A leftist who’s made a name for himself on social media found out Monday that maybe mocking the deaths of murdered children isn’t such a popular idea.
And using tragedy to score cheap political points while jeering at the religious faith of millions isn’t such a great way to influence people.
But doing both — then having the gall to pretend to be the real victim — is the worst of all.
In a Twitter post published early Monday afternoon, before the blood had time to dry at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, liberal commentator and YouTube podcast host David Pakman published a Twitter post he probably thought was brilliant at the time.
“Very surprising that there would be a mass shooting at a Christian school, given that lack of prayer is often blamed for these horrible events,” he wrote in a now-deleted tweet that was posted in a screen-shot form by conservative journalist Ian Miles Cheong. “Is it possible they weren’t praying enough, or correctly, despite being a Christian school?”
That might have seemed insightful at the moment. Or maybe it just sounded like the kind of thing that would be a big hit at a party filled with the kind of people who are positive religion is the “opiate of the masses” — yet worship the guy who came up with that phrase.
When he was initially called out on it, Pakman stuck to his guns (a metaphor he probably doesn’t appreciate).
Is it more or less appropriate than Republicans offering prayers and nothing else every time there is a shooting?
— David Pakman (@dpakman) March 27, 2023
“Is it more or less appropriate than Republicans offering prayers and nothing else every time there is a shooting?” Pakman wrote.
Another parry and thrust! Another bon mot he can use to quote himself to explain the moral and intellectual superiority of the left compared to knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing conservatives who believe in God and the Constitution of the United States of America!
(Liberals think they’re so far above the rest of us their noses bleed.)
But something evidently changed Pakman’s mind about the wisdom of speaking ill of the dead — not to mention denigrating the faith of countless millions of living Americans.
And according to Pakman, that something was a combination of “antisemitic attacks” and “threats to my family.”
“I’ve delete the tweet,” he wrote in a post Wednesday morning.
Alright, too many antisemitic attacks and threats to my family. I’ve delete the tweet.
— David Pakman (@dpakman) March 28, 2023
When others responded that there were no threats visible on his Twitter thread, Pakman claimed they had come via email.
That didn’t go over so well either, as others challenged Pakman to produce the emails, and raised the possibility that the threats were non-existent — a la actor Jussie “Chicago Is MAGA Country” Smollett
“Ok Jussie, I mean David,” one user wrote. “We believe you…. Were they wearing MAGA hats?”
Ok Jussie, I mean David…. We believe you…. Were they wearing MAGA hats?
— Jay LaCombe (@LacombeJay) March 28, 2023
Another didn’t even pretend to buy the story:”LOL they read your tweet BUT they’d rather email you?!”
LOL they read your tweet BUT they’d rather email you?!
— Giuseppe Mercadante (@itsmercadante) March 28, 2023
Who’s even has this dudes email?
— mike b (@mikkkkkkkkkkkee) March 28, 2023
Then this one summed up many: “So you’re actually the victim in all of this. And the totally real, not at all fabricated by you, threats to your family should have been screenshot and reported to the police. Fortunately, you can tweet about deleting what you said without admitting how wrong you were.”
So you’re actually the victim in all of this. And the totally real, not at all fabricated by you, threats to your family should have been screenshot and reported to the police.
Fortunately, you can tweet about deleting what you said without admitting how wrong you were .
— StuartSlesh (@SleshStuart) March 28, 2023
Here’s the thing.
It really doesn’t matter much whether Pakman actually received threats in his email. If they were at all credible, simply taking down the tweet would be unlikely to change anything.
And if Pakman was the type to remove social media posts because he was afraid of the reaction, there’s a pretty good chance he would never have been tweeting in the first place — much less publishing vile, intentionally offensive messages insulting to both victims and their religion and virtually guaranteed to stir up a ferocious response.
Does this YouTube promo sound like a guy who’s intimidated?
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What matters here is that a social media user was so confident that his repulsive views are widely — if not universally — shared that he literally mocked six deaths, including three children, simply to make a political point.
What matters even more is that, when confronted about that mockery — whether threatened or not — he chose to back down, cravenly deleting the tweet, then even more cravenly sniveling that it was because of “antisemitic attacks.”
Please.
As one Twitter user put it: “If you enter the ring and throw a cheap punch, better be able to take one. If you can’t take the hits, stay the hell out of the ring. Pretty simple.”
If you enter the ring and throw a cheap punch, better be able to take one. If you can’t take the hits, stay the hell out of the ring. Pretty simple.
— John Gary (@Rancher_JohnG) March 28, 2023
That’s not to condone physical threats — censoring speech through thuggery is, a tactic of the left these days, not the right. (Kind of like anti-Semitism, come to think of it.)
It’s simply a statement about discourse in the social media universe — and one that has to be understood by anyone who puts himself in the public eye as much as Pakman does.
He’s already made a name for himself on social media. His Twitter account has almost a quarter-million followers, and the ginned-up controversy over the Christian school shooting might even make it bigger.
But Pakman and the rest of the left should remember that the real victims here are the murdered children, the murdered adults, their families and everyone who loved them.
A man — and a political movement — debased enough to pounce immediately on tragedy just to make a point are simply perverse.
They’re not victims at all.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
