Wau... pt1

Say what you want about how corny spelling "wow" is in that fashion. I only use it in moments where I feel that sense of "I think I just lost braincells listening/reading/watching that and deserve (insert amount of alloted time) of my life back."

I'll bring your attention to the first string of articles.

Link 1
Link 2

This first link is an article about how a 18 year old guy (You can find his name in the article, but I'm gonna withhold it regardless just to give him a bit of respect) who was arrested because he posted a video on Youtube that is composed of the following:

"The video — which was still posted on the Internet Monday — is a message scrawled in red lettering against a black background and plays to the words of “End,” a World Wrestling Entertainment theme song.

“The end is here/ The game is over/ No more pretending,” the lyrics state.

In the video, which Brown addresses to the students of Grasso Tech, he writes, “The Corpses Crimson Bitter Tears Will Flow And Mingle Through The Endless Sand Feeding The Chaos In Me and Making Me Stronger.”"

The article then continues with the following.
"The quote is taken from a fictional anime series about a character named Gaara who, according to several fan sites, claims only to feel alive when he kills."

To anyone out there who watched even a little bit of anime, I'm pretty sure what this is linked to: Naruto.
Congrats, you deserve this "Wau...." for uploading something so ridiculous.

This has nothing to do with the message. This has to do with the guy's tastes. Excuse me for not liking Naruto, but I think it's a horrible show, it's over-popularized, and sits on the shelves with other works such as "One Piece" where the american audience attempts to convince themselves that "they're actually good shows... and that Viz Media and 4kids are ruining it by censoring." No. It's bad because the show itself is bad, not the editing. Further more, there are keywords here that make me feel like I've wasted my time reading the article.

"is a message scrawled in red lettering against a black background and plays to the words of “End,” a World Wrestling Entertainment theme song."
"“The Corpses Crimson Bitter Tears Will Flow And Mingle Through The Endless Sand Feeding The Chaos In Me and Making Me Stronger.”"

To be able to make that, admit to making it, and use it to threaten a student body with a straight face? Further more, on that abominable site known as YouTube? That's impressive. Those two or so sentences being riddled with some indescribable dirty feeling make me feel like I've died a little inside. I honestly don't understand how he expects to believe that people will take him seriously if he makes such a typical video and then quotes a show. Now, normally, I'd just pass by this without a second thought, but look at how old the culprit is. EIGHTEEN. I mean, this is something the stereotypical internet 12 year old would do. This guy's going to college in the fall for Christ's sake. You'd think he'd be more mature about it. Better yet, you'd think his parents/teachers/friends(?) would notice something. But now that it's out, we're gonna have Connecticut parents wailing on the american anime fans for influencing children to violence, kinda like with video games. Thank you. You have made us anime fans one step closer to being on the same level as the "potential serial murders" that FPS gamers are....

Enough wailing on him. Let's talk about the actions taken now, shall we?
He "is free on $2,500 bond after being charged with threatening and breach of peace after police learned of the video from a Grasso parent Sunday. Police went to Brown's house to seize evidence from his computer, and they said [name] “readily admitted” that he had created the video."

"In the meantime, Bell said, visitors to the school are being asked to check in at a security desk before entering the school. No metal detectors are being used, said Bell, who was an administrator in Colorado during the Columbine shootings. She said school would go on as normal."

also...

"Grasso switched over to school uniforms this year in an attempt to quell violence at school, which stemmed in part from a group of about 17 girls who had formed a local gang that identified its members by wearing certain colors. In October, the school was locked down after a student brought knives, brass knuckles and a facsimile handgun to the school."

Where to begin...
I'll start from the top and go slowly down.

"In the meantime, Bell said, visitors to the school are being asked to check in at a security desk before entering the school."

That's great. You pump up security so that you bring an overbearing presence to the school and attempt to pressure the students into not doing anything irrational. Sorry, but something irrational already happened. You can talk about the "safety" of the students all you want, but you have to nip it in the bud. As much as I hate those who take a profession in "psychology" or "counseling" I think they're needed for places like Grasso that seem to have a "few" issues. Whatever happened happened, but just taking temporary measures won't do anything, and you can fool all the parents you want because they're just that stupid, but if anyone wants to make progress, you need to know WHY he did it.


"Grasso switched over to school uniforms this year in an attempt to quell violence at school, which stemmed in part from a group of about 17 girls who had formed a local gang that identified its members by wearing certain colors."

Again, temporary fix. This isn't going to accomplish much. It's not like people are blind, and it isn't like these local gangs don't have meeting places. Gangs would generally be able to recognize other members by face and considering and it isn't like the girls are going to go to their meetings in their uniforms. They're still going to change and go out at night and be what they are. If anything, this may incite more anger or the girls just may wear their colors regardless. Acting strict at this point in time is a bit too late. If the community wants to do something, it will take more than schools switching dress codes.


"In October, the school was locked down after a student brought knives, brass knuckles and a facsimile handgun to the school."
NNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEE. I simply pointed out this quote to link everything together actually. This school seems to have a history with school violence including the principal. With something like these things happening, and the administration being somewhat familiar with the situation, one would expect a constructive action that would have useful long term effects, but I feel disheartened that people are nitwits.

Here's the thing though.
“I was in the Denver area and it's hard to go to school the next day, but you do,” Bell said of Columbine. “If not, you give the fear the power."

Kerry Bell is the principal of this school and I agree with her philosophy. You have to keep pushing to show that you're not going to let them affect you. At the same time, you can't just idle around, ignore them, let them slap you across the face and take it for no reason. Actions must be taken to counter this, and I'm not talking about these stupid "qwik-fix" solutions that end up accomplishing nothing. As hard as it is, you have to take it head on. Notify not only the school community but a local newspaper and work with the community and neighboring communities in getting local bills passed.
My Economics teacher taught me something interesting when he was informing us about universal health care. He first posed the question "Why would you call 911 if your neighbor's house is on fire? It's not your house, so it shouldn't be your problem." Forget about compassion and kindness for a second and think selfishly and the answer was actually very simple. "To prevent the fire from spreading to your house." What these small acts of switching to uniforms and more frequent checks is like tossing buckets of water onto the fire to attempt to quell it. It's not going to die down but perhaps it helps you lie to yourself that you're doing something constructive. Despite school taking up approximately eight of sixteen hours (about half the time one is awake if they were to wake up at 7 and sleep at 11.) it only takes a few minutes to bypass security and cause violence. I keep trying to pound this concept but I feel it's the most important.
You can't even think of trying remove ivy from your garden if all you do is lawn mow it. Everything has deeper roots and those roots are strong. You're going to have to dig deep to take care of the problem. It's more effort, it takes more time, and it sure as hell is much harder, but it's that effort that would make success taste much sweeter.


P.S. Kudos to those who find the video and post it. Which reminds me, I'd like to know how the students and parents find that video in the nameless masses of trash that is youtube... They said it was uploaded on Feb 27, and complained to the authorities on Sunday, March 1st. They must've had some really bored kids.