Kid suspended for having a Deathnote on a bus

[Toriver]

Hmmm... after viewing the videos (when I made my first post I couldn't watch them on my phone) I'm quite sure that the correct action was taken by suspending but not arresting the kid. It is correct that it's not a crime to write a note like that, but such things aren't very good to carry around with you. You just don't play around with things like writing those kinds of notes in public if you don't want to be suspended and targeted for the rest of middle school. Any other teasing or bullying is probably not warranted at all, and for that the kid has my sympathy (I was picked on as a kid too, especially at that age), but I have to say he brought any bullying about the Death Note in the future on himself. Parents and teachers will have to watch carefully to prevent it from happening. Though I also have to wonder how the kid who found the Death Note got a hold of it. I'm thinking that it could be possible that the one who found it may have taken it from its owner and not just "found" it. I can easily see a scenario where the owner is writing or drawing something in it, a bully sees him and asks about it, then takes it from him, possibly with a threat of beating him up or something. He finds his name on the list and turns it in to the principal and has the owner punished. If that's the case, I can easily see why the bully's name was on it. I went through a similar situation with a novel I was writing at that age.

But anyway, it seems to me the situation played out how anyone would expect it to. The school and police acted in the interest of the students' safety by investigating and acting on the situation. The mothers both responded probably how I would have responded if either of the kids were mine, except I may not have gone so far as asking the owner to be arrested. I would have probably lived fine with a suspension and extra watching of the owner.

Anyway, this leads me to thinking, and I am sure I may get some flak for this, but what are replica Death Notes doing in schools anyway? It's one of those things that I can see having too much potential to stir up trouble like this to allow my child to bring to school, even if I know 100% that my kid is harmless. If it's not found by the school and at least read over, which is a hassle, it'll likely be a big, fat "BULLY ME" target for the owner of said notebook. I have to wonder what was going through the heads of marketers who thought that selling actual notebooks that look like the Death Note was a good idea. Didn't they think s*** like this was going to happen? *sigh* Ah, well, it will likely blow over eventually. But seriously, people gotta think sometimes before acting.

 

[Kenni-chan]

Actually at my school a group of us wrote them, but we were smart enough to to let them be found, my school has a wild area of grass and bushes, i think my friends dumped their's there.

And yes we were all chronically bullied. The school did nothing to help us.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Oh my God, why the f*** do people care about such nonsense?
Worst is the American TV media who get off on scaring idiots with it tho!

 

[Sethzard]

Wow, this is so fail, How the hell can they make that mistake, and what kind of armature hitman would have their hit-list out in the open in a bus.

 

[Drakmeire]

I really doubt that anyone who owns a death note takes it seriously, I use mine to doodle and for cosplay, sure sometimes I write a name but it's usually just to be creative cure Boredom or practice my handwriting in the spirit of the series.

I would be more worried if a person had a list on a normal piece of paper because if it's on a death note it just means they are playing around, ironic in way.

I guess most people don't understand fandom... come to think of it I own a replica (tempered steel) Master Sword and no one seems to mind but the fact that I own a death note freaks people out. I'll explain something, one is a WEAPON! the other is a book!

Get you priorities straight people!

 

[Curious Georgie]

Well it makes complete sense to me.

Also, that lady must be stupid as hell.

"My son wouldn't hurt anyone! He was just writing a list of all the kids that picked on him and wishing them to be dead! He's the victim"

Seriously, get the child some freaking help. Its one thing to be angry at someone and wish them dead, its another to be constantly angry at someone that you carry around a list of wishing them dead.

Though I understand the general media would be too stupid to check up on things, I would expect people over the internet to actually display some of the knowledge found on aforesaid medium before crying about how the child 'needs help'. It was not confirmed in the story that he was carrying it around. He might aswell have just made the thing, so why are you assuming that? In the anime, doing anything evil is a reason to be written down. This kid has, if anything, a slightly whacky moral sense and likes the anime a bit too much, but jesus christ he's an angsty emo kid at worst. Over in my country we have a saying that says 'Making an elephant out of a musquito'. That's exactly what happened here, and you're going along with it.

