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Folks, it’s creepy when you do it, too

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Illinois

If you live in Reid McCollum’s neighborhood you’ll want to keep an eye over your shoulder.

The 37-year-old Democratic activist has a habit of taking photos from his house Bodin Street home overlooking Dietz Park in Hinsdale.

McCollum has taken to snapping photos of children in the park, sometimes those in early grade school, and posting them to Facebook asking for his followers to shame the children and their parents publicly for not wearing masks and playing outside.

“Dietz Park right now,” Reid said in a recent Facebook post. “This is almost every day. If you know their parents shame them.”

Reid has also been posting the photos to Twitter.

Not cool. At all. Creepy, even. Yuck.

* Jeanne Ives followed up with a Facebook video. Here’s the intro…

One of Sean Casten’s operatives recently took photos of other people’s kids playing in a Hinsdale park and posted them to Twitter, saying “If you know their parents, shame them.” Reveille is a wake up call, but the attitudes of Casten’s Crew are truly alarming.

From the Ives video…

Who puts innocent pictures of children playing on their Facebook and says, ‘I’m going to shame you’? That is terrible.

I actually agree with her. However, there’s just one little thing.

* Prairie State Wire is a publication owned by the same folks who own the DuPage Policy Journal. And you may recall this recent PSW story…

While Gov. J.B. Pritzker has used his executive authority to cancel high school sports for kids across the state this fall, apparently this rule does not apply to his daughter.

Parents have been rallying across the state and at the state capital in an attempt to have the football season reinstated.

Meanwhile, Pritzker’s 18-year-old daughter, Theodora “Teddi” Pritzker, who formerly attended Francis W. Parker in Chicago, has continued to engage in equestrian sports across the country since the state was locked down, including in Illinois.

Teddi is the only daughter of Illinois’ billionaire first family. She jumps horses competitively in the Medium Junior division with Team Welles and is featured on the team’s website.

The story includes photos of the governor’s kid.

* One of those photos was used in a recent Ives tweet about that story…

@GovPritzker & ILDems cancelled your kids' spring, summer & fall sports seasons. Meanwhile, his daughter got the best equestrian training money can buy. Enough.
It's time we all played by the same set of rules.#LetThemPlay #reopenschoolsillinois https://t.co/momUXVuttt

— Jeanne Ives (@JeanneIves) September 23, 2020

She should take her own advice.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:18 am

Comments

“WARNING: This product is an ear loop mask. This product is not a respirator and will not provide any protection against Covid-19(Coronavirus) or other viruses or contaminants. Wearing an ear loop mask does not reduce the risk of contracting any disease or infection.”

Comment by Archie Debunker Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:24 am
Welcome to Oceana

Comment by Angry Republican Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:27 am
“Who puts innocent pictures of children…”

If the pictures are innocent, what’s the problem? /s

Comment by Cubs in '16 Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:28 am
That’s pretty bad from Reid and what is wrong with today’s culture. Should people be wearing masks, yes. Should you result to public shaming, no, it’s disgusting. Great job Reid, creep.

Comment by Lord of the Fries Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:29 am
“Wearing an ear loop mask does not reduce the risk of contracting any disease or infection.”

And that’s why coronavirus infection and death rates have plummeted in countries that adopted mandatory mask policies, rite?

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:32 am
What a sad world we live in today that our children have become political pawns of those on both sides of the aisle.

Comment by Powdered Whig Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:32 am
Shaming the act of letting kids play outside without a mask is not in keeping with the science.

Comment by Ryan Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:33 am
I’m guessing those kids are all over the Facebook accounts of their parents,the grands, aunts and uncles, only with their names attached to the posts.

Comment by Cheryl44 Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:36 am
I’d amend MrJM’s response: the death rates have plummeted in countries that adopted mandatory mask policies and either 1) enforced them or 2) had a population that willingly complied with them.

Comment by lake county democrat Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:37 am
So is this congressional race about who can be the bigger schmuck in the race? These low level morons, maybe talk about issues? Talking about the Govs kid out of bounds, taking pics of kids at a park and posting to social media trying to cancel their parents, out of bounds just stop it already you’re running for Congress for gosh sake.
Is this really what we’ve become?
Sorry for the rant. It’s not even October

Comment by Frank talks Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:37 am
At least the Governor’s daughter is riding a horse in competition and not on the Dan Ryan expressway in Chicago.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:39 am
Correlation, causation, and tiger rocks are the low hanging fruit found in the comments.

