Student gets charged for essay (Die Free Speech Die!!! )

[Japher]

I don't understand why someone that smart would want to be a Marine?

[Sirotnikov]

Apparently not that smart

[Aeson]

People are idiots. I'll bet this kid wrote the essay to put people's panties in a bunch. Though I doubt he expected to be jailed for it.

I do think we should watch out for warning signs, but what someone wrote in a creative writing assignment isn't a good one to look for. At all. And arresting someone for presumed psychological instability is retarded. Even if he was mentally disturbed, which this essay seems to not indicate at all, it's the worst thing you could do. Jail is not the place to "help" that. Counselling or other psychological treatment is.

But yah, lets put the (supposedly) anti-social person in jail to give their paranoia something indisputable to work on. (Hey, if it's true that people are out to get them, it's not paranoia, right? We just cured them!)

[Kuciwalker]

People overreact to VT shootings. News at eleven

[Fake Boris]

Just a few weeks after Columbine, I had to write an essay for High School 'What is the limit of an acceptable joke ?'

After noting the wealth of racist jokes around me, I concluded by saying : 'so when will someone come to our school and shoot Pakis because it's funny ?'

They thought about expelling me, but eventually the dust settled.

[Fake Boris]

Eagerly waiting for Americans to come in and say that free speech is determined by a constitutional article.

[Dis]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
A judge will probably throw it out and rightly so, but this kid shouldn't have been dumb enough to write that in the first place. Hell, with a 4.2 GPA he should have been at least smart enough to know not to write that in the first place. Spilt milk, he'll get over it.

he should have been smart enough not to join the marines.

[DRoseDARs]

Unlike some people here, I was trying not to denigrate the military...

[Dis]

Originally posted by Japher
I don't understand why someone that smart would want to be a Marine?

although GPA isn't everything. With Advanced plaement clases they give you a bonus allowing you to get over 4.0

I got over a 4.0 GPA and I'm not that smart.

[Wiglaf]

Weren't you a marine too? Or some ****?

[Wiglaf]

Also, this kid can burn in hell. Whoever posted this thread and quoted the constitution needs to realize

A- this is a private school and can do what it wants
and

B- [if I'm wrong about A and its a public school], of course there are restrictions, eg fire in a crowded theater, take a law class before you misinterpret the ****ing constitution

[Provost Harrison]

It was a bit stupid but still, this is a massive overreaction. As they say (although I have probably repeated it incorrectly), I hate what he has said but think he should have the right to say it.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
Also, this kid can burn in hell. Whoever posted this thread and quoted the constitution needs to realize

A- this is a private school and can do what it wants
and

B- [if I'm wrong about A and its a public school], of course there are restrictions, eg fire in a crowded theater, take a law class before you misinterpret the ****ing constitution

what the hell has the fact that it's a private school got to do with being able to press criminal charges on this student?

[Fake Boris]

Judging from the quoted part of his text, the guy is actually creative, with good rythm in his prose.

In a delicious irony, he tried to downplay his own metaphors by saying 'not really but would have been funny if I did', like he knew he was getting trouble for them.

[Sava]

I didn't think it was all that creative.