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Student Arrested For Using Phone App To 'Shoot' Classmates
New submitter Lord_Breetai sends word that a Louisiana high school student has been arrested for using a mobile app to simulate shooting his classmates. The app overlays an FPS-style gun and UI over a real background seen through the device's camera. The student tried it out and then unwisely posted a video of it on YouTube. Another student's parent saw the video and reported it to authorities. Major Wolfe of the local police said, "You can't ignore it. We don't know at what time that game becomes reality. He said it was a result of him being frustrated and tired of being bullied. He said that he had no intentions of hurting anybody. We have to take all threats seriously and we have no way of knowing that without investigating and getting to the bottom of it. With all the school shooting we've had in the United States, it's just not a very good game to be playing at this time." The boy is now facing criminal charges for terrorizing and interference of the operation of a school.
If they'd discovered his Whip-App, he would have been accused of racism too.
Not to mention the beer app, since he's under 21.
Zero tolerance, complete risk avoidance, and neopuritanism while half the country cares more about what happens after you die than the encroaching totalitarianism.
He said it was a result of him being frustrated and tired of being bullied.
and what a better way to deal with this than let the police and justice system bully him instead
Yet another display of unbeleivable stupidity. Though tasteless the app be , it's still a stupid game and frankly .. haven't we all something better to do than waste time on this total waste of time article ? Cops and school are bunch of idiots and so is the guy holding the cam .. moving right along folks :D
So they don't think it's a problem if he's bullied, but if he plays a game where he does something about it (because no one else will ever do anything) he becomes the bad guy? And they still wonder why they have school shootings?
We have to take all threats seriously [...]
Of course you have to but no, an app is not a threat.
With all the school shooting we've had in the United States, it's just not a very good game to be playing at this time
Yeah, except that the app itself tells the users "not to use real guns in the real world". I think it's actually a pretty good thing to play with at this time, lest the people forget.
Ezekiel 23:20
Stop with the stupid "right to bear arms" crap and stuff like this will not bother anyone. It's just a game on a display.
And I'd say that 99% of the school shootings are due to people being harassed and bullied by groups, so teaching kids to be better persons and tolerate others would do a much better job than trying to catch oppressed people in the last stage of "I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to do to get out of this situation anymore".
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I think all his classmates should download the app, make similar videos and upload them to youtube just to show how ridiculous this is. They can't arrest them all.
The guy is facing CRIMINAL CHARGES for fucks sake!
No you don't. You should use your brain first.
Isn't there an app so simulate arresting him? That sounds like it would have been more appropriate.
It's a damned shame his life has to be ruined for something so stupid. Scare him, maybe. Charge him, definitely not.
"With all the school shooting we've had in the United States" pretty much sums it up.
Suppose, if you will, that (given this game's availability) 99% of those who will eventually shoot up their school would play it.
Suppose, further, that 99% of those who will not shoot up their school would not play it.
Now if you're a typical school official, you'll read the above and "know" that seeing one of your students playing this game is a very clear indicator that person will, if not stopped, shoot up your school in the future.
If, OTOH, you're someone who's competent at probability and statistics, you'll consider that, as school shooters are far, far less than 1% of students, that the vast majority of students playing this game won't shoot up the school.
(Of course, that leaves aside the silly notion of criminal charges because we suspect you'll commit a school shooting in the future. Not only are the charges themselves unjustifiable, but the pragmatics of "Oh, here's a student who's so bullied and alienated that he's about to shoot up the school -- let's arrest him; when he comes back, I'm sure he'll be calmed down and will fit right in!" are mind-boggling.)
Are you unable to discern when computer games have become reality?
Here's some helpful signs for our boys in blue:
Scenario 1: It's quite dark, there are men wearing suits with bright flouro stripes. Jeff Bridges is there. COMPUTER GAME HAS BECOME REALITY.
Scenario 2: You like to play starfighter. You have just beaten the high score, and a man in a hat is inviting you to go for a ride in his car that can fly. YOUR GAME IS ABOUT TO BECOME REALITY.
Scenario 3: You are hacked into a computer. Is it calling itself joshua? Is it seemingly reluctant to play Thermonuclear War? YOUR GAME IS ABOUT TO BECOME REALITY.
