Comments on: Drunk Driving Hoax Infuriates Students

Controversial 'Scared Straight' Program Plays With Teens Emotions

There are many people who think if a lie is done for the result of better behavior, its OK.
"Secondhand smoke causes cancer" and "Global warming is a recent occurance caused by mankind" are perfect examples of this behavior the media is guilty of perpetuating. But cancer is caused by numerous factors and global warming affected the Romans, Mayans, Anasthasi, and Mongolians;long before the US existed.

Posted by ralan40 at 11:04 PM : Jun 12, 2008

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That''s quite a stretch. You are comparing a hoax in which everyone knows the facts with two issues in which you disagree with the majority of the experts.
You left out the evils of evolution.

[smurfcrusher]

ralan40, hate to break it to you, but global warming is largely a result of the Industrial Revolution, a little bit after the Roman Empire fell.

And just because George Burns lived to 100, does not mean smoking is a healthy habit ! Unbelievable.

Try to keep it on topic, ok?

[smurfcrusher]

It probably never occurred to the administrators that now that they are on the kid''s s*hit lists anything they tell the kids not to do, is guaranteed a good idea.

Who would want to say "well the guidance counselor (who lied and traumatized you) says not to drink and drive, so I''ll be a goody 2-shoes". That''ll go over well with the peers !

[ralan40]

There are many people who think if a lie is done for the result of better behavior, its OK.
"Secondhand smoke causes cancer" and "Global warming is a recent occurance caused by mankind" are perfect examples of this behavior the media is guilty of perpetuating. But cancer is caused by numerous factors and global warming affected the Romans, Mayans, Anasthasi, and Mongolians;long before the US existed.

[smurfcrusher]

I wonder how they would feel if the students told them their house is burning down, and then tell them it was a hoax so they would stop smoking.

Hitler believed the ends justified the means too... Great lesson, jerks.

[grammawhamma]

This was a horrible stunt for adults to do, no matter how good their intentions were.

Last year, in my small town, a very popular kid died in a one car accident by driving drunk a week before gradutation. Every teenager in the town attended the funeral to mourn his death. They painted their cars and car windows with memorials to him. They wore T shirts with his picture etc.

YUP, then came gradutation...the same kids vowing they would never drink and drive again after his funeral were driving drunk. Their cars still were painted with RIP Steve. Thank God no one got killed that night but they did not learn their lesson after only a week. How sad it all is.

[smurfcrusher]

How generous to subsidize these students college education!

Because if I were them, I''d sue the H*ELL out of the responsible persons and the town. Have they never heard of "deliberate infliction of emotional trauma"?

Not only have they put themselves at risk of lawsuits (and I hope it happens), but they took any credibility they once might have enjoyed with these students, and flushed it down the toilet.

What a total disregard and lack of respect for the students.

[patriot12436]

MY mother called my son in the middle of the night telling him my daughter had been wounded in an explosion in Iraq. I spent a week trying to get the details including gettin my senator to check on it. After a week her top sgt called me and asked what the problem was. They had received the inquiry. He said my daughter was fine and he had her there so she could talk to me. Then last month my mother called my son at 2am again and told him my daughter was being rushed in to emegency surgery for a brain tumor. I knew it wasn''t true as i had just talked to my daughter an hour earlier. She had called her grandmother that day and told her she was going to have some medical tests done. I told my son to never believe anything my mother said again as she just likes to cause trouble wherever she can. And she wonders why i will not have anything to do with her. Yhis is the phone call or the door bell ringing that no parent wants to hear. It is tragic when iis real, but is just as trajic when it is not.

[ontheleft]

"They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized," said guidance counselor Lori Tauber, who helped organize the shocking exercise and got dozens of students to participate. "That''s how they get the message."

This guidance counselor needs to be FIRED. There are too many ''law and order'' and control freaks like this running the schools who think nothing of insane tactics like these.

[patriot12436]

This has to be the sickest idea i have ever heard of. Wait ill it happens to you and see if you like it. I hope the school and the highway patrol are sues and fired. I an enragd. If this had happened to my kids, heads would roll.

[patriot12436]

This has to be the sickest idea i have ever heard of. Wait ill it happens to you and see if you like it. I hope the school and the highway patrol are sues and fired. I an enragd. If this had happened to my kids, heads would roll.

[amkus3]

So I take it when the fire alarms and bomb threats start coming in it will be excused because the students were just wanting to help the counselors and administrators become more aware of the potenitial dangers. After all, they need to be traumatized to understand according to administration theory.

[sgtrds-e4]

Dear young ladies and gentlemen. You are about to go out into the world, so we hope you remember what we just taught you. Never trust the police! Whatever they tell you might be just a lie and a sick hoax! That also goes for any school administrator or teacher that you used to trust and look up to! They lied to you this time and a horribile lie at that, so never ever trust any of them ever again! Thank you and good luck!

[cold777]

Trying to tell a teenager not to drink almost never works, especially when its the "cool" thing to do to fit in.....something like this will teach them the dangers of drinking.

[displeased]

This prank will drive them to drinking.

[meinnv]

Sorry ignore this "wouldn''''t a little better be better than a lot". Meant to delete it

[meinnv]

Hedonist3,

Don''t get me wrong, I care about their psyches. And it is traumatic no doubt. They are at a transition phase in their lives--going from child to adult. Protected to protector.

I am sure there is going to be a long debate about this, and parents are going to get mad and want to sue. In a way, I wouldn''t blame them......

But after so long of hearing about teens drinking, driving, dying, killing others; it seems like an epidemic with no end and no solution. Nothing so far has worked to deter or curb it. Something had to be done, and something dramatic.

You are right, there is a difference between momentary trauma and lifetime trauma. They can accept being lied to, rather than the actual loss and grief. Funerals are not fun to go to, they can traumatize children beyond belief.

I am wondering how many kids really care about their friends enough to say "I would do this if only they would be back..."; wouldn''t a little better be better than a lot?

A moment of "OH MY GOD" shock; rather than a lifetime of "I miss them so much, I miss them everyday of my life, I want (friend) back, I wish it was a dream..."

[sgtrds-e4]

All any of them learned from this is that they can''t ever trust the police or school administrators not to lie to them. They''ll never be able to trust these authorities again.

[sgtrds-e4]

As for those who are related to or who counsel kids after a real tragedy, there is a vast world of difference in being traumatized for minutes and actually having to accept the death of a peer. Good grief.

Posted by Hedonist3 at 09:01 PM : Jun 12, 2008

They were not traumatized for a few minutes, but rather for hours! What happened to them was psychological abuse and torture! Some people had better be losing their jobs after this sick hoax!

[hedonist3]

meinnv - You and I think alike and have had the same experience. I feel sorry for the kids whose parents are so worried about their little psyches, that they won''t accept something that would serve to protect their kids from harm. As for those who are related to or who counsel kids after a real tragedy, there is a vast world of difference in being traumatized for minutes and actually having to accept the death of a peer. Good grief.