 

[Gh0st1y_H]

I find it even funnier that they confirm the kid is being picked on, but rather than help the kid not be picked on, they'd rather just suspend him due to nonsense like this. Way to help the kid! Way to go creating a positive self esteem in him (something that it's obvious the kid lacks). You're pushing the kid to more likely shoot people because he's going to be frustrated and give up on the system because of shit like this.

If you want to see one possible reason behind why school shootings occur, this may be it.

This. If stuff like this happens, it's the schools job to ensure it never happens again in the future.

Instead, they're taking the "dur dur put tape over hole in dam" option and making themselves look like completely unprofessional assholes.

 

[Toriver]

Wow, this is so fail, How the hell can they make that mistake, and what kind of armature hitman would have their hit-list out in the open in a bus.

Your average school employee has more than likely never heard of Death Note. You'd be lucky if they've heard of any anime past Pokemon. Death Note isn't the most obscure anime in the world, but it's not mainstream either. That's what's driving me nuts about this debate: the assumption going around here that everybody knows Death Note. I live in Japan, and most adults even here haven't heard of it. High schoolers may know it, but adults? No. You're dealing with adults, not other teenagers. According to the follow-up, once the police did hear about Death Note, they pretty much cleared the kid of suspicion, but I think for not knowing the anime, they acted correctly. I also give them points for looking into it in the first place, instead of going headlong into assuming that it was malicious. I'll say it again: everyone involved in the school and the police did their job well after the notebook was turned in (though not necessarily before if the kid was being bullied; we don't know the extent of the bullying and it would be interesting to hear; kids get picked on all the time and you can't stop it all, but you should stop what you can). They acted in the interest of all students' safety, as they should. They then acted reasonably once they found out what the notebook was all about. I say, "Good job" to that school.

 

[direkiller]

I find it even funnier that they confirm the kid is being picked on, but rather than help the kid not be picked on, they'd rather just suspend him due to nonsense like this. Way to help the kid! Way to go creating a positive self esteem in him (something that it's obvious the kid lacks). You're pushing the kid to more likely shoot people because he's going to be frustrated and give up on the system because of shit like this.

If you want to see one possible reason behind why school shootings occur, this may be it.

This. If stuff like this happens, it's the schools job to ensure it never happens again in the future.

Instead, they're taking the "dur dur put tape over hole in dam" option and making themselves look like completely unprofessional assholes.

Just because the school didn't comment doesn't mean they aren't doing anything
it just means they don't need the media in the kids life

 

[Julianking93]

snip

You seem to think I'm trying to justify his actions by saying it's from a cartoon, but I'm in no way doing so.

I'm merely pointing out that it's obviously from the anime rather than his twisted little mind coming up with random dates. In no way am I saying that makes it okay, I was just pointing out the obvious.

Oh and slightly off topic, but I don't think Death Note can be qualified as "obscure"

 

[Internet Kraken]

These comments boggle my mind (not including the OP). You're treating a 12-13 yar old boy as if he's an adult. The fact of the matter is, children don't have the proper coping machanisms to deal with things like osracization properly. This is why bullying is such a huge problem!

I understand that a child is not the same as an adult mentally. But that doesn't excuse his behavior. A 13 year old can't claim to be ignorant to how death works. A 13 year old knows enough about the world to know why it's wrong to wish someone dead just because you don't like them. A 13 year old should also understand why people would be worried about this. So he is at fault for his actions.

To say that the child in question is bringing it upon himself and that he should be dealing with these issues himself is absolutely ignorant! He can barely do fractions and you're asking him to contemplate some of the most deep seeded emotional problems he has or find someone who can can help him work through them by himself. Your stupidity in your opinions is astounding and I do hope you realise the error of your ways before you end up tangled in a similar scenario as karmic retribution.

First of all, you don't have to agree with my logic, but there's no reason to insult it.