Scenario 4: Your life doesn't resemble Scenarios 1 - 3? You life is not a computer game.
Sorry.
Play Again (Y/N)?
"The boy is charged with terrorizing and interference with the operation of a school."
What's next? Arresting pre-schoolers who point a finger and go 'Bang Bang!!" ???
Maybe if guns weren't so fucking easy to come by the US wouldn't have to arrest kids for being kids.
Fucking idiots.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
who the fuck was harmed? no one. interfering with school ops? when? how?
The US has become a nation of fucking pussies. Thankfully it seems that a lot of under 25's are rejecting the fucked up views of their parents and grandparents. The late babyboom and near postboom generations have been a disaster in just about every way possible.
America is a country which values the right to have high capacity magazines for assault weapons over the freedom of speech.
It it more important to ensure the blind can carry a concealed firearm than it is to ensure the children of the country are properly educated.
It is more important to spend nearly 5% of the GDP on a military, not counting the illegal wars than to allow your fellow countrymen access to affordable health care.
That is the very definition of a morally corrupted system.
It is simply a fact. Most of the people simply do not care about what is going on in America as long as their personal situation is OK. As long as they can buy an iPhone 10s for 1$ on a 5 year contract.
There is only one possible outcome here. America has been on this road since the 70's. Some argue since the end of WW2. It is only now, as things have progressed so far that the visible signs are escalating.
I do not say that Americans are bad people, because I believe that they are, on the average "just folk". Just trying to get by. They are, unfortunately, a product of the system which produced them. That system, just didn't have their interests in mind.
i.e. assaulting other students, not just making "threats" but actually doing things, they let that slide. But pretending to shoot other students is an arrest-able offense.
There is noting unwise about posting videos of a game on youtube. What was unwise was assuming the adults in the school - the people that are suppose to be educating these students, and who are basically raising them, since they are with them more waking hours than their parents - have half a brain between them.
Imagine if he had been the kind of psychopath that would image -- and even trivialize -- crushing people's skulls.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
Dunno, perhaps if the USA stopped being a 3rd world country - in that regard - where everyone is allowed to go around with a gun, they didn't really had to be afraid that the student would do anything more than just play around with his iPhone game, would they?
Another thought crime.
Seriously, what do you mean will be? They are fucked up. This, and the last generation have such an unbelievable sense of entitlement it is shocking.
I am sure some of you have had the misfortune to interview some of today recent grads for a position. Most seem to expect 6 figures and to run the company in 2 years regardless of the fact that they have no useable skills or problem solving ability.
There is a reason why there is so much pressure to increase the foreign work visas.
When I was last working in the US, our company hired mainly engineer from Germany. We paid them more than they could get in Germany and they were happy for it. Our recent grad American applicants were asking for nearly 50% more.
And this country wields a nuclear weapon. Wonderful.
We don't know at what time that game becomes reality.
That's a good question. To the end of answering it, I'd like to be the kid's defense attorney for this case, because I've played through all of the Ace Attorney games, and I'm looking forward to the new one coming out soon in English.
This proposal is a simple one. If I am not allowed to defend the kid in court based on my experience with law video games, then they can't use video games to call him a murderer, so the prosecution has no case on those grounds. If I am allowed to defend him just because I've played some law video games, then we are unlikely to be able to make a decent defense case (but these are criminal charges, so reasonable doubt is a thing).
If the kid can be a murderer because of a mobile game, then I should be able to be his attorney because of Phoenix Wright.
Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
He said it was a result of him being frustrated and tired of being bullied.
Sue the school district. That's how you shut a bureaucrat up - lawsuits. Because HIS boss will be scared shitless of HIS job. And his boss more than likely reports to a politician.
Kids, that IS how to deal with it. Don't suck it up. Don't get violent. Becuase sucking it up or getting violent just hurts you and allows the bullies to get away with it. (And for all of you who think that bullying made yo a better person, you are full of shit: you either weren't truly bullied, you are in denial or you had some incredible support from friends and family at the time (you were around Saints!) I was told that is was part of growing up and to suck it up - very bad mistake.
Get a lawyer and go to college for FREE and have money left over for a nice house - all paid for by taxes of the bullies parents and everyone else. After all, bullying IS a society problem and what better way to get back at society than lawsuits against what ends up being the taxpayer.
