The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

“Project X” Sends Bad Message

Teenagers often do stupid things. Why? Often, the answer turns out to be that they were influenced by an outside source such as a video clip on the internet, a movie or video game, or they were just trying to top someone else’s crazy stunt. Most recently, the release of the movie Project X has caused numerous incidents. Believe it or not, people have actually tried to recreate the party they witnessed on the big screen.

The first try at throwing a Project X style party was on March 9 by a high school student from Michigan. The student tweeted about a party he was planning called “Project M” at a foreclosed house. The tweet became so popular that it was being re-tweeted at least one time per second and had even been posted on Craigslist. Luckily, the police got word of the news and showed up at the house before the party could take place.

The very next day, a student from Canada decided to try to follow in the footsteps of the movie. After receiving a private invite to a friend’s party, he reposted the invite on Twitter for the world to see. The new event called “Project Kris” became so immensely popular that it was viewed over 900,000 times. Similarly, the police intervened before anything could take place. However, the student vowed that he would carry on with his plans and host the party some time in the future.

Less than a week later on March 13, two new parties were conceived in Florida and Texas. First, a student from Florida attempted to advertise his party over Twitter, YouTube, and Craigslist. While he waited for the news to spread, he went to the foreclosed house he had picked for his location and filmed and uploaded a video of himself preparing for the party by spray painting and trashing the house. Because news of the party spread so fast over the internet, the police were able to stop it before it happened. However, they did have to restrain the 2,000 people who had already showed up to the house.

On the other side of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas at roughly the same time, 13 teenagers had snuck into a brand new house and had started their own out of control party. They were eventually arrested but had already caused $100,000 worth of damage to a $500,000 home. When asked why they had done what they did, they simply replied, “Project X.”

It is clear that people are highly influenced by what they see around them that amuses them. What they do not realize are the consequences that can happen. Mark Stephens who is a private investigator hired by the owners of the house in Texas said, “When you look at the movie, and you look at what happened here, the parallels are uncanny. It was a copycat. They did everything that I saw in the movie.” It is often said that it is best to think before you act.  That doesn’t seem to be the case here.

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