THE "EXCEPTIONS" THAT PROVE THE RULE

From AlterNet:

16-Year-Old Girl Arrested and Charged With a Felony For Science Project Mistake

16-year-old Kiera Wilmot is accused of mixing housing chemicals in a small water bottle at Bartow High School, causing the cap to fly off and produce a bit of smoke. The experiment was conducted outdoors, no property was damaged, and no one was injured. 

Not long after Wilmot’s experiment, authorities arrested her and charged her with “possession/discharge of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device,” according to WTSP-TV. The school district proceeded to expel Wilmot for handling the “dangerous weapon,” also known as a water bottle. She will have to complete her high school education through an expulsion program. 

Friends and staffers, including the school principal, came to Wilmot’s defense, telling media that authorities arrested an upstanding student who meant no harm.

More here.

Again from AlterNet:

High School Rapper Arrested and Facing Terrorism 
Charges For Rap About Boston Marathon Bombing

According to a press release from the Methuen Police Department, 18-year-old Cameron D’Ambrosio posted the alleged threatening rap on Facebook. Police investigated the teenager after one of D’Ambrosio's classmates reported to Methuen High School authorities the “disturbing verbiage” on his Facebook page. The press release notes that the alleged threats “were in general and not directed towards another person or the school.”  

According to the Eagle Tribune, D’Ambrosio was charged with communicating a terrorist threat and faces up to 20 years in jail. He is being held on $1 million bail. All this, for writing some scary rap lyrics on Facebook.

More here.

We saw the same shit after Columbine.

While depressing, these two stories are not surprising to me.  This is what you get when you mix extreme social paranoia with a school system that is already hysterically concerned with control and discipline: stuff that warrants only a slap on the wrist become elevated to serious felonies when they push the right buttons.  And, I mean, that's all this is.  Kids doing stupid shit which inadvertently freaked out grownups who don't know how to keep their heads when they've been weirded out by the news, grownups who already take discipline and obedience way too seriously.

No, this doesn't happen all the time.  These two cases are definitely exceptions.  I mean, they're exceptions at the moment--things could get worse; it's always hard to tell.  But as exceptions, they prove the rule: the schools are far, far more about indoctrinating children into a culture of obedience and authority than they are about learning and knowledge.  Indeed, the entire American school system revolves around the obedience mandate.  All it takes is just the right nudge to send it into police state territory.  A terrorist bombing here, a school shooting there, and suddenly administrators and teachers are desperately trying to prove to themselves and others that they are in control of the situation.  Because the entirety of their professional lives is about control.  They don't even question it.  They simply act, and it all seems logical even though it's totally absurd.

So now we have a wannabe thug expressing his art form, and an honors student being inspired by a Youtube experiment.  For that, they're now facing some serious federal charges.  Totally absurd.  But when you're working in an absurd system, indoctrination that everyone is supposed to believe is actually learning, absurdity is a lot harder to recognize.

Just another day in bat shit crazy USA.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$