A Maryland middle school teacher was placed on leave — and taken by police for an “emergency” psychiatric evaluation — because he wrote two novels set 900 years in the future about school massacres.The sane mind spins at the insanity.
A police search for guns and bombs found nothing. (Not even a slice of pizza chewed into the shape of a gun?!) But police will guard the middle school until the nonexistent danger is past.
Update, 9/2/14: The more we learn, the more it looks like the school and law enforcement people in this case are drooling, blathering idiots:
"The residence of the teacher in Wicomico County was searched by personnel,” Phillips said, with no weapons found. “A further check of Maryland State Police databases also proved to be negative as to any weapons registered to him. McLaw was suspended by the Dorchester County Board of Education pending an investigation and is no longer in the area. He is currently at a location known to law enforcement and does not currently have the ability to travel anywhere.”Orwell was just talking about the Soviet Union, you know. He was giving us a warning. "[D]oes not currently have the ability to travel anywhere"? Holy crap.
I've tried to reach the sheriff, so far unsuccessfully, to learn whether McLaw's "inability to travel anywhere" means that he is under arrest. It is somewhat amazing that local news reports on this case don't make clear whether McLaw is under arrest, and if so, on what charge. It is equally astonishing that the reporters on this story don't seem to have used the words "First Amendment" in their questioning of law-enforcement officials, and also astonishing they don't question the Soviet-sounding practice of ordering an apparently sane person who has been deemed unacceptable by state authorities to undergo a psychological evaluation.
And let's keep in mind that the two paragraphs I just quoted are from The Atlantic, which is not known for Heritage Foundation-style leanings.
14 comments:
On the face of it, this does seem ridiculous ... you should be able to write fiction of any sort and be left alone.
BUT ... I would be alarmed if my kids'd teacher seemed to be fixate on school massacres. So, I don't think a psychiatric evaluation is out of line ... anyone can be placed on a 72 hour hold if they exhibit any sign of harming themselves or others, and I would, in this case, be willing to err on the side of caution, rather than not paying attention. SO many people who have committed mass murder, and a lo in schools, Columbine in particular, have sent early warning signs. Liitletown is another good example.
And a psych evaluation is not a punishment--it's a preventive measure. Having been placed on holds three times in my life ... I needed all three and I certainly wouldn't have volunteered. One, I was out in an hour. The other two ...after coming in, I volunteered to stay until the docs said it was okay for me to go. But I actually appreciate the fact that someone else intervened.
I don't know this guy's story...if he was completely normal, and just liked to write fiction about what he knew? Cool. He'd be the guy out in an hour But i suspect there were likely other factors ...and if he were to trigger a school massacre himself? On top of the human injuries and death, the school district faces huge liability if they knew about his novels. Basically ... it's up to 3 paid days off for him, and a nod to safety.
I can't fault the district on this one...assuming they kept the reason for his absence private.
Because they can. Because they see some advantage to themselves in doing so. Because they're not courting any danger of repercussions.
We can't assume facts not in attendance--and there's no evidence this guy did anything other than write a book. Maybe he chose school massacre because, as a teacher, he could make the story realistic--but there's no evidence he exhibited any signs of threat to kids.
Sending someone to a psych evaluation under these conditions is very Orwellian, very Soviet.
Wow -- not only are the authorities rounding up authors and subjecting them to psychiatric confinement because of concerns about their writing, but now we have folks defending their doing so. Land of the free and home of the brave?
http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/351507.php
And the person defending their doing so has long claimed to be a libertarian.
WTF?
I am a Libertarian ... but one of our Libertarian assumptions is sanity. And ... sometimes those with problems don't know they need help. It's essential that people around them help them get treatment, if they need it. Having actually been through this process -- on both sides -- I know how it works. Writing books alone would not, probably be enough to get a medical professional even mildly interested ... so I may be assuming fact not in evidence, but I can tell you that the way it works, if someone reports you as being unstable in some way, the police will come by and do an initial assessment. If you seem not to be any sort of danger to yourself or others, they go away. If you don't, you get the psych eval ... and despite that you CAN be held for 72 hours under medical care (not jail ...hospital) the psychiatrist makes sure you're okay. You can be released in an hour, or they can hold you for 72 hours ...after that, if they are worried about you, you automatically get a hearing before a judge. I guess that might be seen as being Orwellian and weird; but I don't think this has anything to do with Libertarian values ... When I have a friend 3 hours away call me, telling me he or she wants to kill him or herself ... what do I do? I had to call the police to do a check. He or she was pissed off at me for quite some time after ...but the result was an hour or so of evaluation, release, and still being alive. If I had done nothing and that person was serious and had died, I could never forgive myself. And I would like to think that when it's happened to me, someone who cared about me turned me in ...and i've gone from a "Thank you officer, I'm fine" to a 2 week stay in a psych ward that I really needed. If this was truly just because of the books ... I agree that it's kind of a scary precedent -- which is why I believe it wasn't. But people who are out of whack frequently don't know they are. I don't know why this is a political issue...it must have been more than the books. And when this has happened to me --I absolutely hated the people who put me in that situation; in hindsight, I appreciate they were concerned enough to try to help.
