Wings of a Bird

On Hit Lists, Anger Finds an Outlet - N.Y. Times
TWO teenagers in Jonesboro, Ark., were overheard at a party last month bragging about a “hit list” and their plans to take a gun to school and use it on their enemies.
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No hit list was found, but in other cases at schools across the country, hit lists have fallen out of lockers, been scrawled on bathroom walls and have made the rounds like hot gossip among teenagers in Web videos and on blogs.
For reasons that are largely unclear to the authorities, the lists have gained toxic traction with a sub-set of students even as rates of school violence have dropped significantly since the early 1990s. Education and law enforcement officials say it is hard to know in any given case whether students write the lists as an actual blueprint for deadly action or to simply attract attention, amuse themselves, act out bravado or bully other students.
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The lists are typically long and often include gradations in the level of hate expressed, such as “to kill,” “to hurt” or “to knock out cold.” Sometimes the lists include the names of the students to be protected should schoolwide mayhem erupt. ...

Labels: anger