Comment by Just Another Anon Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:42 am
Creepy pictures aside, I don’t know how you shame parents who refuse to allow their children to wear face masks, since they don’t much care about their health and safety anyway.

Comment by Wensicia Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:45 am
My Facebook post was to a small private group. It wasn’t political, and it doesn’t show names or the location. It’s grainy and my tweet said, “Great work, reckless parents.” My two young kids go to school with many of these children, whose parents are putting my community at risk. The number of misinformed people who don’t think dozens of kids playing tackle football in the park is dangerous during a pandemic is the actual issue here. Right-wing activist, Polly Ascher, of Clarendon Hills made sure this blew up and got politicized, and Jeanne Ives did the same. I’m a concerned parent. This had nothing to do with my politics or my activism. Their politics made sure tens of thousands see a post that a few dozen people would have seen otherwise.

Comment by Reid McCollum Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:49 am
Wearing a mask only slightly reduces your chances of contracting an infection, but it greatly reduces your chances of transmitting an infection (that you may not even know you have) to someone else. I’m not wearing this mask to protect me, Archie–I’m wearing it to protect *you.*

Comment by Benjamin Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:50 am
Most believe creepy and Commando is redundant

Comment by Annonin' Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 11:59 am
It is incredibly telling that when liberals criticize someone it’s a prominent activist like Candice Owens or Charlie Kirk, but when conservatives some random person who is not even a full-time political operative in some weird guilt by association attack.

Comment by Nuke The Whales Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:02 pm
For the love of God won’t someone think of the children.

Comment by Nummy yummy Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:05 pm
Well this pandemic has brought out the worst is people. Let’s shame children for not wearing masks….

Comment by Levois J Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:06 pm
Actually, Benjamin, the science seems to be showing benefits of mask wearing to the wearers as well. Did you read the reports of the Starbucks workers who escaped infection because they were wearing masks, while 27 customers who were unmasked (and drinking coffee)got COVID from a single spreader? https://fortune.com/2020/08/25/covid-outbreak-starbucks-seoul-masks-employees/

Comment by Soccermom Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:16 pm
Teddi Pritzker is 18, and therefore an adult. Very different from random photos of children, especially very young children.

Comment by RIJ Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:19 pm
Taking pictures of children you don’t know to make a point is never good.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:22 pm
I can’t see what purpose is served by taking pictures of kids outside in a park. I don’t have a problem in calling out Covidiots, but like so many things these days there’s always someone who takes it to a level of lunacy. And as bad as he may think kids in a park without masks may be, posting photos of it, in my book, is worse.

Comment by Pundent Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:22 pm
The internet is ruining society.

Comment by d Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:24 pm
Since when are part time political activists social media posts off limits?

Public shaming for thee but not for me is liberal hypocrisy at it’s finest.

Anything written on the internet stays there forever Reid.

Have fun at the block party

Comment by Lucky Pierre Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:28 pm
===The internet is ruining society.===
The internet is innocuous. People are ruining society.

Comment by Cubs in '16 Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:32 pm
Cheryl44, there are privacy settings on Facebook accounts to keep things private if you wish. In doing family genealogy I have found the majority of people do not tag or identify by name their young children. Do we need some perv seeing a child too their liking on a public post and with their location?

Comment by Arock Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:38 pm
“This product is not a respirator and will not provide any protection ” Repeat after me: The mask is to keep you from giving it to someone else and has been proved effective for that.

Comment by Skeptic Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:45 pm
Folks, under the current IDPH guidelines you can have gatherings of up to 50 people. You should take all the recommended precautions but you can do things.
We’ve got to start figuring out how to do things safely rather than continually tell people they can’t do anything.
You can take your kids to the park.

Comment by Leigh John-Ella Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:48 pm
Mr McCollum in response to your post- is this your first day on Facebook?
It was only intended………. famous last words.
And see what you did there, you are a concerned parent she is a right wing activist, but in their post you’re the activist and they’re concerned parents. Just stop you if you are explaining you are losing.

Good luck maybe think about what the worst thing is that could happen when you post something, then take another moment and think again.

Comment by Frank talks Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:48 pm
== My Facebook post was to a small private group==

That doesn’t make it less creepy. Almost the opposite.

Comment by fs Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 12:48 pm
===Teddi Pritzker is 18, and therefore an adult===

Using photos of the governor’s kid doing something perfectly legal and even ethical is not fair game. Period. Get over yourself.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 1:01 pm
Mr. McCollum: couldn’t you have made the same point, and more effectively, by not including pictures, but just simply posting what you describe–that kids aren’t wearing masks? Photographing children and posting their pictures without their parents’ consent is creepy and just plain wrong.