Further information said he wrote the books, under a pseudonym, a couple years ago.
And a search of his classroom and his home revealed no weapons or anything else "sinister".
In other words, this is all paranoia based on the irrational fears of stupid people in whose care thousands of people put their children *every single day*.
In that case, I take your side. Much to intrusive, especially if he wrote under a pseudonym. I just know I was glad that people were allowed to interfere in my life when they were concerned ...It still doesn't seem like a sign of the apocalypse to me. To find out he wrote these under a pseudonym ...that took some work. Which indicates a) he was sane enough to use a pseudonym and b) someone had a vendetta against him .... because how else would they even suspect? Do I get ny Libertarian creds back, yet?
Mental illness is a tough one. When I was much younger, (7th or 8th grade), I experienced it first hand ... an otherwise normal person close to me started to exhibit increasingly bizarre behavior ...and I , as a kid, had very little power over the situation. I finally convinced someone to call 911, and get this person to help. Turns out ... there was a chemical imbalance in this person's brain ... and two weeks of treatment and a month of medication fixed it. But --if someone had not taken the step to intervene, I think it would have turned out worse. If the perspective is that this was a witch hunt ... it should not have ever happened. I don't see the threshold being breached. But people who have even temporary mental disorders don't know they have them ...and that's why I would prefer to be cautionary.
In light of that new info ... it does seem an overreaction. But none of that takes away from my points ... I would do exactly the same thing again for my friend.
It's beginning to look like this guy's nuts* and he's enjoying the hospitality of a "no sharps" residence - http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-teacher-was-not-placed-on-leave-over-books-authorities-say-20140902-story.html
That would explain the lack of an arrest warrant or much of anything else. HIPAA applies so no one can say much of anything substantive.
* protect-group license to use "hurtful" speech applies.
Max,
If he is sane a forced psych exam is no big deal? There will be a cloud over his head for years (if not for the rest of his career). Every student and every parent upset with him will be in the office complaining "everybody knows he's crazy."
"I don't know why this is a political issue..." Well, maybe something in the old Soviet Union suggests an explanation.
Allen, which means ... I was probably right. There was more to it than the books. And of course he isn't charged with a crime, because we have freedom of the press... what disturbs me about that article though, Allen, and whoever else read it ... no one should know he's going in for a psych eval. Jerry, I agree with you. Thats's the purpose of HIPPA -- because if he isn't suffering from a mental illness, he's been scarred; if he is. it's no one else's business. But that doesn't mean that he shouldn't have had a psych eval. The correct reason for his absence is 'personal'. The second best, although not true to the spirit of the law, is 'medical leave'. That could refer to anything ... So, Jerry? What I meant by not being a big deal assumed that would include following confidentially laws -- which in this case appears not to have been done. So in that sense ...yeah, it is a big deal, and he probably has a pretty decent lawsuit against either a) the district, b) the hospital, or both. My point is that it should't be a big deal -- mental illness is just like every other type, and should not be stigmatized. And when I get that 3AM phone call from the friend that wants to commit suicide(and I have) , and I'm nowhere near them ...I'm glad there's a plan in place that allows me to offer help. That's hardly akin to the USSR. And -- it doesn't matter if he's sane or not -- it's if he exhibited signs that he MIGHT have problems. The purpose of the forced exam is to see whether or not he does ...
As to the update? "Not free to travel anywhere" means that it HAS been determined that he is a potential danger to himself or others. In CA, the standard is 72 hours for a reasonable suspicion of mental illness ... but again ... that has two layers to it: the person responding to the call, and, usually an ER MD. You can be released immediately. Or not, if the professionals decide otherwise. After three days, it can be extended, but you are guaranteed a court hearing within 2 weeks...
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