Back to School: Watch what you write!

Griff · 08-22-2003, 11:48 AM

Wired News has a story about a kid who wrote a short story, now he faces the potential of ten years in prison.

Brian Robertson was just months away from graduation at Moore High School in Moore, Oklahoma, last year when he found the beginnings of what he thought was a short story on a school computer. He copied the file to another computer, added some paragraphs to the initial text and then promptly got arrested.

I remember being a teen, it didn't involve too many happy thoughts, it was nice to puke them out on paper and toss'em in the trash, now you'd have to shred the paper and delete the file. Of course any teacher who ignores this stuff could get fired as well...The tighter the security noose gets in schools the more kids feel oppressed and the more they rebel, the more they rebel, the more security has to be tightened... Free Society?

Beestie · 08-22-2003, 12:30 PM

Well, if nothing else, it proves you don't have to be very bright to graduate from high school.

Tough love, I realize, but that is worthy of a Darwin.

xoxoxoBruce · 08-22-2003, 04:34 PM

Complete and utter bullshit. If you're going to write the Great American Novel, first check with Tom Ridge for appropriate subject matter? Did I mention, BULLSHIT!

tw · 08-22-2003, 05:20 PM

It is called the Patriot Act. Lists are now being compiled on what your read, what your buy, and what you post. Don't fool yourself. This is how McCarthyism got started. This is the subject of a book called 1984. Patriot act is just what an extremist party needs to control a nation - be it facist Italy, Nazi Germany, Eastern Europe, Uganda, or - which is next?

Greatest threst to America are top corporate executives who increased their salaries from 12 to 18 times the average salary, then 42 times - and now how much more excessive? They are the ones who finance the extremist part in the US. And so now we have a Patriot Act - which will collect lists today - and prosecute non-believers tomorrow.

elSicomoro · 08-22-2003, 09:44 PM

I think back to some of the things I did in grade school and high school...and 2 incidents vividly stick out as things that I would probably get expelled for now.

The first was in 8th grade: We used to write in a journal in English class, and you could do just about anything--talk about personal things, write poems, etc. As a joke, I took the song "Janie's Got a Gun" by Aerosmith and reworked it into "Terry's Got a Gun." It was strictly meant as humor, and my teacher (who was young and hip) got it. These days, I'd probably get a one-way express ticket to alternative school.

The second time was when I was a junior in high school. I got stuck in a class of seniors, and was tormented mercilessly by them. At the same time, I had an ex-girlfriend who had some of her friends making my life miserable. As an offhand comment one day in the cafeteria, I blurted out, "I feel like I need a gun to keep shit in check around here." I would have never seriously done this...I wasn't that crazy (or stupid). But one of my well-meaning friends reported this to our class coordinator, who pulled me in for a chat. I told her about what was going on, and that the comment was just some b.s. Everything was cool...parents weren't called...life moved on.

Later that day, as I was walking out to my car, some of the seniors that were in that one class with me walk up and apologize, saying, "We were just fucking around man...we don't want you to get a gun and kill us." Apparently she pulled them aside too.

The only bad thing that came out of that was that I wound up on the coordinator's shit list for the next year and a half. (Fuck her...she was a cunt anyway.) Of course, had that shit happened today, I would probably be in jail.

Good thing I had the stars in my favor.

xoxoxoBruce · 08-22-2003, 11:09 PM

I wonder if the Patriot Act has a retroactive provision?

wolf · 08-24-2003, 11:44 AM

I'm reminded of my own tenth grade social studies project ...

I forget the actual title of the class, but it was the one that all of the 'accellerated' students had to take. The textbook for the class was Crane Brinton's Anatomy of a Revolution. He had identified 8 stages that any revolution went through, which included goodies like "Defection of the Moderates" and "Thermidore" ... anyway, for my project I wrote a fictional account of a revolution occuring in the school building, in which the 'people' (students), rose up and took over to protest the restrictive 'government' ... using as characters my classmates and teachers ...

In those days, it was regarded as a work of sheer cleverness and earned me an "A". Today, I assume, it would have earned me a suspension, probable expulsion, criminal charges, and a job at McDonalds.

sixfeet · 08-25-2003, 08:53 AM

Once again our loving government is protcting you from yourself.
Personally if the parents of the jerks that did do those shootings could "disipline" their kids they might not have been that bad. Or not but that is just my opinion and we all know what opinions are like...lol:p

russotto · 08-25-2003, 11:55 AM

This is why one should _always_ sign any violent stories -- with someone else's name.

The age of freedom is over.

xoxoxoBruce · 08-25-2003, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sixfeet
Personally if the parents of the jerks that did do those shootings could "disipline" their kids they might not have been that bad. Or not but that is just my opinion and we all know what opinions are like...lol:p

Opinions (and the other), sometimes stink and sometimes not. Yours did not.

Bitman · 08-25-2003, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sycamore
(Fuck her...she was a cunt anyway.)

Um wait, I'm confused ... Is that good or bad? You kids and your slang ..

Whit · 08-25-2003, 11:23 PM

     There was a guy that committed suicide that went my High School. This of course was followed up by stacks and stacks of pamphlets giving the warning signs of suicide. I joked that I met the criteria for over two-thirds of the list. I also wore a lot of black. Today I've no doubt that I'd be sent for psychiatric evaluation, at best. Nutty.

elSicomoro · 08-25-2003, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bitman
Um wait, I'm confused ... Is that good or bad? You kids and your slang ..

Sorry Bitman, let me help you back over to your rocking chair and I'll explain it to ya...

cunt (good version): Poon-tang, pussy, a rather crude word that I generally don't use when talking about a vagina.

cunt (bad version): used in the same manner as "bitch." In my experience, many women, especially white women, really seem to hate being called this.

