Okay, it is definitely time to STOP the overreactions to Columbine and start to see the disaster in context. AICN has up a story on a kid who was writing a short story for English class in the "zombie apocalypse" genre. (For those not in the know - and I wish I weren't - this genre involves a mysterious event which turns a portion of the population into the walking dead. Anyone they bite similarly dies and becomes a zombie. Ususally there is a small group of "survivors" who seek to escape the madness while the rest of the world is zombie-fied.) He was in the middle of the story which he placed in the context of a midwestern high school - writing what he knew - when it was located by his grandparents. Not being afficionados of the genre, they assumed it was an anti-school threat and alerted the authorities... who immediately had him arrested for "terroristic activity" and now have him up on felony charges.
Now, I do not know the kid. I do not know the situation. I do not know the grandparents. And I have not read the story. BUt let us be honest. Overreactions of this type were understandable in the wake of the Columbine tragedy. Panicked parents looking for security pushed thru laws, like the one in Kentucky which makes any writing in which "you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony." But it is time now to pull back and realize that some "violent genres" are perfectly appropriate, and that a short story alone should not be a crime. A call to action for parents, teachers, guidance counsellors, and psychiatrists, certainly! But not a crime.
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