High School Student arrested for writing violent poem!

This is just too much. Where will it end? Now, I don't condone any of the behavior in the essay he wrote, but come on people! FREEDOM OF SPEECH as well as all of our freedoms are slowly being taken away. Think: Any other student who has heard of this, or will in the future, would be less likely to write something CREATIVELY from their imagination because this kid was charged and arrested. Seems like something out of V for Vendetta!

Here is the article:

seattlepi.nwsource.com...

Here's what he wrote:

www.chicagotribune.com...

Here's MSNBC's take on it:

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Mods feel free to make any changes.. Thanks!

In light of the recent events (Virginia Tech), I'm not surprised with the 'crack-downs' that universities and schools are going through at present, and the many more that will arise when students' papers raise a red flag for 'innappropriate content'.

Students will definately have to watch that fine line between 'creativity and negative-based terminologies' in their essays/papers/etc.

Creativity can come in many forms; we should question the methods behind creativity when it signals a dark motive behind our words and deeds.

There are many teachers that are on the alert for possibly problem students and have stepped up the 'security notch' a few levels.

The student that wrote the essay, IMO, "Should've know better than to write what was contained in the article".

Some lines shouldn't be crossed.

I agree with you TheDuckster. But, I don't agree that the student should be arrested and/or fined for speech. Red flagging someone for their thoughts...ok. Arresting them for their thoughts...not ok in my book.

yea arrest is way out of line. i think its better for this kid to be able to write and express things on paper rather than actually committing any criimes. ive heard documentaries and such that say most violent criminals in prison lack the ability to imagine sick fanasies and therefore have to commit them, so if they take away this kids right to vent, and he continues to have these thoughts, they may just be making a criminasl out of him. anyway, he should maybe jsut get counceling or be watched or something, definately not arrested. whats next, are they going to arrest musicians for singing about illegal thinsg??

We don't have free speech in America. Our freedom of being persecuted outweighs our freedom of speech.

The fighting words doctrine, in United States constitutional law, is a limitation to freedom of speech as granted in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In its 9-0 decision, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), the U.S. Supreme Court established the doctrine and held that "insulting or 'fighting words', those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace". . .

My current English teacher is a control freak intent on setting a gap between herself and her students like a 63 year old white male fortune 500 company CEO, and a illegal immigrant. . .

. . . No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting.

That sounds like hate speech and fighting words in my opinion.

Wikipedia: Fighting words

He should have included a disclaimer as a preface to his poem.

Even I knew that in high school back in the '90's.

Smart kid, but sound slike he was going for the shock value, without taking into considerations of the interpretation of such work in todays modern culture.

Maybe he was just trying to push buttons and test the system.

[edit on 27-4-2007 by GENERAL EYES]

Originally posted by Griff
I agree with you TheDuckster. But, I don't agree that the student should be arrested and/or fined for speech. Red flagging someone for their thoughts...ok. Arresting them for their thoughts...not ok in my book.

Thank you Griff!

I don't agree with the student being arrested. Perhaps detained (privately- out of earshot from public media) for the purposes of finding out the 'reasons behind his creativity'.

I don't go for the axiom: "Shoot first, then ask questions later." In this case.

General eyes has the right idea:

"He should have included a disclaimer as a preface to his poem."


[edit on 27-4-2007 by TheDuckster]

[edit on 27-4-2007 by TheDuckster]

first of all you guys are not getting the entire message here.

this guy was not arrested for writeing a controversial essay. he was a victim of racial profiling.

the student was told to write any story.
the student told the teacher he was not very interested in make a complete fictional story.
the teacher told him to just do anything it doesnt matter.
all student were told to "do NOT censor yourselves"

during this week of assignment many other student presented much more "red flag " type reports. one girl wrote a story how she went on a killing spree within the school grounds and named students that she would target. one boy wrote a story on how he would be a hitman and was hired to assassinate student body, and he even brought in an actual silencer and started pointing it at students as he rad his story aloud.


the reason this kid got their attention is because hes asian.

whats worse is his being handled as an adolescent but being processed as an adult. this kid has a 4.1 gpa, and it will always be on his record(hes 18).


personally i think this whole issue is ****. this kid should sue the school and the police department for every thing they have. hes life will always have this scar, and because of that he "should " be compensated for it.


not to mention this is a violation of the 1st amendment.

Great... looks like a lot of people are going to jail for stupid reasons... Why don't they arrest all the musicians (rock/metal/rap/etc) too. They also write and even sing violent stuff.

Geez, whats next?

That's pretty pathetic, given the fact that the teacher supposedly told the students there would be no repercussions for their contributions.

Beyond that, I think it was pretty stupid for him to submit those comments for a class assignment.

