Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Judge Rules Against School's Web Rules (Upholds Student Inciting Violence on Internet)
Newsday ^

Posted on 11/29/2002 8:57:01 AM PST by DaughterofEve

The Waterford School District should not have suspended the student in August 2001 for contributing to "Satan's Web page," U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan ruled this week.

School officials were concerned by content that included a passage labeled "Satan's mission for you this week." It read: "Stab someone for no reason then set them on fire throw them off of a cliff, watch them suffer and with their last breath, just before everything goes black, spit on their face."

(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: freedomofspeech; freespeech; internetthreat; patrickduggan
From my browsing on the web, it isn't this judge's FIRST inane ruling, either. Anyone more acquainted with the situation care to comment?
1 posted on 11/29/2002 8:57:02 AM PST by DaughterofEve
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: DaughterofEve
U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan

Another reason why 60 years of libealism is to blame for our Nations downhill slide into the abyss.

2 posted on 11/29/2002 9:06:55 AM PST by chachacha
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DaughterofEve
That's my wonderful state for you. What do you expect from the home of Michael Moore?
3 posted on 11/29/2002 9:06:59 AM PST by Glockslinger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DaughterofEve
It read: "Stab someone for no reason then set them on fire throw them off of a cliff, watch them suffer and with their last breath, just before everything goes black, spit on their face."

Lucky for the kid he was talking about murder. If the kid had suggested that homosexuality was a choice, the kid would be serving 5-10 at the local jail.

4 posted on 11/29/2002 9:15:39 AM PST by Always Right
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DaughterofEve
Well, there was no one specifically threatened and apparently, this was not done using school equipment or on school time.

Here's the upside: If this case had gone the other way, it wouldn't be long before some left-wing principal found out they had a student active on FreeRepublic and tried to have them thrown out of school for "hate speech" or some such claim like that.
5 posted on 11/29/2002 9:59:13 AM PST by Celtjew Libertarian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Glockslinger
Being from New York, I can't throw stones!
6 posted on 11/29/2002 10:13:21 AM PST by DaughterofEve
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: DaughterofEve
Judge is right.

This is none of the SCHOOL's business. The school should only have ANY juristiction in the school or at school sponsored events, period.

Now if there were threats, maybe it should be a POLICE matter, but not a SCHOOL matter. School administrators have a bad habit of sticking their noses were it don't belong anyway. If it is a threat, then call the cops and let them handle it.

Kudo's to Judge Duggan.

7 posted on 11/29/2002 10:26:18 AM PST by Dan from Michigan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DaughterofEve
Please explain why this is any of the school districts business. There is such a thing as free speech in this country. How would you feel if your boss decided to fire you because he/she found out you were posting on FR?

This judgement was a no brainer. Any other ruling would have been unconstitutional.

8 posted on 11/29/2002 11:26:28 AM PST by monday
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DaughterofEve
I agree with a lot of the other posters so far--the web postings really were no one's business, and any rulings against the student could easily be twisted in other cases to suppress sites like FR, etc.

There was no specific threats made against any particular individuals, it was just abstract comments about "someone."

He could have easily said something like, "Invent a device that will drill down to the core of the earth and generate an explosive chain reaction that will cause the planet to be obliterated." No one would take that seriously; nothing to get worked up about. I'm surprised it all got that far in the first place with the suspensions and trials and all that.

9 posted on 11/29/2002 11:20:32 PM PST by Hoppean
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hoppean
Well, I'm still glad a loved one or I, or anyone else... didn't happen to be a "non-particular" individual that might have been affected by someone's "inspiration" from that site! I thought it was an overall interesting situation worth an exchange of opinions or commentary here.
10 posted on 11/29/2002 11:49:42 PM PST by DaughterofEve
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: DaughterofEve
Well, I'm still glad a loved one or I, or anyone else... didn't happen to be a "non-particular" individual that might have been affected by someone's "inspiration" from that site!

I've heard people say that can happen, but I always wonder if a person who would read something and be "set off" by it isn't already a nut anyway, and if it weren't that website that acted as "the trigger," it'd be something else.

Maybe there's more to it, though, that I'm missing and it is serious. I'd have to look more at the website, context, etc., but I didn't see any mention of a URL to link to. We only get a little snippet from the news article.

I thought it was an overall interesting situation worth an exchange of opinions or commentary here.

Me too, thanks for posting the article.

11 posted on 11/29/2002 11:58:36 PM PST by Hoppean
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Hoppean
I agree, it would certainly be a trigger situation. But one less negative trigger situation would be okay with me, simply put!

I don't post articles that often but when I do it's more because I see room for an interesting FR discussion or review, it doesn't make me (or anyone else that posts!) an expert or necessarily a die-hard on the situation. (Although some are, heaven forfend I diss one of the FR geniuses! They're fun to read.)

Thanks for the response!

12 posted on 11/30/2002 7:35:43 AM PST by DaughterofEve
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson