Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg conspiracy theories debunked

The exhaustive conspiracy theories about Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, explained and debunked
by Newsweek
Adapted by Daffyd ap Morgen

1. The entire Hogg family is connected to the CIA, FBI and CNN
1. Like many conspiracy theories, these likely started with a tiny kernel of truth: 
1. Hogg’s father is a retired FBI agent-information that the teen volunteered offhand during a television interview.
2. Hogg or his mother is a CNN VIP who is "pimping" her son 
1. This developed after a photo surfaced of Hogg and his sister, Lauren, touring the studios as children. 
2. According to Snopes, the family was actually on a $35 VIP tour. 
3. Rebecca Boldrick, the mother of the Hogg siblings, works as a school teacher, which the Broward County School confirmed.
3. Hogg didn’t attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
1. A picture from a different yearbook with another student named David Hogg is used, 
2. Others circulate a mugshot from a 26-year-old California man named David Hogg as proof. 
3. The two don’t have same eye color or look alike.
4. Hogg wasn't at the school when the shooting took place 
1. Conservative blog Red State falsely claimed Hogg wasn’t on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School campus during the February 14 shooting. 
2. As evidence, the article pointed to an interview in which Hogg said he arrived on campus at 6 p.m. on the day of the shooting, which was hours after the suspected shooter was captured by police occurred.
3. Hogg actually spoke about returning to the campus at 6 p.m. 
4. Hogg actually documented hiding with other students while the school was on lockdown.
5. Gonzalez ripped up the Constitution
1. In fact, the picture was a doctored image of from a photoshoot Gonzalez and a few other students did for Teen Vogue.
6. Gonzalez admitted to bullying suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz
1. It uses an out-of-context snippet from a speech Gonzalez gave in Florida on February 17, in which she  responded to President Donald Trump's suggestion that the shooting could have been prevented with adequate mental health care.
2. Her full remarks are as follows:
1. "There is one tweet I would like to call attention to. 
1. ‘So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities again and again.’ 
2. We did, time and time again. 
3. Since he was in middle school, it was no surprise to anyone who knew him to hear that he was the shooter.
4. Those talking about how we should not have ostracized him, you didn't know this kid! 
5. OK, we did. 
6. We know that they are claiming mental health issues, and I am not a psychologist, but we need to pay attention to the fact that this was not just a mental health issue. 
7. He would not have harmed that many students with a knife."
7. 18-year-old Gonzalez attacked a Second Amendment supporter's truck at a March for Our Lives rally 
1. C'mon. It's literally Britney, b*tch.
2. This meme was most assuredly created to mock conspiracy theorists, particularly ones born before 1981. 
8. Whether jokes or not, the conspiracy theories have serious consequences—from harassment to stalking to physical violence. 
1. Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung was shot and killed at Sandy Hook, said conspiracy theories are part of a “new normal” for victims caught in the crosshairs of politically charged debates. 
2. "I cannot count the number of times that I've been called a 'crisis actor,” Lafferty, who now works for Everytown For Gun Safety, told Newsweek. 
3. “Unfortunately, this is the new normal for survivors of national tragedies—we're told that our loved ones never existed and that our grief is just pretend."