I feel so protected.
There is a bizarre case out of Maryland where school officials sent teacher and novelist Patrick McLaw, 23, to an emergency medical evaluation for publishing, under a pseudonym, a novel about a school shooting. That’s it. A language-arts eight grade teacher at Lane Middle School writes a book about a school shooting and he is put on leave by the Dorchester County Board of Education, investigated by the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office, and sent away for evaluation. “The Insurrectionist” happens to be set 900 years in the future but the board couldn’t just wait for the shooting to occur and had to act. What is striking is that all of these steps have been taken and McLaw has been effectively treated as a danger to children but no one has said a thing beyond the novel that is the basis for the actions. Was there something else that raise…
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You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
Whatever Works 
Well, it’s obvious what the problem is. The man is black. What can you expect!
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Exactly Donald . . . bet he not only wrote SciFi, he probably READ IT too. Dangerous.
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Well, I don’t know. Imagine the outcry if this guy were a loon and did go on a shooting rampage? What would we say then? In the Conn school shooting the police found some pretty scary stuff on that boy’s computer as well as stuff he had turned in while he was in school. Not all teachers are self-sacrificing saints (and I’m a teacher myself, so I know.) I come down on the ‘better safe than sorry’ side.
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Pat – the novel is set 900 years in the future. From the story at Turley’s site, there appears to be absolutely no other reason beyond the book for these astonishing actions. If it turns out there are, well, I’m wrong and it’s another story. But right now, speculation about the far future appears to be his only ‘crime’. Perhaps we should arrest John Grisham, lawyer/novelist for inventing crooked sometimes dangerous lawyers for his novels? (and how are you Pat?)
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They wouldn’t have bothered if he’d just carried his gun into the classroom. Or his church. Or his local bar. But thinking about it? Writing about it? Damn that’s dangerous.
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It’s really sad Elyse, that a few years back your comment would have been considered just snide but today reflects reality. Let us weep.
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Time isn’t improving things.
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Dangerous things these words in books. Got to arrest anyone who reads them.
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