Vengence is green backed up by a court order and sheriff's deputies!
How do you define "fallen dramatically"?
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/17/us/violent-crime/index.html
Seems to me that America still has WAY more crime, violent crime especially, than other 1st world countries.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/october/annual-crime-in-the-u.s.-report-released
we used to run around the school yard with wood sticks and make pew pew pew at schoolmates and - oh god -.even towards teachers.
Obviously we had to turn all out to be serial psychotic killers that shot everyone out our schools.
With all the school shooting we've had in the United States, it's just not a very good game to be playing at this time." The boy is now facing criminal charges for terrorizing and interference of the operation of a school.
So, instead of just counseling the lad, and maybe talking to teachers and investigating the bullying, we're not going to fix the situation, but make an example out of the kid for doing the equivalent of making a "gun" with his finger and saying "bang". In fact, the over-reaction by the school will just ensure that the very kind of people who actually DO shoot up schools will not go to the grownups for help for fear of being jailed as a terrorist for their thoughtcrimes.
Will you scared little fuckers actually do anything I want if I drum up threats of your woman and children being harmed? Of course you will. School Bus Drivers kill more kids in accidents than school shootings do. You Fucking morons are so easy to control. Keep the environment, make more examples to make the environment worse and thus gain more control through fear. We've got you to acclimate children to not walking home without supervision, despite child predator numbers being at an all time low, and acclimated to wearing RFID tags and getting retinal scans for no good reason.
1984's big brother is OK so long as he's "protecting" kids from harm, not oppressing adults? Proitp: Your indoctrination starts when you're yet young. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Soon we'll have you implanting microchips in babies that ping a wireless network, so they don't get lost... And brining your kids up to be the model dystopian citizens. Fools.
Even doom 1 could be banned with the same arguments, or at least, any fps where you play with (and kill) friends. Luckily no company (yet) had the great idea of making an fps where you can put your own face in your character (as far i know). And why not include any game where you kill people/monsters/whatever with guns, even if are 2d platformers? America's Army and any other where you play soldier are excepted because is ok to kill in that case.
Well, if you would send a letter to someone saying they will die, then that it is most obviously a threat. If instead, you would send a drawing, showing them dying, it would still be a threat. If you publicly or in a way that at least can bee seen by the persons depicted, post a video of them getting shot, that is still a threat. Now, I am not familiar with this app, and it might be that it does such an unrealistic job as to it not being something that can be taken seriously, but if it does a good job, and somebody decides to post it or send it so that it gets the attention of the people in the film, well then it is a threat. Think like this: If "three fingers Joe" of the mob posted the same video, I think it would be pretty clear to see that it is a threat.
Playing the game is one thing. The kid wasn't arrested for playing the game.
Imagine you're a 15 year old high school kid. You just saw Newtown happen. You get a link in your email from a classmate and hit Youtube to see a video some other kid you don't know using this game to "shoot" you and a bunch of your friends in the hallways.
What do you think? How do you feel?
Playing the game and posting the video are two very different things. Posting videos of you "shooting" your classmates calls for some sort of action. That is messed up.
Unfortunately the Major is right. He appears to sound level headed enough to know that this is probably just a teenager venting, as does everyone, and that's all there is to it. But at the same time he's stuck between a rock and a hard place - given the fucked-up state of the US, if he lets it go and the kid DOES shoot up the place, then things won't turn out well. There's enormous pressure on him to process this by the book because school shootings are such a high-profile issue these days.
Putting myself in his shoes, I think it's a fucked up situation is all, and I hope the charges are dismissed quickly once it's clear that if the kid really wanted to shoot up the school, he'd do it with a gun and not resort to an FPS overlay.
Well, it must remain allowed to buy and wield actual weapons, but it's good we can at least prohibit toy guns. Not free and brave enough for those.
Next up: arresting people for driving under intoxication because they have been drinking non-alcoholic "beer". After all, that's a way of simulating/threatening to drink real beer.
Is there a law on the books specifically about interference of the operation of a school? If so, it is such an open ended law, imagine an 8 year old in class being a little disruptive (perhaps chatting to friend), should that child face criminal charges?
