Normally, I try not to write articles that make people feel dumber by the time they get to the end, but there’s just not much I can do here to shield readers on this one. You’ve been warned.

Taylor Lorenz, the noted TikTok journalist who now works for The Washington Post (because failing up is a tradition in the news industry), recently did an interview with MSNBC that’s gone viral not because of anything profound, but because of just how self-serving and ridiculous it was. According to Lorenz, whose entire job has centered on stalking teenagers and trying to destroy the lives of normal Americans, she has “severe PTSD” from her profession.

NEW: Taylor Lorenz says she has "severe PTSD" from being a journalist and breaks down in MSNBC interview pic.twitter.com/G9FymoSdH8

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) April 1, 2022

Here’s the thing. You could watch that clip as an alien from another planet and perhaps feel some sympathy. There’s very little context provided there as to who Lorenz is and what she’s perpetrated against other people. But when you get that missing context, it quickly becomes apparent just how insulting her claims are.

For example, Lorenz tried to destroy a YouTuber’s career because he said “Windows is gay.” She attempted to interject herself into Ted Cruz’s family life by publicizing his 13-year-old daughter’s political views. Lorenz was also part of the mob that went after a teenager for wearing a Chinese-themed prom dress. More recently, she joined the dogpile on a college writer who opined in The New York Times that there was anti-free speech culture on campuses.

In other words, Lorenz is exactly what she claims to have been traumatized by. The difference is that any “harassment” towards her has come in response to her abhorrent behavior towards others. At one point in the interview, Lorenz laments the fact that “anything that gets out on you will be used by the worst people on the internet to destroy your life.” Yet, that’s…exactly what she does. It’s just astonishing to watch.

Besides, PTSD is not a joke. It’s not some badge a supposed journalist gets to don because they got their feelings hurt on the internet. Trauma is real, and people who experience it don’t get it from mean tweets. It is disgusting to see Lorenz try to appropriate mental illness in this way, in what is an obvious attempt to gain publicity.

Further, why is a self-admitted, 43-year-old woman in a segment about women under 35? That seems a bit weird, no?

Fact check pic.twitter.com/UkgTSmQq5G

— Emma-Jo Morris (@EmmaJoNYC) April 1, 2022

Look, there are legitimate times to call out online harassment. This is not one of those times. Lorenz is an attention-seeking shark who has spent her entire career, if you can call it that, trying to take down powerless people with misleading and unfair insinuations. Journalists desperately want to live under different rules than they apply to normal Americans. It is up to the rest of us to make sure they don’t get to have that double standard.

You can’t blast a random teenager for wearing a dress and then cry about online bullying. Lorenz is not a victim. That she continues to cosplay as one is pathetic to witness.