Subject: Re: canadian kids in the brig
From: LR Pearson, Arts 99 (lp9616@bristol.ac.uk)
Date: Sun Feb 11 2001 - 12:00:21 GMT
Hello All!
I have been lurking for ages, so Happy New Year!
I read an interesting article about this in 'The Guardian' (yes
Scottie, I'm one of those Guardian reading types!). Apparently quite a
few prominent writers, including Stephen King ttok up this case. It
subsequently turned out that the drama monologue was not the main
reason the boy was arrested. He had made a number of threats to various
people and had apparently gone out of his way to be strange, alienating
himself from his peers and then reacting aggressively when they picked
on him for it. When this came out, the people who had been championing
his cause suddenly became very quiet...
Now, it seems to me a very difficult case. As a bit of an outsider at
school, I made myself even odder as a sort of protection from the
people who thought I was a freak, so I can see how this could start. It
seemed to me from what I read, that the boy had definitely been a
victim of some serious bullying, and the system had definitely failed
in protecting him. However, given the devastating results violent
reactions to bullying have had in America, one can see how this kind of
open threat would make the authorities jumpy. So, not such a simple
case about freedom of speech as it first appeared.
On a related note, I also recently read an article on Eminem, whose
rather unpleasant lyrics have caused lots of flap in the British press.
It was comparing him to other writers for whom the persona of their
wrting does not necessarily reflect their true feelings. For instance,
'Porphyria's Lover' is a strangely compelling poem but noone complains
that it incites murder. I was interested in this idea, but I am not
totally convinced that artists like Eminem can just abdicate
responsibilty for what they are saying. (I have to admit, I haven't
actually heard much of his music, so I am not speaking from a very
informed position). Does anyone else have thoughts on this?
Love, Lucy-Ruth
On Tue, 30 Jan 2001 17:53:51 -0500 Jive Monkey
<monkey_jive@hotmail.com> wrote:
> so this kid is being held without charge or what? doesn't sound too kosher,
> sounds like the uk way of dealing with alleged terrorists. is it illegal to
> say that you want to blow up a school? shouldn't we want to help the kid
> first, instead of turning him into a "thought-criminal?"
>
> andy
>
> From: kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca (Paul Kennedy)
> Reply-To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> Subject: Re: Indirect B-Fish Mention in AP ((No) Celebrations...)
> Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 20:56:00 -0500 (EST)
>
> There's an interesting "freedom of speech" case that's causing considerable
> concern in the Great White North these days. Last fall, a kid in Cornwall,
> Ontario, read a self-composed monologue in front of a high school classroom.
> The kid had only come to the school at the beginning of the fall term. He'd
> been harrassed. Actually, he'd been beaten bloody. His monologue was all
> about how he wanted to blow up the school.
>
> This is Canada. But it's also post-Columbine.... (We get most of our "news"
> from south of the 49th, up here....)
>
> The kid was arrested..... He spent his 16th birthday in a detention centre
> (read: prison for juveniles).... He spent CHRISTMAS in the detention
> centre.... He spent New Year's Eve in the detention centre.... In fact, in
> an article he's since written for a Canadian paper, he thanked the guard
> that woke him up, two minutes before midnight, to welcome in 2001....
>
> I don't know whether this is "relevant".... It might be a diversion....
>
> Is this Canada?
>
> Maybe Bob Dylan's best line: "There must be some way out of here...."
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul
>
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LR Pearson, Arts 99
lp9616@bristol.ac.uk
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