When Derick Dillard tweets, there is often a strong response, but Dillard's tweet on Wednesday netted more backlash than most. Though Derick's tweet is most directly pointed at the "liberal media," the implicit insult to the survivors of the recent school shooting has many social media users responding to tell Dillard he's wrong on several levels. Primarily, people believe Derick Dillard is denying the students' autonomy by suggesting the agenda isn't their own, and that it's hypocritical for him to say this, because, they assert, Dillard uses children and fetuses to support his own political agendas, and his extended family owes their reality stardom and income to showcasing their own kids.
On February 14, a former student entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and opened fire, killing 17 students and staff members. Since that day, survivors of the mass murder have appeared on news programs to share their feelings about the shooting, and the legislation or other actions they believe could have protected their classmates.
Dillard is far from the first to weigh in. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, suggesting the shooting might have been prevented if the FBI hadn't been investigating Russian interference into the 2016 election, and conspiracy theorists have floated the usual claim that the shooting was a "false flag" and that survivors are actors. Newsweek reports that this claim has earned Alex Jones, for instance, a two-week Twitter ban.
As for Derick Dillard, the former reality star held back his opinions on the shooting for the first two weeks, aside from retweeting Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson's call to support first responders and families and a video advising pastors on preaching about school shootings.
Neither of these tweets, however, advised what Derick Dillard tweeted two weeks after the mass murder: asserting that the survivors are being used.
