Yahoo Zimmerman wannabes: the all American boys
by digby
Two men have come under scrutiny by the public and possibly by prosecutors after a video made the rounds online showing them pushing over an iconic rock formation.
At first, they almost left the rock, Taylor said, but after seeing a large group with several small children pass below the rock and gather at a nearby formation for a photo, they continued to worry it would tumble onto the nearby path.
Utah State Parks spokesman Eugene Swalberg called the video disturbing. Possible criminal charges are being screened by the Emery County Attorney's Office and the Utah Attorney General's Office, he said.
"This is not behavior that is appreciated or should exist in state parks," Swalberg said. "This has been formed for literally millions of years, and it's supposed to last for a long time. It doesn't need individuals doing the work of Mother Nature."
The goblins date back more than 170 million years to the Jurassic Period, Swalberg said. The park, which gets more than 85,000 visitors per year, was dedicated in 1974 to protect the fragile formations, he said.
"There are some established trails in the park, but there are also areas where you can have self discovery and wander amongst the goblins," Swalberg said. "That's the beauty of Goblin Valley. It's not meant to have people push over the goblins. It's meant to enjoy."
Taylor and Hall maintain their actions weren't malicious, and at the time they never considered what they were doing could be criminal.
"Neither one of us were out there intending to do illegal activity," Hall said. "It just made sense to us at the time — remove the danger so that we don't have to hear about somebody dying."
What is it in our culture that tells a certain white, male American subgroup that they can claim they were being heroes and they can get away with anything? Oh never mind --- I forgot. We have institutionalized that state of mind, haven't we?
This is simply another version of "stand your ground" isn't it? These immature jackasses decided they wanted to destroy some property, told themselves they were doing it to "save lives" and then went ahead and had their fun. They assume that nothing will happen to them because they claim they were "protecting the public --- the childre" and they know that a whole bunch of jackasses just like themselves will defend them against the big bad gummint that doesn't recognize their right to play cop, army man, "fireman" or cowboy whenever they feel like it.
And they have good reason to think it's ok. A large portion of our culture now celebrates all forms of vigilantism as a bedrock American value. It isn't the first time we've seen this, of course, so maybe it is ...
.