Don’t pose w white supremacist and you wouldn’t have to cry.
Get a [expletive] life you dodo. If you are old enough to post about politicians, you are old enough to be accountable for your deeds.
Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight
HS Senior? The [expletive] you know about the real world? Have kids? Pay a mortgage? Or do you still live with mommy and daddy?
Those are just a few of the hateful messages 17-year-old Ethan Lynne has received through social media since Team Youngkin — the official Twitter account for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s campaign — targeted him online.
The high school senior is not yet old enough to vote and yet, in the past several days, he has been attacked by people driven by politics.
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The Hanover County teen shared with me other messages — ones more brutal than those above — but I can’t share the specifics of them because they aren’t printable in a family newspaper. They are filled with curse words and sexual acts described in vulgar terms. They contain insults meant to humiliate and diminish.
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If you haven’t been following how a teenager came under attack by a political force in Virginia, here’s what you need to know: It started on Saturday. On that day, Ethan retweeted a story from the Richmond public radio station VPM about the retirement of a historian dedicated to teaching about the history of slavery at the executive mansion. Team Youngkin, in response, put out a tweet. Only it wasn’t directed at the story. It was directed at Ethan.
Youngkin campaign attacks high school student on Twitter
Team Youngkin posted a photo of the high school senior standing with Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and placed it alongside a racist photo from Northam’s medical school yearbook.
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“Here’s a picture of Ethan with a man that had a Blackface/KKK photo in his yearbook,” the tweet read.
After people expressed shock that a governor-backed account was targeting a minor, the tweet was deleted. Then on Monday, Youngkin (R) attempted to explain his role in the incident. He tweeted: “On Saturday night, an unauthorized tweet came from a campaign account. I regret that this happened and it shouldn’t have. I have addressed it with my team. We must continue to work to bring Virginians together. There is so much more that unites us than divides us.”
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That last part is true. There is so much more that unites us than divides us. One of those things is our desire to protect our children. We may not always agree on how to do that — um, masks in schools — but I think most of us would agree that should be a priority. Most of us can also probably remember what it was like to be a teenager, and how amplified one event could feel in our lives. First loves felt enduring. First breakups felt like the end of the world. Bullying felt all encompassing.
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Youngkin’s statement shows a careful choice of words, which is not surprising coming from a politician. But in this case, he should have conjured the dad in him that made people gravitate toward him during the election. He can still do that, and if he does, he might gain some respect from people who right now see through his words.
Youngkin’s tell-on-a-teacher tip line drew jokes, but behind the laughter is a serious concern
Saying you “regret” something happened is not the same as saying, “I’m sorry.” Saying you “regret” something happened is the equivalent of saying, “I’m sorry you feel that way.” It is a hollow acknowledgment that harm has been done. It is a wiping away of fault.
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Even a teenager can see that. When I talked to Ethan, with his father’s permission, he compared Youngkin’s words to what a child might say when caught by a parent doing something wrong.
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“You’re not sorry for what you did,” he said. “You’re sorry you got caught.”
On Wednesday, Ethan said he still had not heard publicly or privately from the governor or his staff to offer an apology or assurance that no minor would be attacked by the administration again.
If Youngkin does decide to do that, here’s what he should say: “I’m sorry we attacked you and made you a target of hate.”
Because that’s what happened. People who have been following the story have by now seen the public tweets from Ethan, Team Youngkin and the governor. But unseen are the many messages Ethan has been receiving or been tagged in since that bull’s eye was placed on him. He didn’t just get attacked once on Saturday. He has been attacked, over and over again, every day since.
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Ethan estimates he has received “thousands” of hateful messages. I asked him to share some with me because I think if we’re going to talk about apologies, it’s important to acknowledge the entirety of the harm that has been done.
Ethan, who has more than 40,000 followers on Twitter and posts often about politics, has drawn angry and oppositional messages toward him in the past. He’s used to that. But he said he has never before seen those messages spurred by a single account or carried so much hate. He described these ones as hitting “a new low.”
Whether Youngkin knew of the tweet before it was sent doesn’t matter. He and Team Youngkin knew the moment it was sent what would happen. Anyone in a high-profile position who has ever said anything controversial on Twitter knew what would happen. The mob would form and then take aim.
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In response to claims that he works for the Democratic Party, Ethan said he’s “nothing close to a party official.” He said he has done volunteer work for Democratic candidates and held unpaid internships, but that’s it. Really, though, even if he did work for the party, would that warrant him coming under attack by a governor and his supporters? He’s 17. He’s a high school student. He’s one of Youngkin’s constituents.
Ethan told me that he has tried to ignore most of the hate that has been tossed his way. He has focused instead on the thousands more messages of support he has received, ones that have encouraged him to stay involved and stay active. Those have come from lawmakers and strangers. They have come from people he knows who are Democrats and people he knows who are Republicans.
The high school senior will turn 18 in June, making him eligible to vote in his first election this year. Eventually, he hopes to become a lawmaker. When he does — whether he gets an apology or not — he plans to take a lesson from this experience with him.
“I think I will always treat people with dignity, respect and kindness,” he said, “and I will never cyberbully one of my constituents.”