The Question Concerning Creepy Kids

I didn't do it. Really.

School officials said the letter made specific references to the controversial German philosopher Martin Heidegger. He was at one time a member of Adolph Hitler's Nazi party.

I would really, really like to take this chance to pump my fist at that. The good people at 6 ABC did not get the memo: don't mention the Nazis! Heidegger was confused, caught up in a movement that deceived him; don't blame Nazism on him! Such are the standard excuses of leftists who want desperately not to idolize a fascist. Heidegger himself was no Hitler, but he really did believe in Nazism. If it's not capitalist, it can't be bad, right? So I wonder how long until 6 ABC gets slammed with self-important intellectuals (other than...never mind) whining in letters and phone calls that Heidegger was a brilliant, noble man.

Of course, it's sort of unfair. I mean, that's how you introduce Heidegger to an uneducated public? Let's try this with a few others:

Immanuel Kant, widely reputed to be a virgin, rocked the intellectual world with his Critique of Pure Reason.

G.W.F. Hegel, who fathered an illegitimate child with a housemaid, was responsible for taking German idealism into a direction only barely hinted at by Kant.

Syphilitic loner Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most prominent critics of the Western ethical tradition, had an anti-Semitic sister.

Hearing one of these as an introduction to a famous philosopher might just leave a strange, incorrect impression (just maybe).

"Obviously, he put time into it. He looked into it. He researched this philosopher. So I'm glad someone was taken into custody and hopefully, it is resolved," said junior Lauren Singer.

That madman! He researched Heidegger! ...actually, maybe he does deserve ostracism.

Post-writing, pre-publishing update: It's a chick.

Daly said that the student is a juvenile and he would not release her name or age. Nor would he disclose the full contents of the letter the girl taped to the door along with the knife and left copies in several places throughout the school.

He did say that it "was full of philosophical mumbo jumbo," quoting the philosopher Martin Heidegger. It contained no direct threats or racial or ethnic slurs, he said, but "had information that would lead you to believe that something was about to happen today," at the school. It included the phrase "Tomorrow it will fall apart," the police superintendent said.

Why don't we get to see the letter? I suspect because the district blew this completely out of proportion and it contained nothing but mumbo-jumbo (and this is exactly how we know, at least, that they were telling the truth about its being Heidegger. Or maybe Hegel, too. Or...). A letter containing no direct threats would sure scare me too.

I wonder if anything did happen today (which was yesterday). If it did, we should all be scared, because this girl predicted that something would happen today! Frightening.

Further...

Contrary to media reports, the language in the letter did not convey anti-semitism or ethnic bias.

I think that means "other media reports," or else the Philly Inquirer thinks it's on a different plane from the fools at 6 ABC. Or they don't understand non-contradiction.