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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 10, 2023

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It does seem to be charged rather more heavily (as a 'non' hate crime) than your average burnout though:

https://www.wptv.com/news/region-s-palm-beach-county/delray-beach/man-who-defaced-pride-crosswalk-in-delray-beach-pleads-guilty

Is that particularly surprising? The average burnout is not intentional vandalism; moreover, no one is likely to even notice tire marks on a generic street.

The average burnout is not intentional vandalism

How do you know that? The behavior seems just as intentional to me

no one is likely to even notice tire marks on a generic street.

What? They're very noticeable.

The behavior seems just as intentional to me The action might be just as intentional, but the outcome is not. One is apparently meant to destroy the artwork. The other is not meant to destroy anything. There is a difference between painting "Kilroy was here" on a wall and painting "fuck you" on a car.

Maybe don't put your artwork on a street if you don't want it getting tire tracks on it?

I am not sure how that is relevant to the legal issue we are discussing.

People do burnouts on the road all the time -- including myself and Nybbler IIRC. Sometimes it's semi accidental, or sometimes for fun. If you put your art on the road, there should be an expectation that people might burn out on it. Indeed, a good burnout is a sort of art form in itself -- should the burnout artist complain when city works comes and paints over his tracks?

(If a cop sees you doing a burnout, he might write you a ticket for stunting or something -- but it will most likely end at the roadside, and certainly no police department will hunt you down based on witness reports of you burning out on a regular crosswalk. This seems to indicate that the 'hate' aspect is at least somewhat driving the response, even if it's legally untenable (for now) to charge this as an official 'hate crime')