Parkland teens: March now; vote later

What level of gall ranks lower than "unconscionable"?

Whatever that is, it's how they measure the doorways at Fox News headquarters.

Before the March for Our Lives, Fox interviewed the amazing student survivors/organizers from Parkland, Fla. Then, seriousness aside, Fox turned the mike over to the original killer clown, Rush Limbaugh, to tear at their intentions, just as NRA monkey men and other Fox News talking heads have done since these amazing individuals started speaking out.

Hearing Limbaugh after such heroic young people, said one Twitter post, was like "chasing a glass of fine scotch with hippo urine."

Fox's Tucker Carlson said that big-money leftists like Michael Bloomberg were the real organizers behind the march and were "hiding behind the victims."

(Oh, and what kind of play did Fox News give to the March for Our Lives? I didn't see what it broadcast, but the night of the march, Foxnews.com barely acknowledged it, except under "Entertainment" -- the fact that Paul McCartney participated.)

In the face of the most compelling show of emotion and outrage in decades, the folks who cower in Thoughts and Prayers Corner won't acknowledge that they are on the wrong side of history, and far under water per public opinion on what to do about gun violence.

The heroic teens of Parkland have triggered an outburst the National Rifle Association can't quell. The only option now is to assassinate their characters.

Recall how the scions of the South sought to demonize Martin Luther King and his followers as Communists and branded voting rights efforts as the work of "outside agitators." That's how evil generally works. Discredit the victims.

So, how can we discredit one of the most amazing and dramatic events of our time – children exiting the bloody halls of their high school and heading straight to the halls of power? Here are some of the ways:

First, say the young people are manipulated.

Nice try. This is their handiwork, including a dictum that no adult should get the microphone at the March 24 event in Washington.

Second, say they are misinformed.

Ah, but they have shown an amazing command of the facts, in part, reports the Miami Herald, because of an ambitious debate program in the Broward County School District under which students are speaking extemporaneously at early ages.

Third, say their mission is futile.

This sounded plausible until the Parkland students and others who traveled to the Florida Capitol got a Republican-controlled legislature and a Republican government to pass a modest package of laws that had the NRA howling like a hound dog in a lye bath.

So, now, what? NRA pawns control Congress, a certain road block to anything that might change the equation that makes it harder to purchase Sudafed than a firearm In other words, nice try, heroic youngsters.

Ah, but simply attempting to get these scoundrels to see the light is not the impossible mission they've set for themselves.

No. Registering young people to vote in the midterm elections is that mission. That's not so impossible.

The Parkland kids' goal is for four out of five young people to vote in November's election.

They have been joined by HeadCount.org, which stirs together the synergies of democracy and pop music in hopes of making this happen.

When bullets flew at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, they were told to duck and hide. When they exited, they were told to duck and hide. They are through ducking. They are through hiding. They are now far more interested in marching, and in voting.

Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.