Mayhem at the North Pole
The news of a planned murder rampage at a middle school in Alaska made me sit up and notice only because we have friends in the small town of North Pole, near Fairbanks. And they have a son at that middle school. Thankfully, he is fine.
His dad emailed me what he knew about the situation. Parents of pre-teens and teenagers, read this and think about what kinds of games your kids are playing on their computers and PlayStations.
His dad emailed me what he knew about the situation. Parents of pre-teens and teenagers, read this and think about what kinds of games your kids are playing on their computers and PlayStations.
What I do know about the plans was that the six kids who conceived it were heavy video game players, especially Grand Theft Auto and Diablo. The kids played continuously on-line late into the evening and were known to play in class as well using the Sony handheld wireless device. The top law enforcement officer, who I know personally (he goes to our church) told me that some of the details of the plan were identical to a game the kids had been playing and pretty much matched the scoring sheet of the game.
Get this plan: the kids were going to play hooky from school and show up about two hours late. They were going to cut the phone lines, internet lines, and power to the school. They were going to shoot the cops who are stationed at the school as well as attack the NP police station (just a few blocks away) after that they were to break into the school and head to the classrooms of the victims that were to die, then take out the teachers, principal, and other people as necessary.
Then the kids were going to leave the school, hope on their 4-wheelers, rob the nearby bank and then off they ride into the Alaska wilderness. Once in the woods they would have added up their points and see who won, that person would then be in charge of making sure the group survived.
Anyway, they were turned in before they even got the guns together...so all is safe in North Pole.
Permalink posted by Phil at 10:49 AM
9 Comments:
scary stuff.
Wow...I'm glad they were stopped before anything happened.
I live in North Pole. This news broke locally last week. The threat was not deemed serious. Classes were not disrupted.
Now, a week later, counselors are called in and a police officer is being stationed at the school.
I smell funding shenanigans. I think the school district and local police have found a way to milk this story for increased funding.
I am not an apologist for the students involved, I don't know any of them (as far as I know, as names haven't been released). If they were even joking about such a rampage they need to get a swift kick, and if they even took one step toward carrying out the plan they need to go to reform school for several years. However, be skeptical of any news coming out of North Pole. Nothing new has come to light since last week, and it was a minor story then.
Being in North Pole, I appreciate the insight provided here from your friend's email. Thanks for posting.
I'm a gamer. My husband is a gamer. My kids are gamers in their own right.
If there is a problem with or correlation between video games and kids actions then I would say the parenting of those said kids needs to be examined. Limitations and explanations (especially to the young)need to be made and consequences need to exist for behaviors that aren't right.
I know what my kids play. I put limitations on what, when, and how long. It will stay that way till I think they can make mature decisions- and even then, if I see they need it, I'll jump in and do what is necessary (reduce or remove).
If these kids really planned this then it isn't the games fault. It's ultimately the kids responsibility. I teach my kids the meaning of the word. Perhaps more adults should be looking in the dictionary.
(no offense intended to anyone posting here) *smile*
-n
A refreshingly thoughtful comment from nikkirae. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are easy prey for sensationalism and fear. The link between violent videogame play and violent behavior is hardly established to be causal. This is a media-created fallacy that is a good example of faulty causal reasoning. Games like Grand Theft Auto sells MILLIONS of copies. If every one of those copies was leading to overt violence, we'd all be dead long before now. In fact, there is quite some psychological evidence that violent games REDUCE individuals' propensity to conduct violent crimes as it allows them to play out their fantasies and tendencies in a virtual environment.
First, these kids are an extreme case of playing the games day-in and day-out. I would suggest it is not the violent games that lead them to plan such violence, but the lousy parenting and other social conditions that caused them to not only play such games to ridiculously extreme levels and also plan the violence. In other words, I think this is the common "third variable problem" (you can google that term) that leads to false conclusions about causality. I cover this in my Data Analysis & Statistics class and it would be covered in almost all research design classes.
I agree with Rajiv about video games.
However, I still think parents should be aware of (and limit) the kinds of games their young children are playing. I believe, research or not, that the violent games like Grand Theft Auto can have, at the very least, a soul-numbing affect on its players. I think much of the callousness and apathy that seems to be on the increase in our society is due to the constant repetition of media like video games and rap music that celebrate a disrespect for other people and their property.
*nods* to both rajiv and phil.
Soul-numbing. I like the term. If we don't stand up and teach our kids what it means to have a soul then... what else can we expect.
-n
code yellow this tuesday at NPMS... almost two years later.
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