January 27, 2023

"The tale may seem like a throwback to 'Never Been Kissed' and 'Hiding Out,' PG-13-rated movies that featured the high jinks of adults impersonating high school students..."

"... to report a news story and hide from the Mafia. But students at New Brunswick High School said they were worried that [Hyejeong] Shin’s behavior suggested that her motives were far less comical.... Students told a New Brunswick Today reporter, in a video posted to YouTube, that Ms. Shin had requested to meet at least some people she met at a location outside of school. One teenage girl, who identified herself as Tatiana, said that the night before the woman’s arrest she got a text from Ms. Shin that left her feeling frightened for her safety. 'All I wanted to do was make her feel comfortable in a new school,' she said."


Here's that video. 


It's surprising this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. The school doesn't want to make a new student feel excluded. And there must be many lost and lonely young adults who wish they could regain the structure and camaraderie of teenagerhood. The person is not necessarily a predator.

Maybe some people are genuinely confused and feel that they "identify" as a teenager. I'm actually giving some thought to whether I'm being insensitive to transgender people by putting "identify" in scare quotes and by using the word "confused."

45 comments:

tim in vermont said...

You will never be able to keep up. If you catch up, they will change the rules. It's about power. It's like in the story of William Tell, where he was forced to shoot the apple off of his son's head, that was punishment because he refused to bow to a cloth cap on a pole in the town square, put there by the viceroy, to discover men like him.

RMc said...

It's surprising this sort of thing doesn't happen more often.

It probably does, and either the "teenager" doesn't get found out or the authorities handle the situation quietly and out of the news media.

Here are some examples of this phenomenon: https://www.ranker.com/list/adults-who-pretended-to-be-teens/jacob-shelton

Temujin said...

Is it just me, or does it seem we have just a much more insane society than we used to? I know, I know. That's probably something every generation mutters at some point right before they tell you to 'get off my lawn'. But, what I see going on all across the country is truly not normal behavior that has become mainstreamed, accepted, and had excuses made for it. Are we more empathetic than we used to be, or more pathetic than we used to be?

From hordes of people obviously killing themselves, hooked on drugs, living in the streets, and choosing to do so, to the clusters of young people (mostly girls) who choose to change their body parts and mind into the other sex. Young people of this generation are more suicidal, more depressed, and ill-functioning than at any time in our history. They do not have sex. Do not marry. Do not have children- obviously. But they are all ready to go self-declared 'activists' one and all, for some odd cause, just not for being happy and living a full life.

Social media controls them. Bad teachers further influence them. And ridiculous political leaders put the stamp on the bad thinking and bad behavior. See? If they can to it, why can't we? Really, we've fucked up more than one generation and it's getting worse.

I've reached the point where I'm actually not slamming them anymore. I feel bad for them. We've created a shit environment for them to grow. This is not nurturing. It's a bizarre, torturous game to get through a day, listening to ridiculous information coming at them from leaders, teachers, and social media. I wish we could just clean it all up in a snap, but it will take a generation and a half to clean up. Not sure when it'll start, though.

Sorry for the rant. Happy Friday.

Al said...

There was a book by a woman who did this in the 1960s, "I Passed as a Teenager," by Lyn Tornabene. From my memory of the book, she was mostly not suspected by the high school kids.

tim maguire said...

You may be insensitive to true transgender people (however few actually exist), but we can't overlook the abusively aggressive "Transgender Inc.," which is what people actually think of when they think of transgender. It's their fault, not yours, that you had an urge to use the scare quotes.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"And there must be many lost and lonely young adults who wish they could regain the structure and camaraderie of teenagerhood."

Considering a huge proportion of the American population psychologically never matured beyond high school, not surprising at all. 'Peaked in high school' is a put-down because it's true. Just look at the antics we see in the news on a daily basis and ask yourself if that isn't the kind of thing you'd see 16 and 17 year olds doing to each other in those stories.

You could argue that the entire Trump presidency was a high school drama between a BMOC outsider, a bunch of gay nerds, and a clique of mean Beckys that secretly wanted to date him. You'll never find more people who 'peaked in high school' than the US congress.

Shouting Thomas said...

Another woman destroyed by feminism. She should be married, raising three or four kids. She and her family should be in church every Sabbath.

My social and family orbit is full of lost women who bought the bullshit that they had something better to do than to get married and have kids.

Turned out they didn’t.

I pray every day that this sick fucking ideology dies before it destroys my grandkids. Feminism is more evil than communism.

Richard said...

People with serious troubles might feel that being or identifying as a high school student is their best fit to assuage their pain.

Some folks might think that, with their adult skills--academic, social, physical--going to or back to high school would allow them to triumph as they do not in the adult world, or as they did not in high school.

It would be harder for a guy to fake it, but one might think that....now he'd make start
ing linebacker. And impress the homecoming queen--or any other young woman he wished.

