Boy arrested for stick figure drawing by canttakesky

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Boy arrested for stick figure drawing

POSTED BY: CANTTAKESKY
UPDATED: Sunday, February 27, 2011 20:21
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011 7:14 PM

CANTTAKESKY

http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2011/02/23/dnt.inapprop
riate.stick.figures.kdvr.html

Shaking head.

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Thursday, February 24, 2011 1:41 AM

CANTTAKESKY

For those who can't see the video, the story is about an 11 year old ADHD boy whose therapist told him to draw out his feelings when he feels like acting out. One day, he drew a stick figure drawing of himself holding a gun, pointed at 4 stick figures. Above them, he wrote "Teachers must die." After letting out his frustration in his art, he was about to throw the drawing away when his teacher confiscated it.

That night, cops showed up at his house and arrested and booked him. The school filed charges.

-------
"It is not my thorns that defend me. It is my perfume," says the rose. -- Paul Claudel

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Thursday, February 24, 2011 5:11 AM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Head shrinkers are the new Catholic clergy spy corps for the NWO Inquisition. In addition to the 50,000 preachers now on the Clery Response Team employed by US Dept of Fatherland Security.

There's no dr/patien confidentiality when a therapist is not a dr. Confession of desire to commit future crimes has no dr/patient confidentiality.

Lest we forget the Bath School Massacre:
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bauerle/disaster.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster

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Thursday, February 24, 2011 2:35 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

The kid did what he was asked, he drew how he feels when he gets frustrated. Just because he feels that way doesn't mean he would actually act on it. I think it was unfair for the therapist to tattle on him, especially if this is the first time that this has happened. I know there is a fine line sometimes between what should be kept secret and what constitutes an actual danger, but I think the therapist, if s/he was going to tell anyone should have told the parents first.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Thursday, February 24, 2011 2:56 PM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by RionaEire:
... but I think the therapist, if s/he was going to tell anyone should have told the parents first.

Oh no. The kid didn't do this in therapy. The kid drew this in class. The therapist told him to draw INSTEAD of acting out his frustrations. He got frustrated in class, so he drew, as he was told. And it actually worked in calming him down.

The school is at fault here. The principal should have never called the police.

-------
"It is not my thorns that defend me. It is my perfume," says the rose. -- Paul Claudel

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Thursday, February 24, 2011 3:07 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Oh, okay now I understand. I still think the parents should have been contacted instead of calling the police. Then the parents can decide what to do, maybe there's a way for the kid to draw and feel better without making his pictures so obvious, like an abstract thing.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Thursday, February 24, 2011 7:55 PM

TRAVELER

There are so many things wrong with this I don't know where to start. You talk to the parents before putting a child through this. All they did is make this childs life worse then it was. This is all kinds of stupid.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Thursday, February 24, 2011 8:18 PM

LILI

Doing it backwards. Walking up the downslide.

It seems to me that the issue here is not so much the stick figure drawing as the words, "Teachers must die."

I'm not defending it, by the way. I'm not saying the kid should have been arrested. I don't think he should have. I would never dream that writing such a thing down means anything other than frustration. Many people, when they're angry, throw around terms such as "I'll kill you" or "I hate you" or "I wish you were dead." I've never known it to be a serious threat or expression of literal desires or intent.
The public school system has become quite hysterical about any expression of violence or violent desires. This is not me defending it, but it is currently a reality. For the most part, the angry words of children should be taken in the most figurative sense possible, with a massive helping of salt. There are those few, though, who do bring a gun to school and open fire on their teachers. As far as I know, such an action has never been preceded by drawing or writing something like this within the classroom. It's usually preceded by quiet brooding, some genuine abuse, and genuine mental illness.
I understand why there was concern over this. It was clearly overblown, and concerns should have been brought to the parents, the therapist in question, and the child himself. Getting the police involved at a stage where no violence has occurred and it's an in-school issue and the child is a minor, is clearly ridiculous.

Facts are stubborn things.

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Thursday, February 24, 2011 8:27 PM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

So what happens when a student in college art class draws a cartoon of Firefly, guns n all?

