Taggers/playa justice

[Good Sarah]

On Wednesday night some of our camp members caught a guy spray painting people's trucks (the rented ones ) and I witnessed my first example of "playa justice." It was definitely not a pleasant scene, lots of shouting, pushing, some punches thrown... now that I'm back I have mixed feelings about it. I keep going back and forth between being put off that I saw someone being attacked and feeling like it was justified. Did anyone else have any experiences with taggers this year? We were near 2:30 and G it seemed like the guy was going through multiple camps...

[Jackass]

There are many forms of playa justice...

[lucky420]

I would have no problem whipping someones ass who tagged my rental truck...

or finding someone to whip it for me

[some seeing eye]

I'm all for urban art. But tagging something on the playa that causes hours of cleaning back home is not OK. I'd have no problem applying the stupid tax in Pershing County to that, hopefully with some Pershing community service thrown in...

Not in favor of violence on the playa, we can be better.

[CornMan]

What option is there but vigilante justice? You could turn the tagger over to Pershing County Sheriffs, but it would be his word against yours, and there is no real money in it for Pershing County, so they will humor you for a while, take the guy somewhere where you can't see, let him loose, and continue on their quest to sniff for the lucrative smell of marijuana violations.

[EspressoDude]

tag the tagger...

[jerroc]

Cops won't clean paint off the truck. Damage is already done. Time to deal out some hard knocks lesson.

[CornMan]

Brand the bastard.

[lucky420]

on his forehead

[mgb327]

I am not a "tagger", but I did get branded this year.....Owie!

[CornMan]

He would end up looking like Charles Manson with that Burning Man symbol on his forehead. We'd need a brand that says "Tagger" or maybe even "MOOP."

[lucky420]

mgb, I got branded too! Your brand is looking good. Mine is no longer red, most of the scab is gone so it's raised looking and white with pink rim. I'll try and post a pic...

[FlyingMonkey]

The Burning Man symbol would be too good for a tagger. I like to think we prevented this by painting the lower half of our bus with chalkboard paint & encourged people to write & draw on it. Thanks to everyone who did

[CornMan]

The Burning Man symbol would be too good for a tagger. I like to think we prevented this by painting the lower half of our bus with chalkboard paint & encourged people to write & draw on it. Thanks to everyone who did

Awesome. I'd be less angry if the tagger hit my motorhome than if he hit our rental truck. But putting a chalk board on the bus is a great idea.

[Good Sarah]

I would have no problem whipping someones ass who tagged my rental truck...

or finding someone to whip it for me

Good point. We were all thinking we should have made him scrub it off himself. Although I have a strong aversion to violence, I do hope that person learned how fucking stupid it is to tag people's property right in front of them

[Candybox]

So, was he simply jostled a bit and ran away?

Because that's not any sort of justice in my book. I would've made him scrub it off himself, and go apologize / clean up all the camps that he tagged.

Of course, if I were really angry, I'd have him pinned down and spray him with his own can head to toe. Especially face. See how he likes that.

[maladroit]

Spray paint is ultra moop, half of what comes out of the can ends up on the ground.

[ZaphodBurner]

Watching a guy who has been caught in the act of vandalizing property at the expense of other people get beaten for it is 100 years of evolution beyond what would have happened in Nevada before, isn't it? It used to be a much more polite society, so to speak.

If the person walked away with his bones and teeth intact, at some point in his life he may thank the citizens of Black Rock City for correcting the course of his life before he ended up with a record of getting smacked around in a jail cell. Look at it this way: Black Rock City didn't beat him out of meanness, they beat him out of love. The lessons of Sparta.

There's no way you can scrub graffiti off a truck on the playa without getting cleaning products, soap, water etc all over the playa.

[MacGlenver]

Drenching with cold water wouldnt be a bad idea late at night. Would make for a pretty chilly walk home. Though that may better for art cars that get pissed on. Tagging a rental likely deserves a beating.

[Mojojita]

I would have a good time putting him on the ground and sitting on him until the cops got there. Then, with police report in hand, I have all the info I need to be sure he pays for the damage.

[MacGlenver]

I would have a good time putting him on the ground and sitting on him until the cops got there. Then, with police report in hand, I have all the info I need to be sure he pays for the damage.

Pff, why you gotta be all responsible and law-abiding

[salope]

Playa justice is different from vigilante justice how exactly? In the creativity of proposed punishments?

Even in such a cut & dry case of catching the guy in the act, I have to agree with some seeing eye. I would not want to be a part of any "justice" (violence) handed out. And if I should find myself in a situation where I was inclined to retribution, I hope I would have the presence of mind to restrain myself.

In less clear cut cases, it's only a small leap to misplaced mob justice.

[MacGlenver]

Playa justice is different from vigilante justice how exactly?.

Honestly, I think most people on here would do their best to hold the offender until police arrived. I suppose I don't know the people on the board incredibly well, but I think few of us are truly inclined to violence. I doubt we would feel too bad if some physical harm befell the offender, but we probably wouldnt be dishing out much more than verbal/legal beyond an initial, basic "roughing up" (eg. a shove or 3).

[lucky420]

agree with Mac.

sometimes snark is just hard to interpret...

[salope]

I get it, and get that most of this is just fantasy retribution/snark.

Still, feels like an important point, especially given OP genuinely asking for people's thoughts on playa justice.

Vigilante justice might feel right to those dishing it out, but really you are just perpetuating violence outside of any societial frameworks/constraints. That's why it could look like assault to GoodSarah, and why it ultimately isn't so different, regardless of how justfied it may feel or how "appropriate" it may be.

[maladroit]

The problem with mob violence is that everyone wants to get in a punch, and there is no group consciousness of how much damage is actually done. One person can trade punches with someone and evaluate when the point has been made, but a mob often ends up taking it far beyond that.

[Snow]

The problem with mob violence is that everyone wants to get in a punch, and there is no group consciousness of how much damage is actually done. One person can trade punches with someone and evaluate when the point has been made, but a mob often ends up taking it far beyond that.

That's exactly why I personally do all the ass kicking that needs taken care of. I like the painting of the ass hat idea...

[trilobyte]

I've seen 'playa justice' in the form of people getting just rewards or karma biting them on the ass, but not in the form of an angry mob assaulting somebody. If I had, I'd have tried to flag down a ranger to try and sort things out. I can understand that you'd be angry, and I'd be angry too, but that does not justify aggrevated assault (which is a far more serious crime than vandalism).

Feel free to share your experiences with taggers, but we can not have a thread glorifying or advocating vigilanteism.

[BBadger]

I get it, and get that most of this is just fantasy retribution/snark.

Still, feels like an important point, especially given OP genuinely asking for people's thoughts on playa justice.

Vigilante justice might feel right to those dishing it out, but really you are just perpetuating violence outside of any societial frameworks/constraints. That's why it could look like assault to GoodSarah, and why it ultimately isn't so different, regardless of how justfied it may feel or how "appropriate" it may be.

That's why there must be no witnesses...

[FIGJAM]

He fell.