I'm a Parkland Shooting Survivor. QAnon Convinced My Dad It Was All a Hoax.

[babylonsister]

I’m a Parkland Shooting Survivor. QAnon Convinced My Dad It Was All a Hoax.
“I don't know how to help someone that far gone.”
DG
by David Gilbert
July 26, 2021, 8:22am


Bill’s final semester at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was already difficult enough.

He was part of the final graduating class of survivors of the 2018 shooting, and they all had just marked the third anniversary of the day 17 people were killed, nine of whom were Bill’s classmates.
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But Bill also had to deal with his father’s daily accusations that the shooting was a hoax and that the shooter, Bill, and all his classmates were paid pawns in a grand conspiracy orchestrated by some shadowy force.

Bill had worked hard to get over his survivor’s guilt after the shooting, but for the past five months, his own father has been triggering it all over again.

“He'll say stuff like this straight to my face whenever he's drinking: ‘You're a real piece of work to be able to sit here and act like nothing ever happened if it wasn't a hoax. Shame on you for being part of it and putting your family through it too,” Bill said in an anonymous post on Reddit last week.’

more...

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epnq84/im-a-parkland-shooting-survivor-qanon-convinced-my-dad-it-was-all-a-hoax

[hibbing]

1. Spent ten minutes thinking of a response ... n/t

[3catwoman3]

32. I came up empty as well.

I am completely unable to understand people who deny events such as this, Sandy Hook, or the Holocaust. Or the moon landings.

[XanaDUer2]

2. wow

these people are dangerous

[Archae]

3. I noticed he said...

"...whenever he's drinking."

Add up stupidity, wacko conspiracy theories, and alcohol, and you get this poor kid's asshole "father."

[H2O Man]

25. +1

[calimary]

26. I spotted that, too.

It’s widely known that alcohol clouds judgment.

[wnylib]

56. Good candidate for AA

[3catwoman3]

4. That someone would believe anyone other than their own...

…child about this “passeth all understanding,” as the quote goes. I can’t even…

[KS Toronado]

27. My first thought also....

plus the father lived through and witnessed all the local funerals, gotta be a brainwashed tRumper.

[pandr32]

5. Horrid

[BeyondGeography]

6. But he's still persuadable on climate change

[Celerity]

9. +1

[catbyte]

7. Shame on his mother for being so weak as to not defend her son and recognize his trauma.

Fuck his POS old man, but his mom didn't go down the rabbit hole. Women who choose a man over their children--even at age 18--infuriate me most of all.

I hope that young man has a good support system outside of his toxic parents. I wish him nothing but the best.

[Duppers]

52. AMEN!

I'm quite sensitive about this because I've experienced it. My extremely religious mother never stepped in to stop my abusive father. "Honor and obey the head of the household" crap.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Christ, that poor kid. Here's hoping he finds a supportive environment to land in.

[Bettie]

10. I can't even imagine watching my child being hurt

and not stepping in to stop it or at least try.

But, it also seems as if Dad gets nasty when he's drinking, so maybe the mom is afraid of him.

Unfortunately, sometimes the best move is to leave and never look back.

[Sogo]

16. Exactly what I was going to say:

Time to walk out the door and never look back....

[LakeArenal]

19. Easier to say than do.

I was 65 when I finally gave up on my dysfunctional family. Even today I brought it up withMr Lake. Giving up isn’t the same as getting over it

[Bettie]

23. It takes a long time and a good support system

I wasn't able to dump my abusive and toxic father until I was dating my husband.

But, boy do I wish I'd done it much sooner. So much pain that wasn't necessary.

When he died, I felt...nothing except a sense of relief. Now, all of his cousins think I'm an unfeeling monster, because they don't know what kind of man he actually was.

[LakeArenal]

39. Mine was mostly my mom and brother.

Last thing my brother told me was I hadn’t the fortitude to move to Costa Rica (two years ago) haven’t heard a word from him since. Also the only blood relative I have still alive.

[Bettie]

46. Blood relatives are overrated

some of us need to make our own families.

I have friends, even ones I haven't seen in years who will show up when my 'family' won't.

ETA: I am sorry your brother is like that. I get that too, I don't talk to either of my brothers. Nothing in common and they think I eat small children's adrenal glands.

[LakeArenal]

49. Mmmm tasty.

[Bettie]

50. I hear ya gotta scare 'em good first

so they are extra tasty.

FFS...my brothers believe that I, the person who has always felt guilty telling the dog "No", is willing to kill toddlers.

[PatSeg]

43. Yes, I agree it is easier said than done

when it isn't your family. When we cut off ties to our family, it leaves us rootless and free falling. Meanwhile, he has lost a father who had been supportive before Qanon. Besides feeling lost and alone, he is mourning the father he once had, adding more trauma to his initial trauma.