Chris M said...

This occurred at my high school in 1986. A new student, that my friend had found sleeping in the high jump pit in August, joined our Senior class. It wasn’t until January that he got found out. He was 20 and had screwed up in college and thought that resetting his life by going through Senior year again would fix everything. He had picked our town by throwing a dart. Of course he got voted Best Actor for the Senior Awards.

Iman said...

Behold the wussies some “adults” have created.

They say the fittest shall survive, yet the unfit may live.

hawkeyedjb said...

"Identify" should almost always be in scare quotes, with rare exceptions. The correct phrase is "pretends to be" or "impersonates." And that specifically and correctly refers to transgender people.

WK said...

“How do you do fellow kids.”

Shouting Thomas said...

No fault divorce and the ease with which women can fabricate domestic violence charges against men combined to remove discipline from childrens’ lives. Female compassion is all most kids have now. This is lethal.

Men simply cannot discipline their kids.

Transgender is a psychotic delusion. The feminist female approach is unlimited compassion, which only exacerbates the delusion. The traditional male approach is to refuse to humor the delusion and to insist on some sort of intervention to cure the delusion.

The traditional male approach, discipline and insisting on reality, is now impossible. Among the other results, all those drugged out, lost kids living in tents on the streets in our cities.

Dustbunny said...

Amy Sedaris created the character of Jerri Blank, “a boozer, a user and a loser” who returns to high school at 46 years old in Strangers with Candy.

Carol said...

But is it a real woman or trans?

You need to ask this question nowadays.

Jake said...

You’re only as old as you feel.

Randomizer said...

I'm surprised that there isn't sufficient paperwork required by school districts to limit this sort of ruse. There is so much talk about keeping students safe, it's hard to believe that a stranger turns up and is admitted with no vetting.

It almost makes me think that administrators aren't serious people.

Tom T. said...

According to some articles I read, the school is trying to play it like they were suspicious of her the whole time, but apparently what did her in was that she came right out and told them that she was 29, when they wouldn't let her sign herself out early that day. It doesn't sound like she seriously identifies as a 15-year-old.

paminwi said...

hawkeyedjb: YES!

Gahrie said...

I'm actually giving some thought to whether I'm being insensitive to transgender people by putting "identify" in scare quotes and by using the word "confused."

Tell me you're woke, without telling me you're woke.

Sebastian said...

"Maybe some people are genuinely confused and feel that they "identify" as a teenager."

On the other hand, this case aside, maybe some people are genuinely trying to exploit transgenderism and feel not only that they "identify" as very young but also that the very young "identify" as old enough for sex. Trans age is the cutting edge of the normalization of pedophilia.

Levi Starks said...

Insensitive?
Both cases involve individuals who have a deep seated desire to be something they definitely are not.
If you compare the delusions that…
A) my brain is telling me that physical vessel in which it resides is the source of my discontent.
Or
B) my brain is telling me that my physical body is either younger or older that my birthdate would indicate.

Sebastian said...

Temujin: "Are we more empathetic than we used to be, or more pathetic than we used to be?

Both and neither. A big part of the craziness is the awareness of ordinary people and officials of good faith that they could be slammed by progs for any misstep, either through a social media shaming campaign or actual attempts at prosecution. Progs continually shift the norms, and shift the rules on enforcing norms. Who are you to question how someone "identifies" or discipline your kids or want the streets cleared of the "unhoused" or reserve girls' restrooms and sports for girls or deny that slavery is the cause of everything bad or advocate tough sanctions on gangbangers and drug abusers? Better show "empathy" and pathetically cower.

Marcus Bressler said...

It's a fantasy to want to go back to high school and know what you know now. My problem is that almost all the girls in high school are under 18 and I have no affinity for prison.

MarcusB. THEOLDMAN

Marcus Bressler said...

My Chinese GF looks to be in her 30s but is 52. This Asian pretending to be a high school student might have gotten that far by the genetic factors at play.

Marcus B. THEOLDMAN

Ice Nine said...

>Hyejeong Shin, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with providing documents that falsified her age<

When I read that she was arrested, my immediate question was what the charge might be. And then I saw it. Oh no!, not falsifying her age! The scoundrel! I'm having a bit of trouble getting too terribly upset about this prank, scam, whatever it was. Of course, I suppose, she shouldn't have done it but what is the threat that is perceived here? Seducing young boys, I suspect. Young girls, maybe. Something like that.

So she got arrested for falsifying her age. She's sort of like those human fly guys who astoundingly scale a skyscraper and they just must, of course, be arrested for something; so they arrest them for trespassing. I wonder if, when Hyejeong Shin was led away in handcuffs, she was smiling like they always are.

Lurker21 said...

Cameron Crowe, then writing for Rolling Stone, also posed as a high school student to write Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It was only fair, since when Crowe had been in high school he was already writing for Rolling Stone (see Almost Famous).

