After the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the surviving students started a national movement to end gun violence. Last weekend, they organized the March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C., the biggest youth protest since the Vietnam War. They demanded that politicians pass sensible gun control legislation - banning the sale of assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and closing the loopholes in background checks that allow dangerous people to purchase firearms online or at gun shows.
In response to these ideas, some gun rights people agreed, some respectfully disagreed, and some viciously attacked the teenagers in despicable ways. Conspiracy theorists falsely claimed the Parkland teens were "crisis actors." People shared a fake picture of Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez tearing up the Constitution. People spread a totally false, absurd conspiracy theory that Parkland survivor David Hogg was not at the school during the shooting. Spurious alt-right websites such as InfoWars and Breitbart have even compared Hogg, a 17-year-old high school senior, to Adolf Hitler.
However, Fox News host Laura Ingraham may have hit a new low. In a recent video interview, Hogg discusses being rejected by several California colleges, including UCLA. He admits that he's disappointed, but isn't taking the rejection too hard, because he's really focused on the gun control movement. On Twitter, Ingraham responded with surprising vitriol, mocking Hogg for his GPA of 4.1, and taunting him for getting rejected by four colleges.
Many people found this attack below-the-belt, especially considering Ingraham is a mother.
David Hogg's 14-year-old sister, Lauren, responded to Ingraham, asking how low her ratings are, that she has to personally attack a teenager. It's a strange world, when the kids act like articulate adults, and the adults act like obnoxious kids.
Remember when Melania Trump said she was launching an anti-cyberbullying campaign? Lauren Hogg sent her a tweet, letting the First Lady know that Ingraham was cyberbullying a 17-year-old.
Luckily, there's one superhero out there that will stand up for Hogg. He's a true patriot, a symbol of freedom, a Nazi-punching supersoldier who exemplifies truth, justice and the American way: Captain America! Actually, the guy who plays Captain America, Chris Evans.
The red, white and blue Avenger tweeted the perfect response, asking Ingraham, "What is wrong with you? Regardless of your political beliefs and motivations, THIS is how you choose to present yourself? You must be so sad, angry and scared." Everybody on Twitter applauded the Cap, who's been standing up to bullies since the 1940's.
Hogg also responded to Ingraham, asking his followers to boycott her advertisers:
So far eight advertisers have pulled their spots from The Ingraham Angle, including TripAdvisor, Nutrish, Wayfair, Hulu, Johnson & Johnson, Expedia, Joseph A. Banks Clothiers and Nestle.
After losing multiple advertisers, Ingraham finally tweeted an apology, "in the spirit of Holy Week."
Hogg rejected Ingraham's apology because it seems she only did it begrudgingly, because she was losing advertisers. Also, her tweets fail to address the bigger problem, of Fox News hosts frequently mistreating the Parkland teenagers in their news coverage.
So, before any of you attack a teenager on Twitter for not getting into colleges, remember, you're going to have to deal with Captain America.