Murder, drugs, and necrophelia are subjects that likely to disturb others, especially whiny, little, liberal-elite teachers.

I would expect better from law enforcement.

The charges will probably be dropped.

If I were on a grand jury for this case, I'd no-bill it in less than a second.

See, this is why conspiracy buffs like me arent certain these people who perpetrate such horrible things in schools of all places, arent being worked like robots by some unknown force.

It just seems convenient that such horrible things happen, and for each and everyone, more tightning up of our rights are persued.

I dont beleive in coincidences- not this many, one after the other. There are forces working in the background to change the world. I'm not sure, but everytime something horrible like this happens, i cant help but think that some black helicopter way up there isnt giving some chip implanted person orders to commit such atrocious crimes.

But then, it could be that i'm insane. Its one or the other.

OOOps.

[edit on 27-4-2007 by dgtempe]

Originally posted by dgtempe
i cant help but think that some black helicopter way up there isnt giving some chip implanted person orders to commit such atrocious crimes.

You and me both girl. They already succeeded in this and gotten caught. MKUltra. My boyfriend works for the State Department. I brought up MKUltra one day and he just looked at me like I was crazy. I had to download actual documents of the senate hearing about it with Ted Kennedy leading the way. He admires Ted, so that did the trick. Mind, he works at the state department yet had never heard of MKUltra. What else do these people who have top security clearance have to do? If I had that clearance, I'd be looking everywhere for stuff. That's probably why i don't have one though.

Originally posted by dgtempe
I dont beleive in coincidences- not this many, one after the other. There are forces working in the background to change the world. I'm not sure, but everytime something horrible like this happens, i cant help but think that some black helicopter way up there isnt giving some chip implanted person orders to commit such atrocious crimes.

it could also be that the human species is incapable of obtaining true freedom. we(as a whole) could be destined to hang/enslave ourselves.

tho the black helicopter scenario seems less hopeless

Some of the most famous horror writers would be sitting in a jail cell right now. Steven King and Dean Kootz to name just 2 who's first essays/novelettes were very dark.

Not all kids who write violent essays go on to mass murder.
MOST of them join metal bands and write lyrics or become novelists.
Or Rappers even.

While they are singing, writing about it, it is ART.

This is really a prohibition on SELF-EXPRESSION.

What's next? Publishers will be jailed for publishing horror books?
Film makers will be jailed for making horror films?

It's a slippery slope and once a minimal thing like a student being jailed for an essay, then accepting the rest (the banning of anything that's more dark than The Brady Bunch) will ensure.

A step backwards if you ask me.
We don't always think happy-happy thoughts and we don't always feel warm and fuzzy to everyone around us.
It's the human condition.
Will kids be jailed next for writing dark thoughts in their own personal diaries too? The thought police are alive and well it would seem.

If we cant' express it then we'll go back to the dark ages when everyone was totally SUPPRESSED. And a hell of lot of people spent time in Sanitariums.

wtf??? everyday america is dissapointing me more and more!! for reals what happend to freedom of speech?? maybe they could have evaluated him or something but arresting??? soooooo lame

Girl Trouble + Excessive Video game content + Extreme boredom at skool gettin that edumacation = a student who will go to extreme lengths to relieve said boredom.

The pen as a weapon against peace and order.

2 weeks ago - I sat with a freind of mine - And we wrote poems infornt of a campfire.

The idea was to write - And throw it into the fire.
It worked fine.
I did 3 poems.


I took some photos of the campfire - we where just burning things to clear the garden for old building materials.

Do you see the figure? in the flames?
Not to hang anyone up on this - But when I came home I made an Avatar from this picture - And it was removed from ATS - because the flame looks a bit like a human being.

I don't care - But I agreed to remove the Avatar
- why make a scene out of it?

Im not a teenager anymore - that might be the difference.
Im an old writer - I have written everything I could.

Why do the teachers first teach the children to write since later it becomes forbidden?
I agree somthing is hanging in the background - and that is the teaching - not only of learning to write - but what we are taught.


[edit on 28-4-2007 by Ram]

If for any reason to arrest this person, is for the lack of proper use of English and spelling.

Wow... another "cry for help" and they throw the cuffs on.

Yet again, the exercising of your 1st Amendment right lands you in jail. :shk:

Extremism is a driving force and key concept of understanding in any creative art, including creative writing. Just because the kid felt like writing the most extreme thing he could, it doesn't justify his arrest. It just means he's learning to be a good, provocative writer.

Maybe the teacher should have asked him to explain the essay, the semiotics, etc. It could just turn out that the kid was experimenting with pushing the boundaries, there's nothing wrong with that, it just helps him recognise where the boundaries are and how they can provoke people.

This was obviously caused by tensions from the VT massacre. More of that sort of thing and soon all forms of expression will be banned