Iowa teens killed their Spanish teacher over "poor grade," prosecutor says

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pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
15,142
10,043
136
Suicide MINUS a gun of some kind is one heck of a lot "messier" in every way except for the actual blood-splatters.

:oops:


Off-topic, but again, agree. If we came with a simple "off switch", I think I might have pressed mine long ago. Actual methods of suicide (even firearms) are just too off-puttingly violent to even contemplate.
 
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Indus

Lifer
May 11, 2002
16,601
11,410
136
Off-topic, but again, agree. If we came with a simple "off switch", I think I might have pressed mine long ago. Actual methods of suicide (even firearms) are just too off-puttingly violent to even contemplate.

Yeah need to have legal cyanide pills and a use area for everyone and not just spies!
 
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interchange

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,031
2,886
136
Given the amount of brain development a teenage person has yet to do, I'm not really in favor of life without parole or death penalty (I'm not in favor of that altogether). This is obviously quite extreme, so much so that I expect there to be more to the story than a bad grade.
 
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Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,354
10,881
136
Unless it turns out the teacher was breaking into their homes and torturing their dogs/little brothers I don't really care what the explanation EXCUSE is for these boys behavior.

Intentionally killing another human-being in cold blood is inexcusable.

If we were talking about an abused 10 year old I would have some sympathy but these two were old enough to be held 100% responsible for their actions.

I do however agree that "life without possibility of parole" is counter-productive and oppose the death-penalty in all but the most extreme cases. (which this is not)
 
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nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
63,585
20,033
136
People THINK about doing other folks in all the time.
Do they really? :eek:
Not sarcasm, I'm not sure when the last time I thought about murdering someone was. It would have to be years at the very least.

Hm, I guess so?
 
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Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,354
10,881
136
Do they really? :eek:
Not sarcasm, I'm not sure when the last time I thought about murdering someone was. It would have to be years at the very least.

Hm, I guess so?


You're "nicer" than the average bear AND that's only a GOOD thing! ;)
 
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Atari2600

Golden Member
Nov 22, 2016
1,409
1,655
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Just looking at those boys and seeing the tricks their lawyer has already tried in court—I smell an affluenza defense coming.

Should lawyers be roped into the sentence if they repeatedly try the court with utter bullshit?

Would maybe make some of the immoral bastards pause if they realised their antics could land them in hot water.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,960
6,802
126
Do they really? :eek:
Not sarcasm, I'm not sure when the last time I thought about murdering someone was. It would have to be years at the very least.

Hm, I guess so?
Interesting, no, that we want to see people who have the same feelings as we do killed when they act them out?

I think it's all about disrespect. My bet is that those boys felt disrespected by their teacher and killed her as punishment and we feel those boys disrespected the rules we were told we would not be respected if we disobeyed them. Everyone has there standards as to how others should behave. The sacredness of our standards determines the value of our ego. Seems like those boys thought their standards were more important than anyone else. I wonder how we come to find ourselves so important that others need to die for our sense of personal worth. Something in our personal history like being put down?
 

RPD

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
5,109
600
126
Interesting, no, that we want to see people who have the same feelings as we do killed when they act them out?

I think it's all about disrespect. My bet is that those boys felt disrespected by their teacher and killed her as punishment and we feel those boys disrespected the rules we were told we would not be respected if we disobeyed them. Everyone has there standards as to how others should behave. The sacredness of our standards determines the value of our ego. Seems like those boys thought their standards were more important than anyone else. I wonder how we come to find ourselves so important that others need to die for our sense of personal worth. Something in our personal history like being put down?
At their age, most of this lies at the parents feet. They raised them, why did they raise people with such little regard for others?
 
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Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,960
6,802
126
At their age, most of this lies at the parents feet. They raised them, why did they raise people with such little regard for others?
In my opinion they raised them to have no regard for themselves. I believe the Spanish teacher was most likely a substitute for the parents either by doing to them what the parents did, or breaking the rules they imagine their parents taught as sacred. The pain that we suffer is conflict, a self division or inner split. We were taught to hate evil by exposure to the hate of evil we were told was within us.

This creates a love contempt relationship, or Stockholm Syndrome. Our respect for authority is created by fear and for some the force of the lessons create inner conflict we can’t contain. A percentage of us snap either because we had it particularly bad, experience horrific events later in life or both, in my opinion.

All of this is made worse by fear, the fear of pain, the fear of reliving consciously what we went through as children.

Children have no ego and thus no armor to shield themselves from threat. Once we could experience pain to our full capacity, to the maximum we can experience it. Children can’t survive continual conscience awareness of that. We shut down and submit, conform and tell ourselves we are thus worthy of love. The problem is that at the deepest levels we do not consciously remember, we don’t believe it.

That is the task we face, in my opinion, if we want to end the cycle of violence we pass down to our children. We do not know ourselves.
 

dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
11,347
2,710
136
they should get life without parole but that isn't an option as they were minors when they did this, so at least 40 years before being eligible for parole, they will have a looong time to contemplate how the ended up where they are at.

and it was probably one pushing the other so the one who was the driving force should get more time behind bars.
 

Pohemi

Lifer
Oct 2, 2004
10,959
17,133
146
Murder is murder, but the thing that stood out to me in this was that beating someone to death with a baseball bat is more personal and more brutal than shooting someone, imo. I don't see this as something that went down in a spur of the moment. Whether or not they planned it ahead or for how long...it was carrying out the act that I cannot comprehend. It's a brutal way to kill someone for any reason, but over a bad grade? Wow.
 

sportage

Lifer
Feb 1, 2008
11,492
3,163
136
Im surprised any kid can find the time to murder considering they might miss the latest TikTok video. They certainly can't find the time to vote, so how is it they find time to murder?
 
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Indus

Lifer
May 11, 2002
16,601
11,410
136
Im surprised any kid can find the time to murder considering they might miss the latest TikTok video. They certainly can't find the time to vote, so how is it they find time to murder?

That teach probably quizzed them something in class and when they replied without the right words the other kids laughed at them so.. priorities!
 

Pohemi

Lifer
Oct 2, 2004
10,959
17,133
146
Im surprised any kid can find the time to murder considering they might miss the latest TikTok video. They certainly can't find the time to vote, so how is it they find time to murder?
I get your point, but...kids in high school aren't voting.
 

pcgeek11

Lifer
Jun 12, 2005
22,416
5,019
136
People THINK about doing other folks in all the time. (however sane people have self-control)

The problems arise when "thinking" turns into "doing". :oops:


OMG. You really think that?

I have never thought of "doing someone in".
 

woolfe9998

Lifer
Apr 8, 2013
16,242
14,245
136
At their age, most of this lies at the parents feet. They raised them, why did they raise people with such little regard for others?

Maybe, but it's complicated what factors may cause a lack of empathy and/or rage. They don't even know how much is bio v soc, and as to the socialized part, where it may come from in a given case. Peer influence can be strong during teen years. In any event, the same two parents could easily raise another child more or less the same way and get a completely different result.
 

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,354
10,881
136
OMG. You really think that?

I have never thought of "doing someone in".

To be fair most people never actually intend to ACT on those thoughts so maybe "fantasize" would be a more accurate/precise word.
 
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dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
11,347
2,710
136
OMG. You really think that?

I have never thought of "doing someone in".
I'm sure if you knew you could get away with it with no repercussions there is someone from your past you'd like to see dead. I know there have been several i'd like to see dead over the years. like a psycho ex-wife.

I'd never act on it but I'd be lying if I said I never had those thoughts.
 
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