Ah the word terrorizing, let me guess, once the other kids found out they were running around screaming in terror? what no? then it is not terrorizing, it might be making a nuisance, but definitely not terrorizing.
The constant involvement of police (or the threat of) in school business, that will lead to:
1) an army of robot citizens, with little or no thought of being free
2) those who are not robots, a strong resentment of law enforcement (people have a judgement of what is fair and what is not).
A 7 year old was arrested for terroristic actions after tossing an airplane across the classroom and it hit the wall, knocking a "teacher of the year" plaque slightly askew. The stunt reportedly tossed the airplane without any reaction from classmates. When one of the students relayed the story to her parents they decided to call the police to warn of the anti-social behavior. When asked, Police Chief Marny Logan said "We had to take it seriously, you never when he'll switch from paper airplanes to real ones. We can't teach kids that it is okay to fly aircraft in to buildings."
In other news: using chalk to draw in the street is found to increase the risk of future graffiti crime by 43%. Children who stick objects in their nose will one day use a straw and accidentally snort cocaine.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
I'd like to see this go to trial and see if they can really get a conviction. It would be very cool if they fail and then get sued for damages and compensation.
-Xen
I remember as a kid "squishing" the heads of people with my thumb and index finger. Who knew I was committing terroristic threats...
The kids that mowed down their class mates wouldn't have been A-OKAY upright citizens had they simply been prevented from pretending to shoot people in very childish and innocent little games.
That isn't and has never been the root of this issue.
What offends me the most about these sorts of rules is their stupidity. We are being dictated to here by lowbrow lackwits that sadly have the power of the state to compel us to obey their latest stupid thought.
The issue is not kids playing silly little games. The issue is that a certain segment of the human population is stark raving loony. Just as some are stupid or some are going to die at age 5 from a brain tumor... some are just mentally broken. There's nothing you can do about it besides find them and watch them for violent tendencies. And not goofy little games but vicious, cruel, and sadistic acts. You see that, you isolate them. If you can come up with a way to cure that sort of thing... fine. But in the meantime... watch and isolate. Because plan B in the old days was just killing them. Which sounds cruel until you remember that left to their own devices they tend to put axes through people's heads for no reason.
So... long story short. This stupid game has nothing to do with the school shootings. Stop messing with kids over this stupid crap unless your intention is to declare your own stupidity.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
More insanity.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
While i disagree with the topic being a crime, being underage does not somehow magically exclude you from being a criminal. Criminal behavior has no boundaries.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Why? He did NOTHING wrong. The fact you even suggest this makes you as sick as the ones that want this kid in jail ( and destroy what is left of the next generation )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
"We don't know at what time that game becomes reality." I think this guy should speak for himself. I certainly know, and this isn't it.
At the very least, the posting of the video constitutes a death threat, which demands justice.
No it does not constitute a death threat. A death threat is, "I'm going to kill you now, AC". A video game is just a video game now matter what the pixels may or may not look like.
Let me say that again. AC, I am going to murder you sometime very soon. I own a gun. An assault rifle. I am going to kill you with it. This IS going to happen. So you might want to prepare a will or something. Perhaps flee whatever country you live in as well. Just to be safe.
The only problem is that I have no idea who you are and no way to find out and I don't actually own a gun. Do you see why threats are required to be credible and why the person making the threat is expected to have some realistic means of carrying it out?
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Umm that is illegal now as well. The using your finger to shoot someone is. Well at least shooting them with a pop-tart.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/student-suspended-for-pop-tart-gun_n_2903500.html
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
He can't interfere with the operation of a school. Those laws are applied hundreds of times each day by schools across the country. That's why you can get sent to the office for being disruptive. At the very least, that's what this is, it is disruptive. And also possibly intimidating. It's not much different when gangsters drive past you with the the trigger-finger gesture. Be honest. Would you feel threatened if your classmate were drawing pictures of you dead? Don't lie. Would you feel threatened if your classmate celebrated images of your fictional death by sharing them with others? Liar. Yes you would. That's why this kid is getting punished, and he should be.
Something else to think about: Some people respond to apparently credible threats to personal safety with preemptive violent strikes of their own. ...
1) Use a phone to simulate shooting someone: Get arrested
2) Buy a gun that can actually shoot someone: A-okay!
