Complex Numbers

Hopping MADD

Many juniors and seniors were driven to tears - a few to near hysterics - May 26 when a uniformed police officer arrived in several classrooms to notify them that a fellow student had been killed in a drunken-driving accident.

The officer read a brief eulogy, placed a rose on the deceased student's seat, then left the class members to process their thoughts and emotions for the next hour.

Pause a moment to think about this. You're a high school student, and someone comes in and tells you a classmate has died a horrible death. Then:

About 10 a.m., students were called to the athletic stadium, where they learned that their classmates had not died. There, a group of seniors, police officers and firefighters staged a startlingly realistic alcohol-induced fatal car crash. The students who had purportedly died portrayed ghostly apparitions encircling the scene.

http://www.theagitator.com/2008/05/31/absolute-maddness/

Now, I'll be the first to acknowledge that drunk driving is Bad. I certainly go out of my way to get quietly drunk at home, or someplace where I know I have a ride, rather than getting in a position where I might even consider it.

But MADD can kiss my gin-soaked ASS. I know the idea is to mess with kids' heads - and I heartily approve of messing with kids' heads, but not like this. We're talking years and YEARS of therapy, here.

And what about the bastard kids who actually went along with this charade and let their classmates think that they're dead? I mean, I vaguely remember when I was in high school, I was like, "I wonder if they'll care if I'm dead. Maybe I'll stage my own death and make them think I'm gone, and see who actually cries. Yeah. Then I'll find out who really cares about me." Teenage angst crap. Well, here's a bunch of teens who actually got to live that fantasy - with help from the teachers and the fucking cops!

And then - what happens when someone actually dies in a car wreck, alcohol-induced or not? It happened to at least one kid every year when I was in high school, and the other kids were all shocked and saddened, even the ones who didn't particularly like the deceased. But now, these kids are going to be like, "Yeah, whatever, another stupid MADD stunt."

As the blogger in the above link said, "What the hell is wrong with these people?"

I'm telling you what, I don't drink enough to put up with this shit.