Zombie Story gets student thrown in jail

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Many fiction writers, when doing thier first stumbling steps, have a tendency to use real life places and people. They know that the story won't ever see the light of day, and it's good practice. Even some creative writing courses in HS and colleges suggest using this technique to sharpen skills and to get a feel for describing a location that you can then go and personally see if your description matches.

While the kid may not have good grammar in his speech, that means nothing toward his writing skills. I slur my words, use sland, and sound like a hick.

That's what editors get paid for.

Acting as if this is a definative death threat is akin to arresting Tom Clancy for planning terrorist activities due to his many well researched books that have terrorism in them.

Way to go, Justice League! I'm sure that there are a few kids silently praying to some god, any god, please, maybe, just a little help, when that algebra pop quiz rears it's head. They've got to be a danger too, right up with that vegan who has refused to eat the meat in the school, it's vile rebellion and a threat to the life of Sumerians everywhere!

Jerks.

 

[Khur]

I can point out one. Actually, it was a movie, not a book, but anyway. Right about the same time The Day After hit American airwaves, a similar movie showed in the Soviet Union. It depicted the aftereffects of a nuclear war that included radioactive fallout and a horrendous nuclear winter. This changed public sentiment about nukes, which contributed to the arms control talks with Reagan back in the mid-80s.

Well, that's cool. I remember being scared by that movie as a kid. But we weren't talking about fiction having a general or good societal effect. We're talking about fiction having a decidedly negative societal effect (riots and regime change). Plenty of fiction has a societal effect, but it’s rare that fiction has widespread negative effects.

Maybe I was a little exuberant in saying that fictional stories have overthrown governments, but the power of pen is great and many works of fiction have helped to change things. It's not always something to which you can say "it's just a story."

It doesn't matter that you were exuberant. What you've pointed out is exceptionally valuable insight into this case, actually. And I certainly agree that fiction can be powerful.

Three interesting points though: 1) None of the stories you mention have zombies in them (or do they?). 2) None of the stories were unpublished and written by a teenager (or is he an adult?). 3) Two of the stories you mention incited reactions from what can only be labeled extremists and/or tyrannical regimes (or are they?).

At the very least, #3 seems to support my view of the whole thing.

Heck, there's a book out now containing two characters who seriously discuss the pros and cons of assasinating an existing world leader. One character plans to actually do the killing, while the other tries to talk the firts guy out of doing it. That author named names, real places, and plausible plans. He isn't in jail. Nor should he be.

The point is: It's highly questionable for authors to be punished as if they did or planned to do the things they write. It becomes doubly questionable when the work is unpublished, and triply so if the work doesn't "name names," so to speak. And the fact that this work of fiction was not only unpublished, but also private makes the case even worse.

This whole thing treads on dangerous ground, if you ask me ... which you didn't.

No, I'd say you were still right - Its just that the most effective fictions (inferiority of other races/religions/etc, manifest or divine destinies, stuff like that) that caused riots or overthrew gov'ts are the ones that were sold as truth, rather than as novels or movies.

Oh yeah. Now we're cookin' with real butter.

 

[reveal]

If his punishment was simply based upon his story, as the article would have you believe, then the cops are definitely abusing their power. But what if this kid has a history of behavior like this? What if he has a history of violence or of being a "problem kid?"

 

[Jesus_marley]

The problem with this news story is that it is merely a soundbite. It doesn't relate nearly enough information so that we are left speculating on the persons past exploits (or lack thereof) or whether the State is acting in an (un)justified manner. While there is certainly enough info to elicit a reaction from the reader, there is not enough to make an informed opinion concerning what is going on. The end result is that this story serves to solidify already formed opinions regarding A) the (perceived) danger of unrestrained youths, and B) the powers of the State.

My apologies if this crosses to "too political" boundary.

 

[Del]

I think Stephen King and Wes Craven should take these menacing law-enforcement hicks out back to the woodshed and give them a good spanking in the name of Freedom of Speech.

Aww. My bad, the hicks would like that.

 

[Greylock]

Salman Rushdie - Satanic Verses
Incites riots in Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini puts a bounty on Rushdie's head which is still active.

Well, the bounty is no longer active, and I would hardly claim that the book caused the riots. Most folks demonstrating against it never read it, and were doing as they were told. They could have been protesting a Betty Crocker cookbook for all they knew.

Damn fine book, though. Rushdie's that is.

HTH

 

[Desdichado]

A work of fiction isn't dangerous

You've obviously never read The King in Yellow. <Painfull shiver>

 

[Desdichado]

I noticed that too, but that's not going to keep me from pointing out that it's spelled grammar.

D'oh! That word always gets me; I always intend to spell grammar and then second-guess myself and change it to grammer.

 

[reveal]

Well, the bounty is no longer active, and I would hardly claim that the book caused the riots. Most folks demonstrating against it never read it, and were doing as they were told. They could have been protesting a Betty Crocker cookbook for all they knew.

Damn fine book, though. Rushdie's that is.

HTH

In early 2005, Khomeini's fatwa against Rushdie was reaffirmed by Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a message to Muslim pilgrims making the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. In response to requests to withdraw the fatwa, Iran has stated that only the person who issued it may withdraw it; Khomeini, however, died in 1989.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I find this a sad commentary on the state of free speech and freedom of expression in the USA. I hope this case is (justly) tossed out of court once a judge with brains sees it.