One was Photoshopped tearing up the Constitution — a hoax — and criticized for wearing a flag that represented her Cuban heritage.

A conservative blog said that another wasn’t even at the school during the killings — then had to backtrack Monday when that also proved false.

The attacks on the teenage survivors of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, have been fierce from the beginning, and have only continued since the students helped spearhead hundreds of protests this weekend.

Two of the most vocal survivors, Emma González, 18, and David Hogg, 17, have been targets of a disproportionate amount of vitriol.

In an interview Tuesday, Hogg said they had been singled out because of their prominence and emphasized that ad hominem attacks would not end school shootings.


“I mean, we’re kind of the faces of the movement,” he said. “Together we kind of form an unstoppable force that terrifies them.”

He added that he and González were being attacked “because they know we’re strong.”

Here are a few of the recent attempts to discredit the students:

RedState, a conservative blog, questioned whether Hogg was even at the school on the day of the shooting, then backtracked Monday.

RedState, a conservative blog, ran an “update” Monday evening to a story it had published that questioned whether Hogg was present at Marjory Stoneman Douglas during the day of the shooting.

Sarah Rumpf, a writer for RedState, had questioned Hogg after watching an interview where he said he rode his bike to the school on the day of the shooting to interview his classmates.

The bike trip was described in a Vox article written in February. It indicated that Hogg had been at school during the shooting, as widely confirmed by many news organizations. He had left campus and then rode his bike back that evening to interview classmates.

Video has shown that Hogg was in a closet during the shooting. Rumpf eventually found the article and video, and apologized.

I am trying to be transparent. The original story was inaccurate. I am sorry. https://t.co/twUizQZws5 https://t.co/lRjaGPp8Kz — Sarah Rumpf (@rumpfshaker) March 27, 2018

RedState struck through the old article, but did not describe the update as a correction, seeming to blame the misinformation on confusing reports elsewhere. It was one of several entities spreading that false story. Many have not retracted their articles or videos.

A fake image of González tearing up the Constitution spread quickly over the weekend.


The doctored image of González ripping apart the U.S. Constitution, began to spread during the march on Saturday. It was falsified from a Teen Vogue image in which she was pictured ripping apart a paper shooting target.

The image, which exists in a gray area between meme and misinformation, was promoted on Gab, the alt-right alternative to Twitter, and by the right-wing actor Adam Baldwin.

Some claimed the image to be satire, and similar memes of President Donald Trump and other political figures appear across the spectrum. But political scientist Emily Thorson has said that their spread contributes to a climate of misinformation, even if those who see the images understand them to be fake.

González was criticized for wearing a Cuban flag patch.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, posted on Facebook about the Cuban flag sewn to González’s jacket.

“This is how you look when you claim Cuban heritage yet don’t speak Spanish,” the post said, “and ignore the fact that your ancestors fled the island when the dictatorship turned Cuba into a prison camp, after removing all weapons from its citizens; hence their right to self-defense.” It showed an image of her with the flag patch visible on her jacket.

The post and similar ones angered other survivors of gun violence and even some of King’s fellow conservatives, who pointed out that the Cuban flag has long been used by dissidents from the Castro regime.

Lots of misinformation going around about this, so I’ll try to set it straight. Cuba’s flag ?? has been used by the country since 1902, before they adopted communism. It’s even regularly displayed in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood – where the people are no fans of Castro. pic.twitter.com/7frhMzvEdP — Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) March 26, 2018

González retweeted Hogg’s response to King: “She’s a beautiful woman of Cuban descent and we love her. You would too if you ever got the chance to meet her.”

She's a beautiful woman of Cuban descent and we love her. You would too if you ever got the chance to meet her. We need to love each other as Americans regaurdless of our descent, ethnicity or race. #LoveTrumpsHate https://t.co/yXdm0ISc7X — David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 26, 2018


She also retweeted another of Hogg’s tweets, which called on Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is of Cuban descent, to respond to King.

Hey @marcorubio @Emma4Change s family fled Cuba to escape totalitarianism and live in freedom just like your family could you please respond to @SteveKingIA — David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 26, 2018

The conservative writer and commentator Dan McLaughlin suggested that reporters ask González “what the flag means to her and why she wears it.” She did not respond to a call Tuesday.

2. Anyway, what's conspicuously missing from reportage on this story is asking this young lady – who has hardly been press-shy – what that flag means to her & why she wears it. https://t.co/PHAw5qTvum — Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) March 26, 2018

The name-calling continues.

Many attacks on the Parkland students do not even pretend to focus on issues or substance. They include the false conspiracy trope that the students are paid actors. Sometimes their appearances and intelligence are mocked, including their efforts to get accepted to colleges this spring.

On Sunday, the conservative podcaster and vocal Trump supporter Bill Mitchell referred to Hogg as a “Damien, Children of the Corn, Hitler Youth type” on Twitter.

The vitriol has sometimes backfired. A Republican candidate for the Maine Legislature dropped out of the race after calling González a “skinhead lesbian” and Hogg a “moron” and a “baldfaced liar.”

In a Tuesday interview, Nicole Hockley, whose young son Dylan was killed in the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, advised the students to ignore the attacks as much as possible. She recalled that she had faced conspiracy theories and personal attacks after her 6-year-old son was killed along with 19 other first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary.

She remembered how that felt: “All I’m trying to do is make it so this doesn’t happen to other people and you’re attacking me without a lot of basis,” she remembered.

She said that it was also important to hear rational criticism when trying to find common ground on the issues.

When dealing with more reasonable opponents and critics she tries to de-escalate the conversations, she said, to learn more about what they think and educate them about her views.

“Sometimes there’s a new perspective that I haven’t considered,” she said, though she rarely finds such views persuasive. Still, she said, those conversations “can bear a lot of fruit.”