This belongs in the annals of stupidity. A Kentucky high school student was arrested as a possible terrorist for writing a short story about zombies attacking a high school. From the article:
Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials at Poole’s home that outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers, and police.
Poole told LEX 18 that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding. He claims that what his grandparents found in his journal and turned into police was a short story he wrote for English class.
“My story is based on fiction,” said Poole, who faces a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. “It’s a fake story. I made it up. I’ve been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies.”
Let’s think this through. He wrote a short story about zombies. We may as well tell kids they can’t read teen horror fiction. We may as well tell kids they can’t read. Sodding bloody hell.
More from the article:
Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. “Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it’s a felony in the state of Kentucky,” said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.
Let’s think this through. He wrote a short story about frelling zombies.
Zombies don’t exist. You can’t overrun a high school with zombies because they don’t frelling exist.
By that standard, I should have been put away in junior high school when I wrote a short story based on V in which the visitors overran my school and captured my principal.
The Visitors? They don’t exist, either.
Terrorism, my ass. There has to be a point where something is so clearly fictional as to be beyond dispute. Zombies would, in any sane person’s view, clearly beyond to a fictional world. If someone wants to argue that there really are zombies, that they can overrun high schools and terrorize students, that person would be seriously off his meds.
Stupidity. Fucking stupidity.
Zombies don’t exist.
Welllll…I haven’t had coffee or drugs yet this morning…
Allyn,
I’m having a hard time finding more information about this. I have one news report (yours) quoting that Poole was arrested for fiction, and about seven articles where the fiction is not mentioned, and Poole is being taken into custody for notes suggesting he was trying to organize a gang.
Can you look into this matter further and get me some more information? If there is something to this story, I intend to blog about it and suggest people start writing to Amnesty International and other organizations. If true, Poole and Clark County police are on the same ladder as Salmon Rusdie and the Ayatollah.
Only one story found via Google included mentioned fiction writing… but also, only one story has a quote from Poole at all. The same story also has has the line, “Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony.” In other words, it’s irrelevant to them whether Poole was in fact planning a mass murder, or simply writing “Shaun of the Dead” fanfic.
Allyn,
Check out this link. This is a blogger referring to the same story. It has contact information for the local police involved… and a comment from somebody who claims to be from the kid’s school, poking a few holes in Poole’s story, disputing that what Poole wrote was actually a story, or even contained zombies.
There may be more here than meets the eye, but I will be watching closely. If you find out more, please share it with us.
It doesn’t matter whether he had a story about zombies or detailed time charts and blueprints. He told noone about what was in his journal and he showed its contents to noone. This means that it cannot be a threat.
A threat is, by definition, communicated. This was not communication; at best, this was throughtcrime.
I’m not sure if I agree with you. If indeed the guy was planning to take over the school, and acted on his plans, the fact that he showed his plans to no one should be immaterial. You don’t have to communicate a threat in order for the threat to be real.
But I want to know whether or not the threat is real. The fact that, even in the newscasts which paint Poole in a bad light, no cohorts are named, certainly casts doubts on Poole’s story.
I’m quite ready to mobilize all that I can in support of a persecuted writer, but I want to be sure the facts are straight. Was the guy writing a short story, or was he doodling out plans to take over the school?
What I find most disturbing is how there’s been no follow-up on this issue, for or against. Maybe in that respect, I should post something, to do my own small part in moving this along.
woa, now that’s too interesting. Hilarious even.