This one popped up in my FB feed and I thought I’d share the shorter FB version with the “Out of the Mouths of Babes” comment because I thought it was funny. Boy howdy, did this post generate responses, many about the girl being horribly disrespectful, followed by those claiming that it was fake. 

Here’s one of the first comments posted by a friend: Disrespectful either way. I’ve seen this type of behavior towards Biden and it’s bashed as right wing teaching. How about we teach respect for the office. I’m a moderate. We are screwed either way. My opinion only. Don’t really care what anyone else thinks as they are entitled to theirs as well. Teach your children respect. ????????

I then dashed off a quick response: Thanks for sharing your opinion. If these were normal times I would agree with you about the need to show respect and would have found the child’s comment annoying. But, assuming that this is a random unprompted response of a child who has been observing this person’s behavior, her quip is just her blatant observation. Anyone with more common sense or experience would know that saying such things to a person like Trump won’t make a single difference and probably wouldn’t even be “heard.” Things like this said by adults, yeah, it’s a wasted effort and adults should know better. But that’s kind’a the point, kids say stuff that others keep to themselves. Finally, kids “learn” respect based on what they see how adults treat each other, they do not learn ‘cause “we say so.” Thus, she’s just echoing things he’s been saying to others to their face and in his speeches for years. I’d prefer kids learn to hold their tongues, but this is kind of a perfect comment, given Trump’s own treatment of others.

Then other’s chimed in that this was fake and and again that this should be a teachable moment, etc., etc., etc. I guess no one saw the humor in a little girl saying mean things that Trump has been saying to others with no repercussions or apologies for years and that, even with that kind of behavior, a sizable percentage of US citizens somehow think that he is God’s Chosen One. Ugh. 

 A bit later I decided to fact-check and try to track down the source of the clip and I found a longer version of the clip that did confirm that it was a Trump impersonator and was posted as part of a comedy show. I seriously thought about pulling down the post because of it’s possible shady origin and because, normally I wouldn’t promote the behavior of a little girl disrespecting a former president (who was probably still president, at the time the clip was made). But, while I don’t accept disrespectful behavior, I find it fitting that it’s doled out to someone, even if it’s just an impersonator, who doesn’t understand what respect really is. You want kids to show some respect, than live a life that openly shows that to others and stop demeaning empathy or those trying to better understand one another. Humor doesn’t always play nice, but this little girl wasn’t punching down, she was just speaking truth to power.

Also, it’s good to track down sources before posting on FB and other social media. It is far too easy to share things that you agree with that might, in fact, be fake. Thus, you’ll note that I always try to post where I got something if it is at all possible (that’s journalism 101, for me). I wish things were nicer and our feeds were all kittens and puppies, but sometimes you have to deal with the turds they leave behind and either laugh or cry, ‘cause it’s all part of life, my friends. 

Sources:

Tags: disrespect, fact checking, humor, politics, teaching kids respect

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