Staff Reports
Video clips recently circulating on social media show young children — some appearing to be around 10 years old — in front of the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles, shouting profanities and hate-filled slogans through megaphones while adults nearby cheer them on. The footage, shared on Instagram and reposted on X, has gone viral because it is hard to watch and even harder to defend: kids being used as political props on a public stage.
The footage: what we’re actually seeing
The posts, including a clip from an account claiming to be the “Tesla Diner Takedown Guy,” show children wearing black clothing and face coverings commonly associated with Antifa-style protests. They scream accusations — phrases invoking racism, Nazism and other inflammatory terms — and one video captures the crowd chanting for someone on the restaurant balcony to “jump.” Adults in the crowd aren’t pulling kids aside. They’re grinning, filming, and egging them on. That’s the headline here: children made to shout hateful slogans for the entertainment and political gratification of grown-ups.
Adults enabling behavior, not teaching kids
There’s a difference between teaching children to care about causes and putting them on a stage to act like mini militants. The footage looks less like civic education and more like a stunt. Parents and organizers who let kids scream obscenities in public and urge them to harass people are failing at parenting — or worse, weaponizing children to score political points. If this were at a conservative event, the same people applauding now would be howling about “indoctrination.” The double standard is staggering.
Why the public should care
Kids deserve to learn how to debate, not how to insult. Political movements that recruit children for street theater are undermining healthy civic life. This isn’t about Elon Musk or the diner alone; it’s about a pattern where young people are used as props in adult battles. We should be alarmed when a generation is being trained to shout rather than to think, and when adults celebrate the spectacle instead of protecting childhood.
What should happen next
Parents, community leaders and local authorities need to pay attention. Schools and civic groups should teach kids reasoned debate and respect, not performative rage. Organizers who parade minors into chants that call for harm or humiliation should be exposed and held to account. Call it tough love or plain common sense: when children are being used as political props, grown-ups should step in — not smile for the camera. And while critics will argue about free speech, free speech doesn’t include using children as weapons. If we care about a healthy future for this country, we should stop applauding the spectacle and start defending childhood.
