubs. Not that what they say doesn't matter bc it does but headlines shouldn't be based on their social media posts. The lesson is to wait for evidence that is impartial. So in this case the video of the fight on the bus shows he wasn't wearing a hat or anything political at all. It doesn't have audio but it's completely obv that the boy had said something that sparked a ton of outrage bc all of a sudden this girl starts beating on him & it's clear she's totally livid. The statements from the county sheriff dept & the superintendent totally refute what the mom claimed. It's ridiculous there's still headlines with the lie that he was beat up bc of wearing the hat, ridiculous that grown adults are just accepting that lie & spreading it around.

 

[Zoii]

Articles such as this appeal to those who do not wish to think critically. Those who write these articles, seek to leverage a cohort that reacts to uncomplex base events, in order to justify a political principle, It's got to the point where it's not even truly a principle that's being leveraged - it's simply political point-scoring. Those who rally to the tweets, enraged with fingers jabbed into the faces of their political opposition, do not really care if it's true or not. It's a point scored and tomorrow it will be forgotten - the crowd will move on, roving for the next political kill. Rationale, evidence, critical thinking - these are not commodities that are drawn upon in such an environment.

This is a symptom of democracy failing. Of freedom of the press failing.

When political outcomes are determined by propaganda, that's deliberately based on falsehoods, then democracy becomes bastardised and ineffectual. Important political policies are determined via powerbrokers that can influence the mob. That's not serving the good of a nation. It's serving the will of those seeking power for their own ends.

Freedom of speech under such circumstances becomes an overrated value. Gobles in his many speeches against the Jewish population was not only knowingly speaking falsehoods, he was laughing in the face of freedom of speech because he enabled that speech to influence the mob to commit the unforgivable.

So for those lauding the mother, the president, or [insert your thug of choice] you are supporting the corruption of your own democracy and perpetuating a perverse aberration of the right to speak freely. There's nothing to be proud of in this. There's nothing great in this.

 

[Go Braves]

It's a point scored and tomorrow it will be forgotten - the crowd will move on, roving for the next political kill. Rationale, evidence, critical thinking - these are not commodities that are drawn upon in such an environment.

I do admit I get a chuckle when I see the folks who just accept the clickbait headlines as fact wringing their hands about how the youth today are the ones lacking in critical thinking skills. Meanwhile in this section, you, Ella, Cimorene have posted some of the most thoughtful threads on this forum & y'all articulate the evidence for your reasoning.

 

[Cimorene]

We like your threads too.

 

[Go Braves]

There's quite a few threads about this, but this is the only one that got the facts right. Thank you Cimorene.

 

[Cimorene]

@Grumman Tomcat will you please just move this to whatever section it is that you said to post stuff in so the boys can post there too?

 

[Cimorene]

Never mind. Can you just close the thread? I've decided to move on from CF so I don't want to have a thread moved when I'm not going to be posting in it.