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Posted by: Art (artnscience-(at)-yahoo.com) on 3/26/1998@14:16hrs:
In Reply to: Re: schoolyard killings posted by: rs on 3/26/1998@13:13hrs:
I think that the media provided evidence of planning, premeditation and violent acting-out by these boys that goes beyond the fantasy imaginings that boys are prone to. Furthermore, the transition from angry idea to violent action usually encounters a threshhold. You didn't hide in a stairwell and shoot Stalin and I didn't do the same to Krushev. However, the Washington Post is full of these kinds of murders committed by pre-teens. Occasionally the articles go on to talk about the home lives of the murderers. The daily violence these kids faced numbed them to the significance of their decisions. What is so striking about Arkansas, it the fact that planning, strategy, gathering of resources, availability of resources and then action took place. This was not just "Heat of Passion" violence, this took some time and energy to put together. There was time for one of the kids to think and say, "Hey what are we doing this for?" My assumption is that no one gave a thought to advise their kid, in the positive and self reliant way you did your sons. I would hate to think that these kids did this heinous act despite serious and responsible parenting. When I was 14, Michael Waldstein, Stuart Geisenger and I made solid fuel rockets out of Aluminum tubes from Stuart's father's hardware store on Wachogue Road. I bought the chemicals at a pharmacy (I had to sign and register for them because they could be used for "explosives"). I never once thought of blowing up anything. The rockets sometimes blew up, but we had made provisions for our safe use of them. I don't know if people would think it safe today but we did. A consequence of my purchasing the chemicals was that I would always be called to the police department for questioning when someone got blown up on Staten Island. I guess I was just Naive in thinking that people would just accept that what I wanted to do was different from what someone else wanted to do. I deserve any criticism I get for displaying my Naivite.