Comment by Steve Rogers Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 1:07 pm
== the number of misinformed people who don’t think dozens of kids playing tackle football in the park is dangerous during a pandemic is the actual issue here. ==

Heck of a football game if you are able to get 24+ kids together (since you said dozens and that would imply at least 2 dozen). I will others judge if you are exaggerating or not.

I don’t know how old your kids are man, but at some point, they are going to be doing stuff you are unaware of and taking risks that will make you uncomfortable. It is what it is, it is the same reason college kids are gathering in groups and doing the stuff that college kids do.

But reporting on a bunch of kids doing something even if it is to a ’small group on Facebook’ is the sort of thing old people do on Nextdoor.

Don’t be that guy

Comment by OneMan Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 1:10 pm
==Teddi Pritzker is 18, and therefore an adult.==

What if she was a swimmer, gymnast, or played beach volleyball. Still ok?

Comment by Jocko Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 1:17 pm
Using a picture and subjugating a kid of an elected official is way out of bounds.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 1:19 pm
I thought as long as you were maintaining distancing, not wearing a mask while outside is pretty low risk, right? But if the kids were not maintaining distancing; wearing a mask is probably a good idea.

This “wear a mask all the time everywhere, or you are a terrible person” crap needs to go away. Wear a mask while in an indoor facility, especially with forced air circulation (like restaurants, bars, churches, stores, buses, trains, office(?)); and when you are outside but cannot maintain distancing. If you are taking a walk, running, and can maintain distancing from others; you can probably let it hang from your ears.

Comment by indianbadger Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 1:20 pm
OW glad to hear your change of heart

Care to publicly apologize to the group for all of the nasty things you said about Bruce Rauner’s daughter for 4 years?

Comment by Lucky Pierre Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 1:23 pm
Jeanne Ives holding others to higher standards than she holds herself? Well, I never!!!

Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 1:38 pm
Oh - Lucky Pierre -

For the 5,838th time.

1) Not at any time, never once, did I mention the Rauners’ daughter by name or go out of my way to single her out, by her name or links to a picture. I admonished, every time a person who was not only classless in naming the daughter, made the issue about her, when it was/is the behavior of Bruce and Diana Rauner that was under scrutiny by an inspector general, I can add a link if you need that.

2) Ethically, it was Bruce and Diana Rauner that denied a worthy child a chance at Payton Prep. It wasn’t their daughter who had the ethical lapse, or even called Arne Duncan.

3) Governor Pritzker’s daughter is participating in a sport that is allowed to be happening, on her own merits she’s on the team, and her accomplishments are of her own making.

4) And finally, the likes of Lori Laughlin or Felicity Huffman were the ones who broke the law, and their ethics lapses caused their issues. Their children weren’t the ones. Like those two cases, it’s the acts of the parents (Bruce and Diana clouting their denied, Winnetka-living daughter) that are of scrutiny, not the students

Nothing that Pritzker’s daughter or Rauner’s daughter, neither have I singled out by name or face, were under my scrutiny.

You know that, now it’s 5,839 times.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 2:03 pm
=== The internet is ruining society. ===

No - People are ruining society. The Internet is just a tool that people use to do it.

Comment by Powdered Whig Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 2:33 pm
== Teddi Pritzker is 18, and therefore an adult. Very different from random photos of children, especially very young children.==
The word “children” doesn’t only mean young human being, it also means offspring. So a person can be an adult and a child. Those of us in the senior care community use “children” all the time for adult children of our seniors.

Comment by All this Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 3:01 pm
Another day — another Jeanne Ives outrage.
Just under 40 more outrages to go

Comment by train111 Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 3:09 pm
Shaming parents for playing with their kids OUTSIDE shows a lack of scientific literacy and a lack of empathy for people trying to raise children.

Comment by Biker Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 3:10 pm
== Taking pictures of children you don’t know to make a point is never good. ==

OW is absolutely right here. Reid, I share your views and have also witnessed this type of behavior in town. But this is not the hill to die on. There are plenty of ways of exposing Covidiot behavior without posting pictures of children—even if we can’t see their faces.

Comment by Not a Superstar Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 3:13 pm
I’m left wondering how President Truman would have responded.

Let the kids be kids…they are only kids… once.

Comment by Dotnonymous Friday, Sep 25, 20 @ 3:47 pm