Anti HRO Vandalism in Jacksonville's Five Points Area

[Metro Jacksonville]

Anti HRO Vandalism in Jacksonville's Five Points Area



A construction worker was fired today for vandalizing the site that his company was working to renovate in the heart of Five Points, Jville's most LGBT friendly neighborhood.  The man vandalized a public art project sponsored by the owner of the building, arts advocate Steve Williams, crossing over its transfriendly message.  Fortunately the whole episode was caught on cell phone video.  Check out the details after the jump.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2016-may-anti-hro-vandalism-in-jacksonvilles-five-points-area

[TheCat]

https://www.youtube.com/v/3P_qbaYvk_Q

For those of you who are on bathroom bandwagon, as well-intentioned as you are, you're not protecting your children. You are demanding that police determine a person's gender before they use a particular bathroom.

In this video, a MALE cop or security guard enters the WOMEN'S restroom and demands that a user of that bathroom prove their gender.

This weird bathroom movement, I believe, will absolutely lead to egregious abuses of power. Don't be surprised when you hear more than a few "drop your pants and prove it..." stories as a result.

I personally do not want to live in an environment where my children will be asked to prove their gender by a stranger in an authoritative uniform. I consider that an absolute intrusion into an individual's right to privacy - the fourth amendment.

[Adam White]

Conservatives argue that stricter gun laws won't stop shootings.... yet they seem to think stricter bathroom laws will stop sex crimes.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

[Jimmy]

We certainly live in interesting times.  I understand from Steve that plans are being made to fix the mural or otherwise get it respectable-looking before 5/21.  The artists have said on social media they'll fix it much sooner.

Another brick in the #wallgate saga.

[SuzySpringfield]

One good move lately has been the recent fact sheet of bathroom access rights by the EEOC. Hopefully trans/gender non-conforming people can crap at work in peace.

https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-bathroom-access-transgender.cfm

[Jimmy]

^^ The EEOC has been awesome about this.  So has the Dept of Education.  Locally, our public school kids can crap in peace.  And thanks to new regulations put in place this year, our city workers, too, can use the restroom without fear.

Work to do for everyone else, though.  Except for Target shoppers.  They can use the bathroom.  But watch out for pervy straight men near the dressing rooms, ladies.

[AKIRA]

Calling it a mural is a bit of a stretch, but ok...

I take it that it is no longer a free graffiti wall..?

[Jimmy]

It wasn't going to be.  Steve Williams said he wanted to keep the message - that's a better word than mural, but I don't know art - up for the foreseeable future.

I assume it will return to free art space again soon enough.

The artists are creating something more permanent at the JASMYN campus.

[Adam White]

Mural

Pronunciation: /ˈmjʊər(ə)l/

A painting or other work of art executed directly on a wall.

(http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/mural)

Sure seems like a mural to me.

[Jimmy]

I leave these things to the experts.  Thanks, Adam.

[Adam White]

I leave these things to the experts.  Thanks, Adam.

It's intellectually lazy to rely on a dictionary definition to (attempt to) settle an argument. But hey... I'm intellectually lazy.

[AKIRA]

I agree 'message' would be more accurate, but not as powerful as 'mural' for purposes of outrage.

More curiosity stems from whether this is vandalism by law, or an unwanted, obtuse opinion, by local standards.

[Adam White]

I agree 'message' would be more accurate, but not as powerful as 'mural' for purposes of outrage.

More curiosity stems from whether this is vandalism by law, or an unwanted, obtuse opinion, by local standards.

A message can be art. Of course, you come across as the kind of person who tries to define what constitutes 'art'.

I don't quite follow the latter part of your post. I think it's vandalism - in the same way I think any graffiti is vandalism. That doesn't mean that the vandalism isn't art, mind, but it's vandalism nevertheless. And vandalism can be vandalism and still express an opinion - whether that opinion is popular or not.

[Jimmy]

I agree 'message' would be more accurate, but not as powerful as 'mural' for purposes of outrage.

More curiosity stems from whether this is vandalism by law, or an unwanted, obtuse opinion, by local standards.

There's no reason it can't be both.

vandalism |ˈvandlˌizəm|
noun
action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.

It was deliberate.  It did damage.  It was private property.  We have a winner on at least one account.

[Adam White]

I agree 'message' would be more accurate, but not as powerful as 'mural' for purposes of outrage.

More curiosity stems from whether this is vandalism by law, or an unwanted, obtuse opinion, by local standards.

A message can be art. Of course, you come across as the kind of person who tries to define what constitutes 'art'.

I don't quite follow the latter part of your post. I think it's vandalism - in the same way I think any graffiti is vandalism. That doesn't mean that the vandalism isn't art, mind, but it's vandalism nevertheless. And vandalism can be vandalism and still express an opinion - whether that opinion is popular or not.

Akira is actually a very very talented painter.  Perhaps one of the ten most important painters in the area, (no exaggeration) I think the political slant might be coloring what is basically a bit of art snobbery.

Well, if that is the case (and I have no reason to doubt you), surely he understands that vandalism and art aren't mutually-exclusive catagories.