How about a professional artist paid to draw characters with guns...will they now be arrested?

Eventually, that's the plan...

Welcome to the United Nations Corp in the NY City Victim Disarmament Zone

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Friday, February 25, 2011 12:20 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by LiLi:
The public school system has become quite hysterical about any expression of violence or violent desires.

Yes, and we see more and more of an abdication of common sense in schools everyday.

There are really 3 issues here for me.

1. That schools generate this level of frustration in children.

2. That schools respond with ridiculously draconian measures.

3. That schools are the windsock for what is to come for the rest of us. (As Frem says.) Already, airports are the new schools. Stadiums are approaching this sort of "security." I don't see how, once the authorities start in this direction, we can turn back the clock and return to sanity.

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Friday, February 25, 2011 7:19 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Well for one, not tolerating it - and that means not tolerating those who comply, support it, or enforce it, yanno, the ones "just following orders".

If no one will do business with them, treat them with any respect, in short hold them *accountable* for their enabling behavior, wouldn't be so damn many willing to do it, now would there ?

You have any idea how hard it is to teach children about responsibility and accountability when those who commit the worst offenses against humanity are given a free pass simply because they did not issue the orders themselves ?

-F

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Saturday, February 26, 2011 11:18 AM

LILI

Doing it backwards. Walking up the downslide.

I really don't think the reaction would have been nearly as overblown if he hadn't written "Teachers must die." I might be wrong, but a stick figure drawing of a gun seems less likely to raise concern than the wording. If he had written "I hate teachers" instead, for instance, I doubt he would have been arrested.
Again, I don't want anyone to think I'm defending the school that had him arrested, because they're still being unreasonable, but let's not act like it was solely the drawing that got him in trouble.

Facts are stubborn things.

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Saturday, February 26, 2011 11:27 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by LiLi:
...but let's not act like it was solely the drawing that got him in trouble.

No one is acting like that. We all agree, with words, without words, the reaction was unreasonable.

This kid got arrested, and he didn't even threaten anyone in any way. He got arrested for being "disobedient."

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/bizarre/boy-13-busted-illegal-m
arker-possession

This type of over-reaction doesn't seem uncommon anymore.

Texas' School to Prison Pipeline
http://www.texasappleseed.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=ca
tegory&layout=blog&id=27&Itemid=265

This boy's drawing/words is only a small picture in a larger pattern of arresting children.

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Saturday, February 26, 2011 4:16 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Oh indeed.

Police shut down Girl Scout cookie stand
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/morning_call/2011/02/police-shut-do
wn-girl-scout-cookie.html

Quote:
Kathy Cooker, leader of Troop 7984, said the group of young Daisy Girl Scouts had to turn customers away, but what bothered her most is that some of the girls became upset thinking they were in big trouble and might go to jail, WXIA reported.

Both Villa Rica Police Chief Michael Mansour and Mayor J. Allen Collins said they have talked with the officer about the incident and believe he did nothing wrong, adding he is a veteran office with a good record. They called the incident “a misunderstanding”, WXIA reports.

Of course, if he pulled out his service weapon and mowed them down, the department would STILL say "he did nothing wrong" and call it a "misunderstanding" - we've all seen enough of it by now to know.

Still, you don't fuck with the cookie mafia, cause not only will they assault you with the manipulative, will-destroying power of cute, backed up by the lure of delicious cookies....

They will also call in their allies, and remember, even Evil Overlords like cookies!

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Sunday, February 27, 2011 8:21 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Yeah, that girl scout thing pissed me off too, poor kids, what is humanity coming to trying to make kids have a permit to seel things? I loved selling baked goods when I was a young girl.

Yeah, I think everyone freaks out over things in schools now adays, the thing is though that with all that freaking out they seem to miss the kids that are actually going to cause real trouble.

I agree that schools need to be more flexible so kids don't get so frustrated. I think a decent proportion of kids labeled as having ADD are just kinesthetic learners, meaning they need to be doing something with their hands etc. for them to gain the information that the teacher is giving out and our schools aren't set up well for kinesthetic learners. I think that remodying that would help children tremendously.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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