Second, you're really undermining the intelligence of a child in middle school. Can barely do fractions? You learn the level of math in 5th grade. This kid is not dumb. This kid is not ignorant. When I was his age, faced similar problems. And while I'm not going to claim to have handled my bullying problems properly, I never did what he did. There was simply no need. At that age, I had plenty of other ways to vent my frustrations. My mothers was always willing to listen to my problems. Judging from the second video, his mother is as well. My school also had councilors you could talk to when you had problems. This may not be available in his school however. But regardless, my point is that there are other ways to cope with stress at such an age. He didn't need to resort to this in order to do so.

Speaking as someone who was bullied day in and day out from grade one to grade eight, I can definitevly say that this exemplifies how useless the public school system can be. Instead of spending the extra teacher to watch the bullies in question for a few weeks to try and get a better feeling for the situation, assist the bullied boy by introducing him to the guidance counselor to talk through his emotions and make him understand that though he was trying to supress certain actions by letting his emotions flow out that they're still wrong, and overall fix the issue by being able to integrate the child into the classroom environment with a more positive outlook thus giving a more positive experience in the years to come for him and those around him, they simply decided to fuck it, be lazy and send the kid home for the rest of the year to fuel his emotional instability even further and let the potential bullies move onto another victim without worry of ever being questioned again!

You're making some pretty big assumptions.

First, public schools already have enough trouble with staffing. Managing all of these kids with the funds they get can be very difficult. So dedicating someone to watch these 8 kids, as you suggest, isn't necessarily a viable possibility, especially when these claims of bullying appear to be based on nothing but suspicions.

You don't know how they have handled the situation beyond the suspension. I was got a suspension due to one of my outbursts as a result of bullying. But the school was still having me visit a guidance counselor to help me deal with my issues. Considering I'm just one student, they dedicated a lot of time towards helping me. They may not be doing the same for this child, but you don't know that for sure. You also don't know if they have had any discussions with the potential bullies and other students. You're basing all of this on assumptions.

But maybe that's just me making sense again, which clearly is a bad thing.

Again, I don't see the point in insulting other people just because they disagree with you.

Honestly, this isn't a difficult situation to understand and fix, but the staff at that school must just be too friggin lazy to bother with the extra time to help one student who seems to really need some help, especially with an outcry such as that.

Again, this is an assumption. You can't be sure they aren't doing anything else about the situation. I imagine that they are considering this has made the news and at least two parents are concerned about it.

And to everyone who's wondering why he might have done this, let's go into a possible scenario, shall we? Child is being bullied. Child feels safer at home and has very few friends so he watches a lot of TV. Child sees Death Note and is enthralled with it because it exemplifies justice done to bad people that normally get away with bad things (bullies). Child gets a Death Note in classical fanboyism purchase. Child writes the names of people that are bullying him to vent frustration. Child brings the book with him as a security item in hopes that maybe if he believes in it hard enough, the bullies will not hurt him today and simply go away (in this case, death) through some form of divine intervention (Shinigami).

This is another huge assumption, one I see no reason to believe as truth based on the nature of the kids list. He had the name of some random pop star on his list. Do you think he has meet this pop star? Do you think this pop star has victimized him? Odds are this isn't this case, so he probably just wrote down his name because he hates him. He may have done the same for the other children on the list. He wrote their names down because he hates them. This could be because they are bullying him, or because they just do something he dislikes.

But regardless of why he wrote their names down, it still doesn't excuse this behavior. If he is actively wishing these people dead, as you suggest, then I would say he is a potential threat and should be removed from the school. That is a serious problem. Though like others have said it could have also just been a harmless list. Either way, the kid isn't an innocent victim.

It seems silly to adults, but that's often the thought process of a child. It's not logical in our terms, but it certainly follows a particular path of logical thinking. In all honesty, I want to see this kid helped, but no one seems to want to, which is the saddest truth of all.

Again, more assumptions. You don't know what kind of help this kid is getting.