Griff · 08-26-2003, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sycamore

Sorry Bitman, let me help you back over to your rocking chair and I'll explain it to ya...

Bitman · 08-26-2003, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sycamore
(good version) (bad version)

And I knew what you meant .. up until you said "fuck her." I mean, you might have the hots for this teacher, I don't know.

08-22-2003, 11:48 AM	#1
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	Back to School: Watch what you write! Wired News has a story about a kid who wrote a short story, now he faces the potential of ten years in prison. Brian Robertson was just months away from graduation at Moore High School in Moore, Oklahoma, last year when he found the beginnings of what he thought was a short story on a school computer. He copied the file to another computer, added some paragraphs to the initial text and then promptly got arrested. I remember being a teen, it didn't involve too many happy thoughts, it was nice to puke them out on paper and toss'em in the trash, now you'd have to shred the paper and delete the file. Of course any teacher who ignores this stuff could get fired as well...The tighter the security noose gets in schools the more kids feel oppressed and the more they rebel, the more they rebel, the more security has to be tightened... Free Society? __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

08-22-2003, 12:30 PM	#2
Beestie -◊\|≡·∙■·∙≡\|◊- Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Parts unknown. Posts: 4,081	Well, if nothing else, it proves you don't have to be very bright to graduate from high school. Tough love, I realize, but that is worthy of a Darwin. __________________ ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦

08-22-2003, 04:34 PM	#3
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Complete and utter bullshit. If you're going to write the Great American Novel, first check with Tom Ridge for appropriate subject matter? Did I mention, BULLSHIT! __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

08-22-2003, 11:09 PM	#6
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	I wonder if the Patriot Act has a retroactive provision? __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

08-24-2003, 11:44 AM	#7
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	I'm reminded of my own tenth grade social studies project ... I forget the actual title of the class, but it was the one that all of the 'accellerated' students had to take. The textbook for the class was Crane Brinton's Anatomy of a Revolution. He had identified 8 stages that any revolution went through, which included goodies like "Defection of the Moderates" and "Thermidore" ... anyway, for my project I wrote a fictional account of a revolution occuring in the school building, in which the 'people' (students), rose up and took over to protest the restrictive 'government' ... using as characters my classmates and teachers ... In those days, it was regarded as a work of sheer cleverness and earned me an "A". Today, I assume, it would have earned me a suspension, probable expulsion, criminal charges, and a job at McDonalds. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

08-22-2003, 05:20 PM	#4
tw Read? I only know how to write. Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 11,933	It is called the Patriot Act. Lists are now being compiled on what your read, what your buy, and what you post. Don't fool yourself. This is how McCarthyism got started. This is the subject of a book called 1984. Patriot act is just what an extremist party needs to control a nation - be it facist Italy, Nazi Germany, Eastern Europe, Uganda, or - which is next? Greatest threst to America are top corporate executives who increased their salaries from 12 to 18 times the average salary, then 42 times - and now how much more excessive? They are the ones who finance the extremist part in the US. And so now we have a Patriot Act - which will collect lists today - and prosecute non-believers tomorrow.

08-22-2003, 09:44 PM	#5
elSicomoro Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 12,486	I think back to some of the things I did in grade school and high school...and 2 incidents vividly stick out as things that I would probably get expelled for now. The first was in 8th grade: We used to write in a journal in English class, and you could do just about anything--talk about personal things, write poems, etc. As a joke, I took the song "Janie's Got a Gun" by Aerosmith and reworked it into "Terry's Got a Gun." It was strictly meant as humor, and my teacher (who was young and hip) got it. These days, I'd probably get a one-way express ticket to alternative school. The second time was when I was a junior in high school. I got stuck in a class of seniors, and was tormented mercilessly by them. At the same time, I had an ex-girlfriend who had some of her friends making my life miserable. As an offhand comment one day in the cafeteria, I blurted out, "I feel like I need a gun to keep shit in check around here." I would have never seriously done this...I wasn't that crazy (or stupid). But one of my well-meaning friends reported this to our class coordinator, who pulled me in for a chat. I told her about what was going on, and that the comment was just some b.s. Everything was cool...parents weren't called...life moved on. Later that day, as I was walking out to my car, some of the seniors that were in that one class with me walk up and apologize, saying, "We were just fucking around man...we don't want you to get a gun and kill us." Apparently she pulled them aside too. The only bad thing that came out of that was that I wound up on the coordinator's shit list for the next year and a half. (Fuck her...she was a cunt anyway.) Of course, had that shit happened today, I would probably be in jail. Good thing I had the stars in my favor.

08-25-2003, 08:53 AM	#8
sixfeet Expectorant Inspector Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: 3rd rock from the sun...lol..South Carolina Posts: 31	Once again our loving government is protcting you from yourself. Personally if the parents of the jerks that did do those shootings could "disipline" their kids they might not have been that bad. Or not but that is just my opinion and we all know what opinions are like...lol:p __________________ I know nothing, I am only the messenger.....

08-25-2003, 11:55 AM	#9
russotto Professor Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,788	This is why one should _always_ sign any violent stories -- with someone else's name. The age of freedom is over.

08-25-2003, 11:23 PM	#12
Whit Umm ... yeah. Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Arkansas, USA Posts: 949	There was a guy that committed suicide that went my High School. This of course was followed up by stacks and stacks of pamphlets giving the warning signs of suicide. I joked that I met the criteria for over two-thirds of the list. I also wore a lot of black. Today I've no doubt that I'd be sent for psychiatric evaluation, at best. Nutty. __________________ A friend will help you move. A true friend will help you move a body.

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