After discussing plans on Facebook to blow up their school by igniting the gas line, four New Jersey high school students were taken into custody and charged with creating a false public alarm, making terroristic threats and conspiracy.
NBC reports that chaos ensued at Belleville High School after an unnamed student found a Facebook () page on which two seniors and two juniors were hashing out a plan to destroy the school. The facility was evacuated, and a bomb squad searched both the high school and the students’ homes. Their efforts revealed no evidence, so it’s unclear whether the threat was a prank or a legitimate plot to wreak destruction.
Regardless, the teens are currently being held at the Essex County, New Jersey, Juvenile Detention Center.
Naturally, a smattering of folks have already launched into dissecting the follies of youth in the comments section of this story, but one comment from an anonymous poster strikes a chord:
“Why are kids so incredibly stupid? My friend’s son’s FB friend just posted a similar comment followed by ‘jkjkjk lolol haha’ on her son’s page. This generation of texting, sexting, tech-savvy-with-no-common-sense morons may well be the dumbest yet.”
What do you think of the story and the commenter’s assertions? Do you think that this generation is more rash than the last? Or do they simply have more tools to facilitate rash actions? Ten years ago, kids wrote threats on the bathroom wall. The bathroom wall, however, doesn’t have a “like” button.