'merica.
Maybe address the cause of all the anger and frustration?
It sounds like everyone knew the activity was harmless except the police. How can you terrorize someone with a cell phone?
Simple: Yes, they can. And if the guy talks back, they can add a few more charges. In reality, the police can charge any citizens they like with the police being morons. That is how a police-state works, you know.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Kids does dumb but mostly harmless thing. Lets ruin his life by arresting him and throw him into adult prison. Either he will become a real criminal, or will become
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
And all these fucking idiots wonder why I don't want children. Seriously?
I blame the complete lack of tolerance for violence in schools. Ask someone who graduated in the last ten years about the fights they got into at school. Now ask someone 20 or even just 10 years older than that the same question. It was a relatively rapid change where occasional fights were the norm, to being unthinkable. I don't know if it was us applying rules that made sense for schools where kids brought shivs, to schools that didn't have anything more than normal scuffles, or just the general risk aversion society has developed. Parents teaching their children to always walk away from a fight didn't help. In an adult life that makes sense. If someone is violent you get out of there. You will probably never see that person again and it doesn't matter what impression you make. School is a lot more like prison. If your kid walks (or worse runs) away from a bully, he will see that bully again tommorow, now having the left the impression of weakness. My parents taught me it was ok to defend yourself, and I figured out on my own that the best method for deterring a bully is hyperescalation. From k-12 I can count on one hand the number of times it was necessary, but today I would have been expelled. So today we are forced to tell our children to take the beating or to continually run and hide, because of the intelerance of our schools for violence.
refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
I'm sure it is... and its the product ignorant minds because that sort of behavior is not what caused students to get gunned down with REAL weapons.
There is no correlation OR causation between that behavior and actual violence.
Absent any link, why would you ban it? You can find a reason but it won't be substantive.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Do we have a bigger school shooting problem, or a bigger bullying problem?
don't you know that it is the bullies who NEVER EVER get punished.
A huge part of the art of bullying (that is passed down through the generations) is the ablity to escape any punishment whatsoever.
Those who are bullied get punished by those who should know better (Teachers, Parents, Police) because they take the easy way out.
I hope this kid sues the school and the local PD into Oblivion.
How many kids have to die before the powers that be take notice.
The scars on my wrists are evidence of my youth and being bullied. Two of those who did the bullying to me have served Life Sentences for Murder. They got exactly what they deserved.
The idea of political correctness in this country is so warped that thought crimes are now punishable by jail sentences & convictions. Most schools now implement a 'zero-tolerance' policy. These politically correct zero tolerance policies are designed to prevent bullying, but in fact do the opposite. At my nephews middle school, the principal stated on the first day of school that if anyone were to attack a student, the student could not fight back. Fighting back would result is severe disciplinary action (ie. zero tolerance) against both students and that the proper response was to lay on the ground (while presumably being beaten unconscious) and wait for help to arrive. Political correctness has become so extreme that even the right to self-defense has been eschewed.
.. now that they recognize the obvious threat represented by videos such as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAknnmy_i9k
The real problem in our cultures is the total abdication of responsibility by the authorities for the criminal violence perpetrated daily in our educational institutions.
Every child learns that they can either get away with committing acts of violence against others or that society will tie itself in knots to avoid protecting them from criminal violence.
Is it any wonder the victims of violence take the law into their own hands when our most important laws are actively ignored by those who ought to be enforcing them and protecting the rest of us from those that would break them.
Almost every problem our societies have can be traced back to acts of violence that are being tolerated by those that should know better and are committed by those that have been trained by our educational establishments to believe are acceptable.
Assault is a crime.
An extremely serious crime that we should never tolerate. Effectively enforce that one law and almost all the other serious crimes would disappear overnight.
Trust The Computer, The Computer is your friend.
http://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew He must be lined up for the death penalty then.
I'm pretty sure at *some* point in my childhood I drew a picture of somebody I didn't like with a knife through their head or something. This was standard fare when I was growing up. Either that or you drew farts coming out of their butt. If you wanted to shoot somebody, you used your finger.
The absolute *worst* thing that could happen is going to the principal's office. That'd be if you actually said something like, "I'm going to kill you" more than once or started a real fight with punches and stuff.
