The anger management training he could use is primarily, I think, because this person left the confines of the game and posted a comment, presumably in a place that the other person could see it.

In the physical world, this would be akin to someone saying, "Dude, you're a jerk" (or harsher) and then you, some time later, write over all the whiteboards in his office and the offices around his many explicatives and angry faces.

Someone's got a bit of an uncontrolled temper.

In the game is one thing, since it wandered OUT of the game that's ... a bit awkward. Deserving of criminal charges, I don't think so; but, needing help? I think yes.

I don't understand this critique. Just because there is a large community of people on the Internet who say horrible and stupid things doesn't mean that those things are excusable. The better argument is to say that having poor taste and being socially inept are not criminal offenses, except in extreme circumstances (shouting "fire" in a theater)

Honestly, I think this is going to fall into one of those "it depends on your audience" statements.

If a popular greeting between people of the same culture was "F* you!" except the long form of that, or even something more grotesque (to you), is it wrong to, if you're a part of that community, say those things to one-another?

The internet, if anything, has created a large collection of very callous 20-somethings that can, off the cuff, say some really, really awful things, to a person that's not a part of their community. Huge parts of Reddit and 4chan are evidence of this sort of change in callousness.

Now, this particular instance of what he said, given what's happened in schools lately, was in terrible taste; and, if this is a pattern for him, he may need some real counseling, but the criminality of his statements is very suspect.

Long story short: what people are saying in normal conversation between each other is changing to things that older people, in part even like myself, find repulsive; but, it's normal and not-rude in their vernacular and it's a strong judgement call to call them socially inept and having poor taste - just different ones, and maybe "socially inept", if only in your social circles; but, when those statements cross the line to real threats or extreme circumstances, then yes, things must be done, sometimes through the judicial system.

> I don't really understand how any of this could be construed as anything other than just poor taste humor.

That is certainly one possibility, but it's not the only one. Sometimes people tell you exactly what they will do, and then go do it.

In fact there was a school shooting in Virginia just like that a couple of months ago, where the shooter posted his intention to 4chan first.

I would be very surprised if the sequence of events that lead up to that was a sarcastic remark after being called 'insane' followed by 'lol jk'. Context is everything.

Not only that, I could even go so far as to see the police showing up, the kid saying 'no, really, it was a joke', and then the whole thing ending right there, and I wouldn't cry foul. But prosecuting this kid for making 'terroristic threats' is a monumental failure of the justice system.

EDIT: Policeman friend of mine just quoted the Penal Code 22.07 Terroristic Threat verbage for me:

1. Threatening to commit any offense involving violence to any person or property 2. With intent to a.) cause a reaction of any type by an official or volunteer agency organizied to deal with emergencies b.) place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury c.)prevent or interrupt the occupation or use of a building, room, place of assembly, place to which the public has access, place of employment or occupation, aircraft, automobile or other form of conveyance or other public place

In his opinion, the kid's actions did not meet the criteria to cause an arrest, much less a prosecution, under this law due to the lack of evidence of intent.

Well, I don't support prosecuting him by any means, or arrest. I don't mind the police investigating to see if there was any intent to act for real though, but the police can do that investigation without him sitting in a jail cell.