I hope he can find a staple support system outside his family. He is so young to have been through so much.

[calimary]

29. Sad, but true. That may be all that's left to do.

Get the hell AWAY from a dangerous and/or hostile drinker.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

11. Alcoholism

Is a destroyer of lives and kids.

It takes forever for a drunk to hit bottom enough to stop.

Meanwhile so many people are killed hurt,abused,
traumatized and wounded among many other types of suffering while waiting on said alcoholic decides to quit drinking.


Alcoholics don't let go of thier family members easily because they want someone to take care of them so they can drink and be an abusive waste of skin and have no responsibilities.

How many lives have to be destroyed for alcoholics?

If a person is in a relationship with an abuser or abusive alcoholic, a divorce should be granted on the spot if the non- addicted person wants out.

Also let the older kids in this abusive situation be able to be emancipated from their parents ,because it is a way out of a fucked up family.

Once a drunk gets pulled over drunk driving,and they have a pattern doing it..if they have a wife and kids..

A social worker should visit that family monthly at random for 5 years.

Until the drunk is abandoned by the wife and kids.

[markpkessinger]

18. Alcoholism likely exacerbated the problem, but . . .

. .. I don't think it caused it.

[padfun]

20. My views are a lot like yours concerning alcoholism.

It is the worst drug there is, well, maybe tied with Meth.

[LakeArenal]

53. Carbohydrates are very addicting.

[padfun]

64. Yep. And I am on a Keto diet.

nt

[Walleye]

12. I do hope this man doesn't have firearms

[Dan]

13. Qanon would have convinced me that he wasn't my dad.

[Maru Kitteh]

41. BOOM!

That's the right answer right there.

[localroger]

60. This. Sometimes you have to simply walk away.

It wasn't QAnon or alcoholism, but even after I moved out of their house my parents believed they owned me and insisted on barging into my life uninvited. I tried being polite from a distance but that didn't work. So eventually I had to tell them, in front of a lawyer, that I never wanted to hear from them again. I'm sure the lawyer told them I could enforce that. I was an adult and I had emancipated myself.

Seventeen years later I realized they were no longer a danger to me and reconnected, but again at a distance. I am glad I got to see my mother again before she died, and Dad and I have the occasional father-son outing to stay in touch. But we don't live in the same city and I don't think it would work for me if we did.

[yardwork]

14. As a parent... I have no words.

[Tadpole Raisin]

15. OMG - Only a brain transplant would help!

nt

[MLAA]

17. Hoping for the best for this young man.

[keithbvadu2]

21. What about all those funerals? Where are those 'fake' victims?

[oldsoftie]

22. Guess so. Sure are a lot of "paid actors" out there, huh.

Seems like he'd know his own kid suddenly had money

[Pepsidog]

24. A psychiatrist friend who I generally respect thinks the same that all these mass

shootings are put up jobs with hired actors. He tried to show me online different scenes from different shootings where people involved be it the police or bystanders were the same people, just hired actors. The fact is the people looked nothing alike a fact I tried to convey to him but he couldn’t see. I was literally floored when he told me this in confidence. This guy is a respected psychiatrist with a wife who is a psychologist and young kids. How in the hell do we combat this insanity?

[calimary]

31. Maybe he needs to be reported?

‘Cuz standing by THAT “belief” is never gonna help people!

[Pepsidog]

48. I think he is good at his specialty which is substance abuse and I think he is very good at treating

patients. As a criminal defense lawyer I have sent him many people over the years who has helped and my clients love him. I could tell after he told me his views that he regretted it I guess because of my incredulous response. In fact, I have worked with many psychiatrists and always found them to be all kind of quirky people. He was the first psychiatrist who I thought was just a regular person, with no idiosyncrasies, until this of course.

[KS Toronado]

35. By voting Democrat, Democrat, and Democrat from now on.

If we have the White House and both houses of Congress, our elected D officials will find a way to combat
all the brainwashing the reich wing media puts out. At least I hope they can as it'll be in their best interests.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

42. Some of the most mentally damaged people...

... during my college years were psychology majors. I suspect that many of them chose that major to help treat themselves.

No idea about your friends. The "probability meter" in their heads are horribly faulty, though, to give any credence to those conspiracies which would require an impossible level of cooperation to accomplish.

[spanone]

28. dad is a fucking lunatic

[Paladin]

30. There may come a day when that father begs his son's forgiveness for his behavior.

I hope the son is long gone, and that the forgiveness is permanently unavailable.