Getting this kid involved with the juvenile justice system? Absofuckinglutely insane. They'll victimize him an order of magnitude more than the school bullies were bothering him. This kid should have had a private chat with a guidance counselor. I'm absolutely ashamed to be middle-aged now; because the twats that are damaging this kid are probably a part of my generation.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
next thing we know, they will be charging 5 year olds with felonies for farting on eachother. heaven forbid we disrupt the school system playing a game.
http://www.bullies2buddies.com/
http://bullies2buddies.com/resources/free-manuals/
"This manual will teach kids why they are being picked on and how to make it stop without anyone's help and without getting anyone in trouble!"
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
I'm thinking that posting the thing was a bad idea. Maybe some kind of warning was defintely in order. Talk to him and explain that his response to the bullying was in it's own way just as bad. Jail? You're fucking crazy. Talk about over reaction. What the hell ever happened to common sense. I remember when I was a kid and we did bad stuff my Dad told me where I went wrong and backed it up with a belt. Nowadays this is called child abuse and instead we throw them in jail or trank them on drugs. Big improvement....not.
My parents also explained to me that retaliating against a bully would get me in trouble, because the bully's punch caught the corner of a teacher's eye, and the second punch (mine) would occur after the teacher was looking. It happened that way once, but usually the teachers didn't notice either their attack or my retaliation. Teacher's aren't superhuman, they can't be everywhere, and bullies pick their time and place carefully, kids have to handle some of this on their own, even though we wish they didn't.
refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
But this used augmented reality and a cell phone so it's just like the real thing. It's a good thing he didn't virtually teabag anyone he "shot" or he'd be charged with rape also.
He made a video.
I thought USA had some kind of freedom of speech thing going, Like a constitution or something.
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
How did this happen? Didn't the authorities have any warnings about this kid?
I'm willing to bet in 100% of cases, or as close to 100% as makes no difference, the authorities were fully aware that the kid in question was the victim of bullying.
Or to put it another way.
WAS THE VICTIM OF SUSTAINED AND REPEATED CRIMINAL ASSAULT.
I'd also not be surprised if their response to this knowledge was to do Sweet Fanny Adams.
Frankly I think that ought to make them legally culpable for the subsequent actions of said victim of criminal assault.
Trust The Computer, The Computer is your friend.
That's depend of the point of view on who is sitting on the bench judging. Say certain type of cartoon/animation maybe OK in Japan but not in the US. I don't even play something like GTA and I agree with you that posting a video game shouldn't be consider a death threat, but then again we are suppose to obey the law written by people who don't understand anything they written about. In the worse case they have some type of incentive to write the law in a certain way. The way I look at this issue why the punishment doesn't fit the crime or why certain kids have to be single out for certain crime why other don't? So, it's not okay to to express yourself in a certain way even if it may violate the freedom of speech but nobody get hurt, but it's okay to beat the crap of other? If he get charged with interference of school operation, then I have to wonder if beating up classmate doesn't? Why doesn't the students who bullied other students get charge with this crime also? Or is the bulling behavior considered normal school operation?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- If picture worth a thousand words, how many megapixels is it? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
They use the game as a pretext to search his backpack in the mornings, ala the airport, and when he's got a gun in the backpack, it's become reality. If he has normal stuff and a phone in the bag, it's just a video game.
Actual phychological and physical harm (bullying) is ok.. But god forbid you make a drawing of a video to sate your frustrations (or map a photo onto a game avatar, you know, like we used to put pictures on a dartboard).. That's illegal, terroristy and you need to be locked up for that!
Step 1) Someone is found to be bullying, punish them.
Step 2) See a lot of this kind of behaviour vanish.
Nyet. Your freedoms have been suspended...including thought.
Show me your papers and your phone.
There is so much wrong with this and most of it is not with the game player!
You are all insane. At least please stop trying to tell people in other countries how to live their lives. We don't want to be as crazy as you. Seriously - criminal charges, terrorism?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
So you're saying that one day, maybe even accidentally, this kid could have loaded real bullets into his phone and actually shot people with it?
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
Common sense is totally dead in this country.
