RE: Oh jesus you naughty boy. Better luck next time.
October 5, 2014 at 6:50 pm
(This post was last modified: October 5, 2014 at 6:53 pm by HopOnPop.)
I'll take the devils-advocate position here....
(Just and FYI, I did find this story quite hilarious and, in my youth, I did far worse (and also did community service to pay for it)).
What if, instead of Jesus, it was a mini-replica of the Statue of Liberty or George Washington or some other national symbol? Or what if he wiped his butt (or..um.. massaged his front-side in a sexual way) with the American flag and posted those pics on facebook? Lets just take religion out of the equation altogether. For those who thought any form of punishment was too extreme -- is there no room in our society anymore for at least some minor crimial punishment for public behavior that likely still offends the majority in some obvious way?
I agree that perhaps in many parts of America a Jesus staute is not a symbol we wish to elevate to the level of a founding father or national symbol like our flag, but given the fact that his town is largely Jesus-oriented, I can see why a local court might "protect" Jesus statuettes in this fashion, while, say, in my home town of San Franciso the court likely would not. But, as a contrapositive, many in my area would likely applaud a court who sentenced, say, some local anti-gay bigot to some community service if they posted pics publicly on facebook that denegraded a statue of Harvey Milk. To me, this kind of thing is more than just rude or inappropriate, it actually (in a very small way) merely fans the flames of discontent for society while providing only a limited pay-off of mirth that appeals to a relatively small few....and thus is likely in the best interest of the government to deter it in some minor way.
Two years in juvenal detetion would have been way over the top...but a few hours of community service seems kind of appropriate to me. In my thinking, this is just this kind of minor "criminal" activity for which community service was specifically designed. Do a little societal dirty deed, as a prank or as a protest, then do a little societal clean up later to make up for the former. In the larger picture of balancing the differing needs of a diverse society, I found this punishment appropriate to the crime.
(Just and FYI, I did find this story quite hilarious and, in my youth, I did far worse (and also did community service to pay for it)).
What if, instead of Jesus, it was a mini-replica of the Statue of Liberty or George Washington or some other national symbol? Or what if he wiped his butt (or..um.. massaged his front-side in a sexual way) with the American flag and posted those pics on facebook? Lets just take religion out of the equation altogether. For those who thought any form of punishment was too extreme -- is there no room in our society anymore for at least some minor crimial punishment for public behavior that likely still offends the majority in some obvious way?
I agree that perhaps in many parts of America a Jesus staute is not a symbol we wish to elevate to the level of a founding father or national symbol like our flag, but given the fact that his town is largely Jesus-oriented, I can see why a local court might "protect" Jesus statuettes in this fashion, while, say, in my home town of San Franciso the court likely would not. But, as a contrapositive, many in my area would likely applaud a court who sentenced, say, some local anti-gay bigot to some community service if they posted pics publicly on facebook that denegraded a statue of Harvey Milk. To me, this kind of thing is more than just rude or inappropriate, it actually (in a very small way) merely fans the flames of discontent for society while providing only a limited pay-off of mirth that appeals to a relatively small few....and thus is likely in the best interest of the government to deter it in some minor way.
Two years in juvenal detetion would have been way over the top...but a few hours of community service seems kind of appropriate to me. In my thinking, this is just this kind of minor "criminal" activity for which community service was specifically designed. Do a little societal dirty deed, as a prank or as a protest, then do a little societal clean up later to make up for the former. In the larger picture of balancing the differing needs of a diverse society, I found this punishment appropriate to the crime.
