Gus Walz won over the internet wearing his heart on his sleeve at the DNC. But the bullying that followed is what kids experience every day, some say.

A tearful, unscripted moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has unleashed a flood of praise and admiration – but also prompted ugly online bullying.

Gus Walz, who has a nonverbal learning disorder as well as anxiety and ADHD, watched excitedly from the front row of Chicago’s United Center and sobbed openly Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic nominee for vice president, delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

…

Conservative columnist and right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter mocked the teenager’s tears. “Talk about weird,” she wrote on X. The message has since been deleted.

Mike Crispi, a Trump supporter and podcaster from New Jersey, mocked Walz’s “stupid crying son” on X and added, “You raised your kid to be a puffy beta male. Congrats.”

Alec Lace, a Trump supporter who hosts a podcast about fatherhood, took his own swipe at the teenager: “Get that kid a tampon already,” he wrote, an apparent reference to a Minnesota state law that Walz signed as governor in that required schools to provide free menstrual supplies to students.

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
    842·
    3 months ago

    It shouldn’t matter whether he is LD. No one should be bullied.

    Research shows that bullying behavior often stems from a combination of factors such as a desire for social dominance, a lack of empathy, or modeling of aggressive behaviors at home, said Kristen Eccleston, a former special education teacher and advocate for children with social-emotional needs.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nlEnglish
      6·
      3 months ago

      It absolutely matters. It’s like the difference between hitting someone who’s weaker than you, and hitting someone in a wheelchair. When you’re bullying, you’re punching down. When your victim is an even more vulnerable member of society (disabled, poor, elderly, neurodivergent, etc), you’re punching way down and are a piece of shit.

      • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
        91·
        3 months ago

        you’re punching way down and are a piece of shit.

        Bullying still makes you a piece of shit even if the victim isn’t disabled, though.

        The article mentioned a conservative talk-show host who called Gus a “blubbering bitch boy” and then retracted the statement when he found out the kid has a disability. No, either way, that is not okay!

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          3·
          3 months ago

          Bullying makes you a piece of shit even if the victim isn’t disabled.

          I don’t think anyone is suggesting otherwise. But like everything in reality, it’s not black and white. If you can’t see how it’s worse when the person has disabilities, then I don’t know what to tell you.

          I suspect you understand it just fine though.

          • Maeve@kbin.earth
            1·
            3 months ago

            I do understand, and I think if the only reason a person isn’t bullying someone is because that person is differently abled, that doesn’t make the person who refrained only because the potential victim is differently abled a genuinely decent person, just that they know they are less likely to get away without consequences, if anyone else finds out.

        • Empricorn@feddit.nlEnglish
          3·
          3 months ago

          Yeah, we’re on the same page: bullying is bad no matter what. But surely you agree it’s worse to bully someone with a disability…?

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
      6·
      3 months ago

      You emphasized lack of empathy, but I think we also need to focus on “a desire for social dominance” because it describes exactly what these fascists have planned for America.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
        41·
        3 months ago

        Agreed. It’s interesting to me that normal, healthy people just go about their business, and those not so healthy want to impose their sickness on the rest of us. It’s contagious, for the weaker among us, too, apparently.