I loved playing DOOM, also playing around with a level editor. One day I realized my school would make a sweet level. You could have doors on all the rooms and lower level monsters for the "students" and a boss in each room, with the hardest monsters in the office as the VP and principle. You could theme the monsters a bit and have some as jocks in the locker rooms, fast ones on the track. Plus the layout of the buildings would be great for running and hiding.
Then I realized. People are idiots. If I put out a mod of my own school surely I'd get in a lot of trouble. So I never made the map. Besides if some sick puppy used my map and then actually did a school shooting I'd never be able to live with myself.
Sad that things have gotten this way.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
Instead of this farcical response they should have gotten him help, fixed the underlying problem, and prosecuted the adults who were aiding and abetting the bullies (just speculating about that last part but does anyone doubt it?).
In a sane society the bullying would not have happened because schools would be places for learning.
For drawing a penis over Mrs. Lochky's photo in 3rd grade by this logic.
Fuck liability - the real reason is cutting down on head injuries. How on earth did we end up with a bunch of useless weasels that look at the issue from such a sociopathic angle as the one described above?
I say the school, the administration, and the police department are guilty of bullying an innocent boy.
There's no common sense anymore. Zero tolerance will be the end of our civilization.
If you send your child to a public (government) school, you're guilty of child abuse.
Sure there is.
If a kid that at one time made a gun from a pop tart kills someone the administrator that didn't punish him will be blamed for missing the warning signs.
If he suspends or puts a normal kid in jail for playing nothing bad will happen to the administrator.
Punishment for under reaction no punishment for overreacting means that it is only logical to overreact.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
And learns how to really bang.
.And do the same thing and post it,are they going to arrest everyone.
You are going to kill AC? Please god do us all a favor!
zosxavius photography
From this I gather that playing cowboys and Indians with real-looking plastic guns is somehow frowned upon these days?
its never happened before.
There is no evidence to link one behavior with another.
End of any rational discussion on the issue.
If you want to have an IRRATIONAL discussion on the issue, then I counter with "poptard * unicorn = rainbow"
Which is about as sensible as things get if there is no interest in little things like evidence, logic, etc.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
I'm sure this kid will thank the police for correcting his mistake and this will in no way solidify any resentment of authority figures he has due to figures of authority not stopping the bullies like they should. thanks for doing such a great job!
The "Land of the Free" has become an ironic title and we are all to blame for having let it get this far.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
http://visitstomoney.com/index.php?refId=243023
what threat? i didn't see any threat, or even the faintest hint of one.
a threat is when you tell someone "i'm going to beat you up / kill you /etc".
drawing pictures on a photo does not qualify.
even if it is done on a *gasp* computer.
Next we'll have people in schools getting arrested for point their finger in a menacing manner, which I honestly can't wait for because it will likely include many teachers.
In Soviet Russia, dot slashes YOU!
Izzy Kalman's approach is more complex than "blame the victim". In most cases, "bullying" emerges from an interaction of "bully" and "victim" (generally in the context of some community). In practice, "victims" have the most at stake in changing the situation and also are most able to intervene for themselves. While it is great to create caring communities where people respect each other in all ways, in practice humans have a certain back and forth of joking with and about each other and so on. Conventional anti-bullying campaigns run the risk of destroying communities and relationships out of some theory of how to fix them. They can actually make the problem worse (like encouraging tattling, where accusing someone of bullying can become a new form of bullying, etc.). According to the testimonials on his site, Izzy Kalman's approach works in practice, when most zero-tolerance and also tattle-promoting strategies don't work well. His approach works by breaking the feedback loop between bully and victim by the victim not responding in ways that gives the bully encouragement to continue. There are exceptions to this; Izzy Kalman suggests a few where his strategy does not work like where the bully is very emotionally unstable and violent, and then yes, you would need to bring in higher authorities including potentially law enforcement. But in general, Izzy points out that getting picked on now and then is part of community life; the issue is whether that escalates into bullying, and that mostly is under the "victim's" control -- as much as that might not sound "fair" in some ways.