Wasn't there a twenty-something from Romania who managed to get himself adopted by Texans and to enroll in high school there? Or something like that. Maybe it was a Frenchman. It probably happens more than we think.

Rollo said...

"Peaked in high school" is a questionable phrase. Sure, it applies to the quarterback and the Homecoming Queen, but how many lonely nerds wonder in horror if, strange as it would have seemed at the time, they didn't also peak in high school?

gspencer said...

I bet she could really ace Algebra.

How well I could have done in high school, college, life, if at that time I have the wisdom I have now. Oh well!

Bob Boyd said...

Maybe some people are genuinely confused and feel that they "identify" as a teenager.

Too bad there isn't a medical procedure. Biological age re-assignment.
I'd stand in line for that.

Meade said...

hawkeyedjb said...
"Identify" should almost always be in scare quotes, with rare exceptions. The correct phrase is "pretends to be" or "impersonates." And that specifically and correctly refers to transgender people.

Bears repeating. Out loud. By everyone. Until it sinks in.

Ambrose said...

Going back to high school seems to me like a special hell.

DavidD said...

“…the structure and camaraderie of teenagerhood”?

For structure and camaraderie, nothing beats the US military; of course, I was a teenager at the time (at the beginning, anyway).

JAORE said...

"The person is not necessarily a predator."

Well let's just wait until we find out....

Maybe some people are genuinely confused and feel that they "identify" as a teenager.

I identify as Halle Berry's lover. So I plan to find out where she lives. Don't "scare quotes" seem pretty appropriate?

In addition to the above "pretend" or "impersonates" you can IMO add "has the delusion that..." Ater all history is replete with those firmly believing they are Nepolean or Jesus.

'I'm actually giving some thought to whether I'm being insensitive to transgender people by putting "identify" in scare quotes and by using the word "confused."'

'Tis best to assume you ARE being insensitive. Chances are that at some time and place in the future it will be so declared (bigot!).

RideSpaceMountain said...

""Peaked in high school" is a questionable phrase. Sure, it applies to the quarterback and the Homecoming Queen, but how many lonely nerds wonder in horror if, strange as it would have seemed at the time, they didn't also peak in high school?"

It does. Lot of lazy geniuses out there. Lot of failed INTJs.

n.n said...

DiversityIneqityExclusionDistancing (DIED), maybe.

takirks said...

The sort of mind that sees "going back to high school" as some sort of good thing? Yeesh.

Can't even fathom any of that. At. All.

I didn't have some traumatic BS going on in that period of my life, but it was immensely, immeasurably boring. I couldn't wait to get going and start "real life"; I mostly wanted high school to be over.

I can't honestly imagine going back. I have had nightmares that start out with that premise. Why anyone would inflict that on themselves? In and of itself, that's got to be a sign of profound mental illness.

If I were ever granted a do-over? It'd consist of me going back and actually doing what they had on offer as a pilot program, and leaving early to go to the local community college instead of sticking around and wasting my time. I do not think my years in high school were well-spent, academically or socially.

Jake said...

I mean, this is not nothing, but I think our public schools have bigger fish to fry. These kids in the video are awfully concerned about trafficking - is there any evidence that the person that faked her age was, in fact, trying to abduct and traffic these kids? If so, ok. If not, these kids on this video are just attention seeking.

Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said...

The high school experience morphed overnight from 3-4 years of hellish cliques and cruel social exclusion dominated by Chads and mean girls into a time characterized by "…the structure and camaraderie of teenagerhood."

Which is it?

Richard Aubrey said...

Marcus. If an adult identifies as, say, seventeen years old, what is the penalty for sex with a seventeen year old, or a sixteen year old? Presuming the court buys it and...I'm not sure about that.

Biff said...

After watching that video, I now "identify" as being depressed and filled with despair.

n.n said...

If an adult identifies as, say, seventeen years old, what is the penalty for sex with a seventeen year old

A friend with "benefits". A "burden" of evidence aborted, cannibalized, and carbon pollutants sequestered in a sanctuary state. It is celebrated as social progress in liberal urbane cultures, then #MeToo happens, and DIE (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry, "=" religions) doctrine is superimposed on a political template as it serves politically congruent causes.

Marcus Bressler said...

Richard, as you remarked, I doubt the court would buy it if the age of consent in that state was 18. Normally the actually years' distance between them being short might bring a lesser penalty, but the fraud and deceit involved might eliminate that consideration. But as I understand it, this "student" was female and most guys would not complain. But they do brag and that's when the adult in the matter gets in hot water.

MarcusB.

Readering said...

Well, I was carded well into my twenties when the drinking age was 18.

n.n said...

Feminism is more evil than communism.

Both are class-disordered religions with mortal gods and goddesses, and minority representatives, preying on their charges in trickle-down control and redistributive schemes.