What's That Amendment to Free Speech Again?
According to school officials in Oklahoma, there is no such thing as the freedom to express your views or thoughts anymore. Witness Brian Robertson who wrote a story about an armed assault of his school and is now facing up to 10 years in prison because of it. The story is on Wired News: Write a Story, Go to Jail.

They officials are claiming that his story constitutes a battle plan to cause catastrophic death and pain to society. And they've got a nice juicy new law on the books that says that to do so is a crime, a big ugly stinking pile of crime. Only thing is that I don't think individual states have the capacity to rewrite the federal laws. This kid was exercising his right to create a scenario that he had absolutely no intention of ever carrying out, he was exploring a darker side of the world of writing. And some uptights in power have decided to make an example of him by punishing him with jail time?

There are a few things that are wholly wrong about this situation. One, schools are intended to foster creativity and expresion so that kids can find their voice, schools are not intended to instill fear that something you write could land you in prison.
Two, free speech is a damned sacred right in this country. It allows dissenting viewpoints to have a podium, it allows asshole Illinois Nazis to march through Jewish neighborhoods, it allows those against the war in Iraq to voice their displeasure. It is not an absolute right though, free speech cannot be hidden behind by someone who intentionally incites violence and riots, it can't be used to level specific threats at the president.
Three, it was a story, nothing more. They searched his life from top to bottom and found nothing at all that suggested he planned to carry out the story's plot. And yet, they still kicked his ass out? On what grounds? They had none but they did it anyway in the name of security. And now this kid's life is pretty well fucked, he can't get a job because of the press exposure. Because he wrote a story. That's so utterly whacked its beyond whacked, its insane. The Peace or Else Mafia is rearing its pacifistic head and demanding the whole world lay down alongside the next sheep and not think bad thoughts, ever.

What's next? Home invasion searches to make sure students dont' have copies of illicit texts, pornography, violent video games or, shudder to think, guns in their possession. Guess what? Its LEGAL to own a gun, its LEGAL to shoot a gun, its LEGAL to possess a firearm. The article also mentions a bunch of other kids across the US getting suspended or expelled for writing or demonstrating an interest in the dark side. And guess what? Pushing them out the door isn't going to cure them, it'll just cause the anger they may be feeling to fester into resentment, rage and potentially violence which is ironic because they almost certainly wouldn't have if they'd been allowed to explore it in an academic environment.

Sometimes I truly hate this fucking country for the sickening hypocrisy of it all. You don't think the cops weren't armed to the friggin' teeth when they searched his home and car, do you? Of course they were. Show of force and all that rotten garbage.

Its getting so that kids can't be kids anymore, they have to be little adults all the time or they get sent to prison and effectively broken forever. Nice work, Oklahoma, think I'll be permanently crossing your shitty state off any list of places I'd ever want to visit. I might slip up and say Bomb in your state and you'd have to arrest me and throw me into a dungeon for twenty years for not being a Shiny Happy Person all the time. Get your heads out of each other's asses and recognize that you over reacted and give the kid his life back.

[Update: Brian's mother has begun a website to help spread the word about the railroad job being given to her son, check it out.]