Where I might fault Izzy Kalman is not talking about how poor nutrition from junk food (lack of omega 3s, artificial colors and flavors, lack of phytonutrients, lack of vitamin D, etc.) may be leading to more violence and other anti-social behavior in our society. Also, the spread of computers, while not necessarily causing violence directly itself, takes away from time spent learning to interact with other human beings. And there are probably other similar factors as well (economic stress, failing communities, two-wage-earner families or single parents, etc.). I'm also all for teaching emotion coaching and conflict resolution and all sorts of other things that some anti-bullying efforts due. Also, I'm all for alternatives to compulsory schooling, where conventional schooling forces random children to spend all day with each other whether they want to or not (so children can't avoid conflicts that are escalating). But, as much as one can make people saying intentionally hurtful things less frequent, I feel Izzy is on to something in breaking the positive feedback cycle where negative comments spin out of control as the victim responds in ways that encourage the bully to keep going.
Here is one example testimonial:
http://bullies2buddies.com/evidence-testimonials/does-bullies-to-buddies-work/
""Bullies to Buddies is the most effective anti-bullying program I have encountered in my 14 years as a school counselor. It gives victims the tools and strategies necessary to handle difficult situations, thus increasing their self esteem. Parents are thrilled and some of them are practicing the skills with their children. The teachers and aides feel relieved that they no long need to handle every tiny little tattle or situation. This saves an enormous amount of time in the classroom and children find that they have more time to play. The teachers not only used the strategies of Bullies to Buddiesâ in their classroom but also with their husbands, children and exes." -- Vickie Kolb, School Counselor, Brandon Valley School District, Brandon, South Dakota"
In the case for the original article, maybe if the "victim" had learned these skills of managing these situations, then things would not have escalated to the point where the "victim" was pretending to kill people using a phone? Maybe the bullying would have never got that bad if the vict
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
In the video cap. Would you be thinking about how this kid is being treated unfairly? Or would you be worried for your child's safety? He says he was bullied. Maybe he was, maybe that was a convenient thing to say when he got in trouble. Maybe I'm getting old but I don't think putting a video online of you simulating killing people is ok. If this happened I'd hope they dealt with the bullying but I'd also be very concerned about that behavior. Maybe having 3 kids in school has made me over protective but a video like that would scare the hell out of me.
I can understand the need to investigate but unless you find evidencevthat he intended to actual go on a shooting, you shouldnt be able to arrest him. He didnt commit a crime.
So what..!! what about the kids who plays with those toy gun and everything they sell in toy stores.. What the fuck happen to this timeline.. soon to point a find will be to point a gun even if you show your buddy something in the public, people will start laying down accused you shooting with your finger in the public.
Glory To Arstotzka!
Welcome to living in a society with free *speech*.
Was you kid physically bullied? No. Where they even teased by classmates (in this case, unknown)?
Absent any provable damage other than the "feeling" you get when you go to a theater and watch a movie where all the kids in the movie are killed by the end in the movie, you think scary things should be grounds for action against the scary thing?
Um...where do you draw the line: Generally, when there is actual damage.
Amazing the level of hysteria and hoplophobia creeping into American society. I really fear for the future of our country.
All people who post to this thread are under arrest for thought crime. Please report for reNeducation. Excuse me. Knock at the door ...
Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
It floors me how the school can not, at the VERY LEAST, sympathize with the kid and try to fix the issue of the initial bullying. But it seems like they're all still quite tied up in the whole...GO WILDCATS! GO SCHOOL SPIRIT!! WOOOOO!!!! bullshit that runs the school system. Now I want to download the app and go to the school, and "shoot" the ones who put him in juvie.
Now, am I going to get arrested for suggesting that?
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
The police shall then use a mobile app that simulates an arrest and the judge shall use another mobile app that simulates a trial.
A video shall then be posted on youtube where bars are overlayed over the kid's picture to simulate prison.
I really wish I had mod points.
Also, how do I join? I'm a Jew, but I've never gotten any money, or been given any particular power, as a result. (Though I did once get a lawyer to fix something for me pro bono, but that was less being a Jew, and more my mom being really good at knowing people and getting them to do things for her, even if many of those people are from her local temple.)
Clearly a terrorist!
Cops can't tell the difference between games and reality. Give Major Wolfe some credit for honesty!
Also, they can't tell the difference between a gun and a taser. Sorry about that.
C'mon, people, it's hard to find PhD rocket surgeons willing to violently suppress peaceful demonstrators for craptastic pay. Cut the PD some slack!