I had kind of already been wondering if there weren’t more to it, even before I got to your update post here.
I thought it was a bit odd that he was writing an “english assignment” in his journal. And that this was “one of his short stories” It just seems that even the dumbest investigator would have checked into whether or not there actually WERE other short stories.
Plus even in the first article (IIRC) the authorities mentioned “other items found” (paraphrased).
That’s the trouble with the damn media, never give a complete story and always jump the gun, so I don’t think it’s your fault DtC.
I’m glad you posted those articles: now my wish to see individuals skinned alive and covered with salt even more soundly founded. Although I do not wish death upon them, of course.
True, darn me for not being more clear, but many times, they don’t come back and fill in the details.
I still have no idea who is in the right here. Like others said, now the spin could be being made by the cops. But from the very first one, a few things stood out to me that immediately made me think “oh come on, there’s got to be more to the story”.
Especially the semi “back and forth” about whether it was an english assignment, or if it was just for his own enjoyment and something in his journal. I mean, how many kids write their homework assignments in their journals? Where I’m guessing journal=diary of sorts right? And not an assignment book?
I remember when I was in high school, about 7 years ago, in English class we would have to write in “journals” which were just notebooks that had to be turned in every so often for grading. Sometimes we had journal assignments, and other times the assignment was just to freewrite.
I was going to post in this thread earlier, but even I am not all that eager to leap into a thread and take up a wildly unpopular view, 'least not unless I grok that the tradeoff is worth it.
So, I’ve waited to say something in this thread until there was a bit less outrage.
I think that this case was handled pretty much as it should have been. The boy wrote something which could have been seen as a threat. The cops investigated and arrested him so that he’d be off the streets, and now he’s being charged with a crime that it looks like the did in fact commit.
I am 100% against cencorship and the like, and I do think that children should be free to write whatever fiction they want. But I also think that if they write fiction involving the killing people at their school, they should be investigated.
Oh, and, freewriting in journals at home is a part of many writing workshop programs, and most of the current literature suggests that such practices are essential for developing writers as well as the general sphere of critical literacy.
It seems like there’s a slate of these pit threads that turn out to be quite a bit more than the meets the eye. It’s like the third I’ve seen recently from Dio, including the Cosby thread and the rubber band issue. I would think at this point he should know better. The stories are grabbed up and spinned by the media just to get you outraged. Don’t be such a Pavlov dog when you react to them.
Golly. What an awesomely fucking stupid deductive leap. At least you’re safe from anyone brainwashing you. How about you buy a clue and maybe then you’ll realise I was alluding to a history of similar abuses in our public schools such that alleged incarceration over zombie stories, while immediately offensive to civil libertarian sensibilities, is not altogether surprising. It’s a comment on how far down the slope we’ve already slid. Being desirous of a society that values teacing critical thinking, and the judicious weighing of evidence over hysterical summary judgement, is hardly a wish for brainwashing of any kind. Even in the instance that the student had been caught plotting an actual crime, if the tipoff was a fucking zombie story, I’d still regard that as a travesty. I guess that’s consistent with the fact I don’t regard things like Miranda and search warrants as evils inflicted upon us limp-wristed, “soft-on-crime” jurists and legislators. I don’t feel legal concepts like “cause” ought to encompass the emminent display of a vivid imagination, however lurid.
Uh oh. My Nanowrimo entry last year involved the entire zombification of the New World and their eventual outbreak in London in 1750. Imagine all of the schools, hospitals, nurseries and cute little puppies that were caught in that.
Yes, I was aware that such assignment type journals existed for kids in school, I just didn’t think that it was made very clear in the articles whether or not it was that type, or just a diary type journal of his own.
The sad thing is, I bet they wouldn’t have turned him in if they found out he was smoking grass, which is also a crime…
Given the clarity of thought processes here, the kid could have been trying to organize a D&D game. Hell, he could have been running for Student Body President!
Just this week, one of my students wrote a story and read it aloud to the class. In the story, she waited for me after school and stabbed me to death.
Yeah, I turned it in to the principal. Am I an enemy of free speech? Students assault teachers all the time- you wouldn’t believe how often- and if I allow her to threaten me publicly without responding, it’ll only be hours before other students do the same.
In fact, one student later in the day wrote and presented a virtually identical story- she had heard about the cool kid who threatened to stab Ms. FisherQueen in class, and decided to do the same thing.
I’ve got enough problems without dealing with this crap.
Of course, there is a slight difference between being threatened with a knife and threatened with a zombie.
It’s hard work finding one zombie, much less recruiting an army of them. Then, if you do get a zombie army assembled, just try getting them coordinated. Zombie attacks are usually poorly executed, and it’s somewhat easy to escape from the mayhem if you keep your wits about you. Of course, if you overreact to a story about zombie attacks, you’ve probably already lost your wits.
If anyone is still interested, there was a hearing and the judge is kicking the case over to the grand jury. Of the papers the kid wrote that were read none involved zombies in any form but did have a lot about killing people in the school. Also the kid was apparently in correspondence with another person who claimed to have collected cash and guns from previous break-ins. It appears to be a bit more complicated than a couple of paragraphs posted on the web would lead one to believe. Local authorities say they’ve been flooded with angry e-mails.