`No' to savagery; Students send right message after Wachusett attack.

COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION

Like the videotaped beating of a Tampa, Fla., girl by several of her classmates earlier this month, the video of an after-school attack near Wachusett Regional High School Monday documents an assault that recalls the reversion to raw savagery portrayed in the novel, "Lord of the Flies."

In both cases, the calculated premeditation of the attacks and the perpetrators' seeming indifference to their victims' pain are as chilling as the injuries inflicted. The Wachusett video shows one teenager knocked to the ground, kicked, pummeled and hit with a metal pipe by several attackers who seem to be caught up in mob bloodlust.

To state the obvious, the scene is jarringly at odds with most adults' rose-colored recollections of the teenage years.

As brutal as the attack was, however, what happened in its aftermath should offer some reassurance to parents concerned for their children's safety.

Although the attackers displayed an almost sociopathic cruelty, students who observed the attack were anything but indifferent. The video shows one girl rushing to her fallen classmate's aid, even as the beating continued, and one student reportedly was hit in the face with a pipe while trying to intercede.

In addition, several of the 15 or 20 students at the scene reported the attack to police. The student who took cell-phone video turned it over to authorities soon after the attack, leading to the identification and prompt arrest of several suspects.

The message implicit in the reaction of students and authorities alike is one of zero-tolerance for such brutality. That is by no means a bad message to send.