So, to the OP, I ask this: please do the right thing and go find this kid some help. Talk to your parents, gather some neighbours, get the school he goes to involved, but for the love of God, please get this kid some proper help so that he doesn't end up being another statistic in a bloody memory of another school shooting.

Here's a thought; what is this kid is just a bitter loner? What if he chooses to be a social outcast? What if these kids are just ones he dislikes based on their various tastes, such as idolizing Justin Bieber? What if he is the one being the bully, and that the other kids reasons for shunning him are completley legitimate?

I'm making an assumption here, which is exactly what you are doing. It goes both ways. I don't think either of us knows enough about the situation they just assume that the school is doing nothing about it.

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

Did anyone check to see if there was shinigami with him?

 

[DarkPanda XIII]

Oh Lordy, Somehow I missed the 'Death Note' part until they posted up the screen. (didn't read the title of this discussion, so it just made my experience even funnier.)

I understand the conviction against the child, especially for anybody that had not seen the anime. But really lists like that don't usually get noted unless some idiot actually does something. The fact that it was a Deathnote means he's not targeting anybody, but wishes they die.

 

[Grayjack]

Oh come on. That's just ridiculous. She's blowing it out of proportion. And the kid can't be that bad, he even had Justin Bieber on that list.

 

[Cosplay Horatio]

Highlarious, I had to share it on facebook. I am amazed very muchly by this story and the reporters still tried to make this seem very serious even though they got owned so hard.

 

[MelziGurl]

Oh Lordy, Somehow I missed the 'Death Note' part until they posted up the screen. (didn't read the title of this discussion, so it just made my experience even funnier.)

I understand the conviction against the child, especially for anybody that had not seen the anime. But really lists like that don't usually get noted unless some idiot actually does something. The fact that it was a Deathnote means he's not targeting anybody, but wishes they die.

The whole idea that the school actually took action against this 'deathnote' is a good thing. Waiting to see if something happens could only end in worse tradgedy and I'm sorry, but you don't wish death upon your worst enemy. How does it make anybody a better person? And if their deaths actually made a person feel better, an actual sadistic satisfaction then I'm sorry but I just simply wouldn't regard said person as a normal human being.

Now I was extensively bullied through primary school. I suffered from stress, vomiting, mirgrains and an ulcerated throat all within 12 months from bullying and at the age of 10. I had trust issues throughout the first few years of high school and immediately found people I disliked. But, I never at any point wished that they would just drop deap. How a thought like that can be viewed as healthy frustration is beyond me.

EDIT: I got bullied in every primary school I attended after grade 2. I asked to attened a high school outside of our area so that I could start fresh.

I think the suspension was a good move, it can be considered an over-reaction but that school is taking the interests of the other students safety into consideration as well. They are not going to wait to see if this kid really can become a threat to other children within the school. Writing down the names of people you wish were dead (including Justin Beiber as much as I dislike the twat) can be seen as a sign of something much more severe in this childs mental state and the school is not taking chances simply because people think it's an over-reaction.

2 wrongs do not make a right. Bullying is wrong and I feel for the kid if this is what has been happening to him, but wishing the bullies were dead or worse is a much greater crime.

 

[direkiller]

Here's a thought; what is this kid is just a bitter loner? What if he chooses to be a social outcast? What if these kids are just ones he dislikes based on their various tastes, such as idolizing Justin Bieber? What if he is the one being the bully, and that the other kids reasons for shunning him are completley legitimate?

I'm making an assumption here, which is exactly what you are doing. It goes both ways. I don't think either of us knows enough about the situation they just assume that the school is doing nothing about it.

He(and alot of people in this thread) amused just because the school is not talking to the media they are not doing anything about this and this is just wrong. The school did the right thing and i know the guideline counselor there he is going to sort this thing out. The school just feel the media doesn't need to be involved when dealing with the kid.

 

[Lullabye]

The real question, did he take a chip and eat it?

 

[arcsniper13]

Hell, even i have a Death Note. I bought one on-line and brought it to school, half the students in my grade wrote in it. Someone eventually complained about their death and the vice-principal took it away from me. =P