[MontanaMama]

33. This "father" is just another trauma

this young man will have to find a way to survive. As a mama, this just hurts to read.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

34. I was brutally harassed sexually

in the work place - my dad sought out my sexual abuser and made him his golf partner. The reason that I am sharing is because...to me, it does not matter... move on and move as far away as you can from your family; you will be glad you did.

I have become successful beyond my wildest dreams and married an incredible, loving, beautiful man - I barely ever think of my family and it feels great.

[Alice Kramden]

51. Sorry you went through that

What a betrayal. Glad you shook the dust off your feet

[Mary in S. Carolina]

57. Thank you Alice

I think I am one of the lucky ones. Once a family proves, over and over, to be indifferent or abusive, it is time to move on.

[Alice Kramden]

61. I agree completely

I have family members that I maintain minimum contact & no emotional engagement - the better part of wisdom

[Dan]

62. I am sometimes glad that I only had a son

Because if I’d had a daughter and she told me this, I would be in jail.

[rickyhall]

36. Reminds of arguments I had with my dad over Wallace and later, Reagan.

[Dukkha]

37. You don't help someone that far gone.

You completely disown them with extreme prejudice.

Place the blame where it belongs on far right fringe internet sites that perpetuate it and grossly irresponsible sites like Reddit that do not censor and ban users like that.

[FelineOverlord]

38. I'm a Parkland Shooting Survivor. QAnon Convinced My Dad It Was All a Hoax.

This has been huge on the r/QAnonCasualties subreddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/comments/onq9ig/i_survived_the_stoneman_douglas_school_shooting/

[Moostache]

40. No one gets to choose their parentage...but EVERYONE can should be free to leave them.

I feel badly for the boy at the heart of this, I feel contempt for his parents and I feel regret from my nation all at the same time.

I have stated multiple times that I truly believe America died with the Newton shootings and total lack of sane response in gun and ammunition availability laws.

20 babies, most anxiously awaiting Christmas presents and family parties and traditions...snuffed out and the collective response of this brain dead nation? Meh...its too hard to do anything about it.

This survivor deserves better. His parents deserve to be charged with abuse and locked up themselves...but in the end, nothing that happens in this shit hole country surprises me any longer. Its just a long glide path into the ashbin of history for the USA...one that feels like it accelerates a little with every similar story to this one.

[Orrex]

44. I mentioned previously that a former friend was sure that Sandy Hook was a false flag operation

That's as close as I've ever come to outright punching someone in the mouth. He was actually a pretty smart guy, and progressive in most of his attitudes, but on this subject he shifted into full-on conspiracy fuckhead mode, and I after that I simply couldn't stand him.

He was also certain that 9/11 was a setup, of course.

[Thtwudbeme]

54. I have a friend whose two children attended that ES

Thank god, they were both home with their mother that day- one had a fever, and she wanted to keep them both home to make sure they both weren't sick. Watching her FB posts that day was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen on social media. I was in tears.

I wrote a DU post about losing a friend over Trump- He also believes Sandy Hook was a hoax. I told him never to tell me shit like that again, for any reason.

[Orrex]

65. Oh that's awful!

I simply cannot imagine going through that, and I should state clearly that I have no personal connection to Sandy Hook.

Our younger son was the same age as those murdered children and, like any parents, we couldn’t help wondering what if.

Truly monstrous, and fuck anyone who denigrates the suffering caused by any mass shooting.

[flying_wahini]

45. How about 'It doesn't Matter what you THINK ' facts are facts.

Or “when you are sober we can discuss it.”

[Lemon Lyman]

47. :-)

If only we'd go to a small-town diner and listen to these people...they can be reached.

[Scrivener7]

55. Ha!

[alphafemale]

58. I've also heard the conspiracy nuts say it was a hoax because Daniel Hogg and others

were so well spoken and were obviously trained in public speaking.

Well as a matter of fact they were.

It was a large high school and some in that class were skilled at that and already comfortable with public speaking.

And yes they were all great looking. So what?

Oh, here's an idea.

Let's choose the less photogenic kids afraid to speak on the phone let alone in public who mumble to be the activists to go on tour.

[ffr]

59. Bills dad must have an advanced case of Saturnism.

Lead poisoning.

I'd like to know what his dad did and does for a living. I suspect he's a plumber or works around lead smelting or loves/owns classic cars and/or spends a fair amount of time loading lead bullets or hanging out at gun ranges or likes guns, etc. A lifestyle surrounded by lead aerosols.

[Ishoutandscream2]

63. As a parent, this absolutely stuns the hell out of me

How, as a parent, can you think that?! The alcohol is absolutely no excuse, imo. That is YOUR CHILD!