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Boy removed from school and is under investigation by DHS for repelacing "USA" with "ISIS" in the Pledge of Allegence


Ser Scot A Ellison

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1 hour ago, Nasrudin's True Love said:

Ah, so terrorism is working.

Of course it is.  Look at what we've done since 9/11.  Americans are scared of terrorism, which is the entire point of terrorism.  

It's sad that most people don't recognize this.

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5 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

How do you know it was simply a sarcastic comment?

You can't know for sure, but it's a pretty safe bet. Be honest, when you were a child, didn't you and your friends alter the wording of the pledge to be amusing, offensive or silly? I think I still remember a few of the variants we came up with.

The police reacted properly, but getting them involved in the first place was already overkill.

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14 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Swordfish,

You don't think this is an overreaction? 

Which port, specifically?

8 minutes ago, Altherion said:

You can't know for sure, but it's a pretty safe bet. Be honest, when you were a child, didn't you and your friends alter the wording of the pledge to be amusing, offensive or silly? I think I still remember a few of the variants we came up with.

 

Sure.  And sometimes saying and doing dumb stuff has consequences.  And in this case, the consequences seem pretty benign.

 

Quote

The police reacted properly, but getting them involved in the first place was already overkill.

What choice did they have?  THey pretty much have to follow up on that.  That's the world we live in.

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Just now, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I love ISIS.  They're super duper cool.  I'm going to pledge allegiance to them again and again.

Do you need to call DHS now? 

No.  The NSA is likely already on it's way to your house, so I need do nothing.

But surely you understand the difference between a high school classroom and an internet forum, right Scot?

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2 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

No.  The NSA is likely already on it's way to your house, so I need do nothing.

But surely you understand the difference between a high school classroom and an internet forum, right Scot?

Yes, one is 100% filled with teenagers.

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11 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

What choice did they have?  THey pretty much have to follow up on that.  That's the world we live in.

This world is what we have made it and, no, the school did not have to summon the police. Back in the day schools dealt with fistfights without resorting to calling law enforcement, so I think they are capable of handling a stupid prank. 

That being said, I understand the mindset that motivates that 911 call. We've been trained to believe that in today's world danger lurks around every corner when, as you pointed out, Swordfish**, the world is in many ways a much safer place. That kind of better-safe-than-sorry thinking leads us to escalate every hint or whiff of danger, real or imagined, to the level of a red alert. It's sad and wasteful and unnecessary.

**Yes, Swordfish and I are in agreement on something. Mark this day on the calendar, please.

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Just now, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Yes, one is a kid being a douche.  The other is me using sarcasm.  Why do we need national security resources investigating this?

Scott,

I am consistently amazed at your ability to determine with such certainty the internal motivations of people you've never met, in circumstances you didn't observe, based on a thinly sourced article bereft of meaningful detail. 

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3 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Yes, one is a kid being a douche.  The other is me using sarcasm.  Why do we need national security resources investigating this?

Are national security resources investigating this?  I can't really tell.

 

3 minutes ago, TrackerNeil said:

This world is what we have made it and, no, the school did not have to summon the police. Back in the day schools dealt with fistfights without resorting to calling law enforcement, so I think they are capable of handling a stupid prank. 

That being said, I understand the mindset that motivates that 911 call. We've been trained to believe that in today's world danger lurks around every corner when, as you pointed out, Swordfish**, the world is in many ways a much safer place. That kind of better-safe-than-sorry thinking leads us to escalate every hint or whiff of danger, real or imagined, to the level of a red alert. It's sad and wasteful and unnecessary.

 

Until it isn't.  Is it not at least conceivable that that attitude is actually contributing to overall safety?

Whether or not it's worth the cost is obviously open to debate.

 

The bottom line is, this was a lose lose for the school from the start.  

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1 minute ago, NestorMakhnosLovechild said:

Scott,

I am consistently amazed at your ability to determine with such certainty the internal motivations of people you've never met, in circumstances you didn't observe, based on a thinly sourced article bereft of meaningful detail. 

In many situations I'd agree that to claim to know the motivations of another person based on such minimal information is unwise.

In this case, though, I honestly can't see what the credible alternative could be. Is the suggestion here that this could genuinely have been a public expression of support for ISIS?

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3 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Yes, one is a kid being a douche.  The other is me using sarcasm.  Why do we need national security resources investigating this?

Given that the TSA is now investigating things like sequentially numbered checks, why shouldn't DHS launch a full-scale investigation? Essentially, these organizations supposedly tasked with protecting Americans from terrorism have become IMO just tentacles on the great kraken of law enforcement. 

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1 minute ago, Swordfish said:

Are national security resources investigating this?  I can't really tell.

 

Until it isn't.  Is it not at least conceivable that that attitude is actually contributing to overall safety?

I don't authorize government action based on what is merely conceivable, because I can conceive of an awful lot of possibilities. I prefer government use its authority to respond to threats that are real and credible, and not just dreamt up by an overactive imagination.

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11 hours ago, Swordfish said:

To those fo you who are pbjecting to this, how do you think it should have been handled?

 

 

Make the kid write, "I am NOT funny" 1,000 times.

10 hours ago, NestorMakhnosLovechild said:

... and the other one is a high school classroom?

::rimshot:: 

Now, THAT'S funny. 

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18 hours ago, TrackerNeil said:

This is part of a disturbing trend in which police are becoming more routinely involved in what, thirty years ago, would have been left to schools. This "better safe than sorry" attitude is leading to children being involved in the legal system before they're 15, and it's poisonous.

There was a 10 year old Muslim boy in the UK who got questioned by police last week because he wrote in an assignment that he lived in a terrorist house when he meant to say terraced.

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38 minutes ago, Maltaran said:

There was a 10 year old Muslim boy in the UK who got questioned by police last week because he wrote in an assignment that he lived in a terrorist house when he meant to say terraced.

The police have questioned that story, though.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/21/lancashire-police-criticise-bbc-over-terrorist-house-story

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Lancashire Constabulary’s police and crime commissioner, Clive Grunshaw, has written to BBC Lancashire about its reporting, which he said had damaged relations. The police said the family were not interrogated as potential terrorists.

The police visit took place because of other worrying issues in the boy’s school work, not just the “terrorist house” line, Grunshaw said. The concerns were “reported through the appropriate channels”.

There's a certain amount of dancing around but it seems like this was actually a child safety investigation based on a belief that the boy's uncle may have hit him (although no cause for further concern was found). The 'terrorist house' bit was a side issue.

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