Where the wild suits are: satire as "libel".

• Author: Walker, Jesse
• Position: Citings - Brief Article

IF THIN-SKINNED Texas officials get their way, the satirists at The Onion had better watch out ... or at least begin printing "Just Kidding" in huge red letters across each page.

In 1999 Denton County Judge Darlene Whitten sentenced 13-year-old Christopher Beamon to a week in a "juvenile facility." Beamon, assigned to write a Halloween horror story, had produced a tale in which he accidentally shot his teacher and several students. This was apparently a no-no in post-Columbine America.

Shortly afterward, Rose Farley of The Dallas Observer wrote a parody claiming that Cindy Bradley, "a diminutive 6-year-old," had been jailed for "suspicion of making a terroristic threat"--in the form of a book report on Where the wild Things Are. According to Farley's story, school officials "were alarmed by acts of 'cannibalism, fanaticism, and disorderly conduct'" in die book, not to mention the line "I'LL EATYOU UP." The story quoted Judge whitten as saying, "Any implication of violence in a school situation...