"Justice"

I am trying to calm down, I'm trying not to respond in anger - but I am disgusted. This video was sent to me a couple of days ago. It's a bunch of teenagers asking that we vote "to uphold the constitution". To do it for them because they don't have a voice (sounds awesome, yeah?). Separation of church and state? Great! Protection of freedom and liberty? Great! Maintaining history? Great!!

Sounds awesome, yeah? Not like you don't know something bad is coming:

Please take note at about the 1:50 mark, where a TEENAGER implores us to vote for politicians who will protect his right to own a gun. I'm sorry, but how is it possibly good and just and okay to film a video wherein a CHILD speaks for gun rights!? Rarely do I have such visceral reactions to things like this. If it hadn't been for Columbine, or Virginia Tech, or any of the other multitude of school shootings, I probably wouldn't have had such a reaction. But those things happened, and they happened because a CHILD got their hands on a GUN.

Yeah, I get it - the kid in this video can't legally buy a gun at his age. Didn't stop those other kids, did it? I'm not even saying that I disagree with the 2nd Amendment (okay, I do). Point is, no child should be a part of selling gun rights. Not a 5-year old, not an 18-year old. NO.

(And I'm not going to into the way in which he said it, as if he were picturing the military flag of his army flying high even as he spoke. Or later as he expressed the need for "a strong military.")

So that's the initial reaction. Then I found their website, im2moro and the fun really began (intentionally un-capitalized; apparently the "one US language" they speak of in the video doesn't include proper grammar). Anyway, take a look: http://im2moro.org/ (Go ahead, look. I'll wait)

And you're back! Confused!? Seemed pretty clear from the video that they had a distinct political lean, yeah? Yet strangely, nowhere on im2moro.org does it self-identify as Right-leaning, or conservative, or even Tea Party. Nothing. In fact, it specifically claims to be none of the above. Just a bunch of harmless ol' independent thinkers... nothing to see... unless you're an impressionable teen! In that case come here little girl I've got some racist, elitist candy just for you.

Visitors are presented with this jumbled mix of "Liberty and Freedom for all - yeah!" and "Let's talk about how politicians are misbehaving and not getting along". During my first reading, I found myself questioning my initial reaction; after all, they were talking about freedom and liberty and shady politicians - that's stuff I can get behind. But then, I found this supposedly unbiased coverage of the ruling in Pennsylvania regarding voter ID laws or this refreshingly "unbiased" blog post about the first presidential debate.

Pretty clearly a conservative machine; an organization targeting teens and young people in not-quite truthful ways, using confusing messages of freedom and justice to pass off conservative beliefs as moderate, as independent. Not okay, even if it was started by a teen. Because the bottom line is this: If you can't tell your perspective members that you have a clear slant, you are lying. Plain and simple.

"We don't think of ourselves as "Republicans," "Democrats" or "Libertarians." We're Americans, independent thinkers who believe in the framework of ideals that have formed and guided this great nation for over 200 years."

(http://im2moro.org/what-is-im2moro, emphasis mine)

Independent thinkers... as long as that thinking is pro-life, pro-religion, pro-gun. They're playing on our base fears, exploiting children to persuade other children to support their cause and lying about the whole thing by calling themselves "independent thinkers".

But wait! There's still more!! Let's discuss, just for a minute, their section on "Justice," in which they link to King's Letter from Birmingham Jail. (They've read that document, right!? They actually know what he stood for, right? Religious or not, the man fought for equality, the man fought against poverty - he did not fight for GUN RIGHTS).

The thing is, having a slant is fine - great even. Conservative youth organization? Great! You go kids! Fight the fight! But be honest about what you are. Don't create some professionally produced website with "hip" graphics and a text message name and quote Martin Luther King without being honest about what you really stand for.

What they're doing isn't fighting the good fight, it isn't bringing awareness to important issues of today - it's building an army through deceit and lies, and playing on the fears of CHILDREN. The only consolation is that they only have 614 Facebook likes - which for a youth based organization isn't great. However, the video is being emailed around, they're reaching people. And making some of them, like me, cry in the process.