LOOK OUT FUTURE STEVEN KING'S

An eighteen year old high school senior was arrested in Illinois for disorderly conduct after he completed an English class assignment. In a “stream of consciousness” writing exercise, the boy expressed some violent ideas, and school authorities have since placed him in a secure lockdown environment.
In the wake of school shootings at Virginia Tech and the anniversary of Columbine, school authorities are vigilant to any sign that may point to potential “disgruntled” shooters. Apparently believing that the expression of violent thoughts leads to violent action, school officials have now appointed themselves the thought police. Yes, Big Brother is indeed watching.
I understand the desire to pinpoint and thwart future violence but words are not deeds. If so, Steven King would be one of the worlds most prolific serial killers and Quentin Tarrantino would be behind bars without the possibility of parole. The thought patrol would probably have to arrest just about every person in the world for disorderly conduct if our thoughts alone made us guilty.
Look, the guy who wrote the song “I Shot the Sheriff” never shot a sheriff, Steven King’s freezer isn’t full of human heads (at least not that I know of) and Hollywood is happily cranking out horror films because that’s what sells. Most serial killers don’t write their thoughts, feelings and plans down in a diary (boy, wouldn’t it make it easy for investigators and prosecutors if they did!) and those that do usually don’t do it far enough in advance to be of much use in preventing crime. Even if you believe in psychic powers, psychics are called in after the crime is committed…shouldn’t we be calling them in before? Nope, you can’t convict a person of their thoughts. Thoughts and words do not always become action (case in point, people think about sex about way more often than they actually have sex).
So be careful kids and make sure you only write about kittens and rainbows and unicorns. But not about killing kittens, that would be wrong. And rainbows are associated with the gay rights movement so make sure you write only about heterosexual rainbows, so no one starts to question your sexuality. And unicorns have that pointed horn on the tope of their head, that’s not safe if they puncture someone with it, plus it’s kind of phallic. Okay, forget kittens, rainbows and unicorns. Wait, I have it! The next time your teacher gives you a writing assignment, just refuse to do it. If they ask why, or try to fail you, assert your Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination. Let’s see what the thought police say then.