Editor’s Note: Veronica Wernicke is a freshman at UNCW majoring in Communication Studies and is the Assistant Opinion Editor for The Seahawk. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. Veronica Wernicke may be found on Twitter @itsveronica98. All suggestions and inquiries may be sent via email to [email protected].

One question the host of “The Ingraham Angle”, Laura Ingraham, did not ask herself was whether it was appropriate or not to mock a victim of the Parkland shooting. To easily answer that question, it is not and nor should it ever be.  

David Hogg, who is one of the students at the forefront of the Parkland student gun reform movement, recently revealed on Twitter that he was rejected from four colleges he applied to despite his 4.2 GPA.  

Ingraham later shared The Daily Wire article about his rejection on Twitter with the comment “David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.).”  

First, not getting into some colleges stinks and Hogg has already been criticized and bullied enough over ridiculous and untrue things – such as being called a crisis actor. Mocking him about his supposed “whining” was not appropriate and completely irrational. Bullying is wrong to begin with but to bully and mock someone, particularly a high schooler when you are supposed to behave as an adult is very childish. Either way bullying someone is not appropriate.   

Secondly, I would not even call what Hogg did as whining. In a clip talking to TMZ, Hogg simply said, “it’s not been too great for me and some of the other members of the movement, like Ryan Deitsch. I got rejected from UCLA and UCSD so it’s been kind of annoying having to deal with that and everything else that’s been going on but at this point, you know, we’re changing the world. We’re too busy. Right now it’s hard to focus on that.”  

While Hogg sounded disappointed, it did not sound like he was whining like Ingraham implied in her Tweet. Whining is a two-year old crying or talking in a high-pitched manner about not getting ice cream, not a young man simply discussing his disappointment in a regular pitch.  

Not long after Ingraham’s Tweet, Hogg took to social media and his Twitter account. Hogg urged his followers and supporters to contact Ingraham’s top advertisers to pull their advertisements from her show. I expected nothing less from this influential activist who has done more for advocacy than most of us can say.  

Since Hogg’s request on March 28th, Ingraham’s advertisers have been dropping like flies. Over a dozen advertisers have dropped their advertisements according to CNBC. In the midst of her advertisers pulling out, Ingraham went on a “vacation” and had various guest hosting her show on Fox during the week of her absence. What an ideal and not all suspicious time to take a vacation, right? Do not worry, we all know why she went on a vacation.  

Before leaving for her vacation Ingraham tweeted an apology — if you can even call it a real one.  

“Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111.  On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David…(1/2)…immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how “poised” he was given the tragedy. As always, he’s welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion. WATCH: https://youtu.be/K0v7yxczipo  (2/2)”  

No one is buying this, and she only Tweeted this supposed apology to save face and her advertisers following Hogg’s Tweet. It is very unbelievable especially when she adds the “for the record” part about her show being the first to feature Hogg. Anytime someone adds “for the record” to whatever they are saying it comes off as snooty and like they think they are better than you. In this case she is certainly not.   

Her sad apology comes in line with a slew of other “apologies” people are trying to get away with in recent months. No matter how much you try and apologize, karma does not stop for anyone and Ingraham is getting her rightly deserved dose. Anyone who — wrongly — mocks or makes fun of someone a lot younger than them — or anyone for that matter — should be well prepared for the consequences of their inappropriate actions.    

Ingraham is just another bully in our crazy world and we must learn from her mistake. Instead of following people who attack others we should turn to people like Hogg who are taking our crazy world and trying to make it a better one.