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I Fucking Knew It!

April 29, 2007 10:01 AM

rosecutors in McHenry County, Illinois have charged Allen Lee, an eighteen-year-old high-school senior, with two counts of disorderly conduct after Mr. Lee wrote an essay which contained some violent images. You can read the full text of the essay, along with an explanation from Mr. Lee about its content, here. Two passages in particular lead to Mr. Lee's arrest. In the first, Mr. Lee says the following:

"So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone…, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did."
The quotes are in the original--Mr. Lee explains that he was writing this as if it was from the perspective of a character, not from his own perspective. The second passage is as follows:
No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting.

Of course, it should be noted that these two sentences are small parts of a much larger--and almost completely stream-of-consciousness--piece. Also, the teacher specifically told the students "write whatever comes to your mind. Do not judge or censor what you are writing." Mr. Allen, reportedly a straight-A student, followed directions and wrote something that, aside from representing the sorry state of our straight-A students' writing abilities, is not altogether scary.

It is outrageous that the teacher, the principal, the police, and the prosecutors would all agree that the proper course of action here is to arrest Mr. Allen and charge him with two misdemeanor counts. Mr. Allen was in a creative writing class. His teacher instructed the class not to censor themselves. But what she really meant, apparently, was that the students shouldn't censor themselves as long as they wrote about happy-happy fun-time things.

As far as I know, none of the greatest authors wrote their masterpieces while they were still in high school, and Mr. Lee's work is no modern classic. Still, he should be allowed to be creative in a fucking creative writing class! Stephen King and Dan Brown both have extremely violent and disturbing scenes in their work, but it would be absurd to say that they should be arrested for writing Carrie or The Da Vinci Code. I don't see why this should be any different.

Yes, the massacre at Virginia Tech was bad, and we're all hypersensitive to warning signs, but we have to be careful--in this case, it seems very likely to me that, rather than saving other students' lives, the administrators actions have done nothing more than ruin (or at least greatly disturb) Mr. Lee's life. It seems extremely likely to me that Mr. Lee was just writing something for an assignment, rather than foreshadowing an impending killing spree. Erring on the side of caution is fine when children's lives are at stake, but why involve the police? Why not merely call Mr. Lee in to the counselor's office and talk to him?

Like racial profiling, this kind of attitude is likely to be both under- and over-inclusive. Administrators will "catch" many people who do not pose a threat. Meanwhile, many kids who are dangerous or, at the very least, need help, will fall through the cracks. Ultimately, no one wins and a few kids lose.

This is not how to keep children safe.


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