Cops and Teachers Hoax Drunk Driving Deaths to Scare Teens

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein, Majikthise at 10:00 AM on June 17, 2008.

Your friends are dead. Psych! By the way, don't drink and drive...

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Last month, police officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School to inform teens that several of their classmates had been killed in drunk driving crashes over the weekend. Not surprisingly, the students were devastated by the news.

Several hours later, the adults revealed that it was all a hoax. Nobody died. There was no accident. Trusted authority figures cooked up the whole story to teach the kids a lesson.

Unfortunately, the lesson they learn is that adults have to lie to convince them that drinking and driving is dangerous. So, this cruel stunt precisely backfired. The take home message became: Don't trust adults who warn you about drinking and driving.

Great public health outreach, folks.

[HT: Ellen of The D'Alliance]

Tagged as: health, alcohol, teen, drink, drive

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at Majikthise.

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Why blame the adults for this? [Report this comment] Posted by: everton9 on Jun 17, 2008 10:21 AM Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] They are just trying to do their best to help prevent a tragic loss. I highly doubt that their motives were anything less than sincere. Okay, so maybe it had some ill-effects. However, I think the real sad thing is that this is how far people feel they need to go to convince high schoolers that drinking and driving is a terrible thing. It is unfortunate that America's youth are so caught up with being cool and fitting in that they can't think for themselves and realize how terrible drunk driving is. Its a shame that our culture allows this degradation of critical thought in exchange for popularity. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: Why blame the adults for this? Posted by: QQOblivion » gee, maybe you'd like some of that 'Tough Love' crap for yourself? Posted by: BlueBerry PickN Cruel, as well as stupid [Report this comment] Posted by: luzmejor on Jun 17, 2008 12:51 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Teachers should have known that there are plenty of recent and gory statistics about teenaged deaths that could have been used instead. It wouldn't hurt to have the newspaper stories available for the kids to read either. Spoken and written English is terrible in the US and journalists are experts on language. But telling them their own friends were dead? That is so cruel I can't believe an adult did it, but a number of adults getting together to plan and carry this "lesson" through is well beyond the code of decent responsible behavior. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] P.S. your parents died this morning..... [Report this comment] Posted by: gallery on Jun 17, 2008 1:20 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] wait a few hours for it to settle in and......... WHOOPS- only kidding! Now go home and tell them how much you love them. What a sadistic thing to do to high school KIDS. Where the hell is El Camino high school anyway? I'm wagering it's in Texas. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Stunts like this teach one lesson: [Report this comment] Posted by: lepidopteryx on Jun 17, 2008 2:28 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] that adults in positions of authority will lie to you to get you to do what they want, and claim that the end justifies the means. And then those same authority figures will bust kids for the excat same thing. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] so here's a question. . . [Report this comment] Posted by: Yakmeback on Jun 17, 2008 6:34 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Just what bar were these wonderful adults drunk in when they came up with this brilliant scheme? [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] This is terrorism. [Report this comment] Posted by: Susan Kipping on Jun 18, 2008 12:25 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Now this is Terrorism. Striking terror in the hearts and minds of children is sick. Everyone involved in this should be fired. If I were a teenager I would not trust another adult until they earned my trust. This is sick and I am very concerned about the sanity of the people who run our schools. Stop this immediately. Your scared many humans that do not drink and probably do not even drive. You are messing with human minds. What is wrong with you? I for one would never, ever trust anyone connected with this ever. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] El Camino is in SanDiego [Report this comment] Posted by: wolfgangmo75 on Jun 18, 2008 1:06 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] And yah. It's kind of right wing down there. They have been sucking at the government/corporate welfare tit so long down there that they actually believe that Fox and talk radio are really news. Small wonder that they did this, have no compassion for the trauma and don't think they have done anything wrong. Does this sound like the 'thinking' of a certain governor Bush? I hope they get their ever loving asses sued off. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] the REAL Lesson Learned? [Report this comment] Posted by: BlueBerry PickN on Jul 13, 2008 5:30 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] now do you think the parents would sue if the schools thought this was an appropriate technique to USE ON THE PARENTS?** What do you suppose the kids learned about screwing with peoples heads & being compassionate?? They learned: Might makes right. lies make truth. whatever it takes to make someone COMPLY & OBEY is acceptable behaviour... They didn't learn anything about drunk driving... they learned that their emotions may be toyed with. the learned that nobody actually cares about their challenges, emotions & personal experiences... they learned Society wants only their compliance... they learned that its acceptable to screw with somebody's head to get what you want. Yeah... that will make them well-adjusted individuals with strong coping skills... This is the most MORONIC PIECE OF CRAP IMAGINABLE. I'm a grown adult... & this doesn't strike me as any sort of HOLISTIC & PSYCHOLOGICALLY SOUND CLINICAL METHODOLOGY ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄ BlueBerry Pick'n can be found @ ThisCanadian ┄┄ "We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid. ┄┄ "Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced" ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄ [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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» RE: Why blame the adults for this? Posted by: QQOblivion

» gee, maybe you'd like some of that 'Tough Love' crap for yourself? Posted by: BlueBerry PickN

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» RE: Why blame the adults for this? Posted by: QQOblivion

» gee, maybe you'd like some of that 'Tough Love' crap for yourself? Posted by: BlueBerry PickN