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By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist Former UFC and Pride heavyweight and current MMA journeyman Jeff Monson has been charged with First Degree Malicious Mischief for his role in vandalizing the Washington State Capital. Monson took a can of spray paint to the columns on the front of the building, and ESPN the Magazine happened to be there to take his picture as they were covering Monson and his association with the Olympia anarchist movement for their December edition.
The photo of Jeff holding a can of spray paint and admiring his handiwork is what led to the graffiti charge for the fighter, and with it he is facing 10 years in prison and/or a $20,000.00 fine if convicted, as it is a class B felony. According to the newspaper 'The Olympian/' the cost to clean up Monson's act of rebellion was a hefty $19,000.00, and as of now the fighter has not turned himself in. The newspaper reported that Monson had heard that the State Patrol was looking for him and would contact them but was still unsure of what to do.
Jeff Monson is in my opinion an absolute moron. He claimed that his graffiti was to protest the war in Iraq as well as economic inequality both in the U.S.A. and the rest of the world. His exact words to 'The Olympian' are as follows:
"Every great movement in the United States, from civil rights, women's rights, the labor movement, has been the result of people standing up and breaking the law, refusing to stand at the back of the bus, refusing to stand aside when the government asks you to get off their property, and now, these people are seen as pioneers. But at the time, they were criminals they were literally criminals. I'm not here to advocate for myself; at some point you have to stand up."
Spray painting an anarchy symbol on a state building does not suddenly make you Rosa Parks; and to even try to place himself at the forefront of some movement on par with any of the aforementioned movements is patently absurd. Tagging something with graffiti does nothing other than mar the property, and I am fairly certain that not one damned soul who saw his artwork considered it to be in protest of anything but rather imagined it to be the product of some delinquent with a can of Krylon.
I remember a time in my high school wood shop class when a fellow student carved both the anarchy symbol as well as a pot leaf into the top of a table, and I really don't think he was protesting our government and making a statement on the legalization of pot. For all of these years I simply thought he was just a burnt out 20 yr old senior who happened to be in my class, but if Jeff Monson is any indication then I was in the company of the sort of man who Dr. Martin Luther King would surely have called an inspiration.
Monson's remarks and actions make me think he is a 19 year old college student living in a dorm with Che Guevara posters on the wall, Bob Marley's 'Legend' blaring from the stereo at all times and a four foot hookah with eight tubes coming from it, rather than a 37 year old man who is a professional athlete. Spray painting the anarchy symbol onto state property does as much to protest the government as writing "Call Jill for a good time at 555-1234" on a bathroom wall would to get your ex-girlfriend back for cheating on you. Your vandalism is going to do absolutely nothing to draw any attention to whatever it is you are protesting, and not a damned soul is going to take you seriously and deem you capable of the ability to intelligently debate matters.
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson led cops on a chase while driving a truck with his image emblazoned on it, and even he would say that Monson was a moron for having his picture taken while holding a can of spray paint in front of his rebellious artwork. I would like to think that "Rampage" would tell you that he went crazy on that particular day and that Jeff Monson is just stupid. He may be a college educated man, but his actions and reasoning behind them is not intelligent whatsoever.
In fact, call me crazy but I don't believe that anarchy itself is all about equality at all. We would have a lawless society in which we could all do as we please, and I fail to see how that would be a world in which we would all hold hands while singing that we'd like to teach the world to sing while drinking Coca-Cola and sharing smiles. This would mean that if you wanted something that someone else had that you would take it, and that would be all there is to it. To a 14 year old kid smoking his first joint and listening to 'Dark Side of the Moon' it sounds grand to imagine a world with "no rules, man", and the right to not have to listen to your parents or anyone else, but it really cannot work this way and turn out the best for everyone. Our world is immensely flawed, and our system in America is far from perfect, but you can bet your ass that I would rather be able to have a problem with our government than to live in North Korea and be afraid to use more then 4 squares of toilet paper to wipe my ass for fear that Kim Jong Il would find out and have me beheaded in front of the townsfolk.
I am all for freedom of speech, and this goes for Jeff Monson and whatever beliefs he holds near and dear to his heart. I am all for the freedom to do as you please so long as it causes no harm to others. Whatever anyone wishes to shoot into their veins or shove up their ass is of no concern to me, unless we are talking about a gerbil and in that case I have a problem with it for the sake of the animal. Monson has a right to his opinion, and there exists many a forum for him to express said opinion without resorting to childish stunts such as the one he performed while doing his best Basquiat impression on a state building. I personally am not a fan of the war in Iraq, and I surely am not alone, but you can better believe that I support each and every man and woman who happens to be in our armed forces and overseas in the thick of it.
My brother in law is in the Army, and has only recently returned from a 15 month stint in Iraq and I am proud of him. I don't support the idea of war, but I do support him and understand that while war isn't a good thing it is impossible for our country to suddenly get rid of all weapons and eliminate all branches of armed forces in the name of peace. Peace would be great, and so too would a cure for cancer and A.I.D.S., but I fail to see how spray painting graffiti could do anything to achieve any of the above. Be aware, become educated and get involved in any way, shape or form; but just sitting back and saying you don't agree with something while doing nothing more than vandalizing property is as unproductive as it gets.
Jeff Monson did not suddenly join the company of Rosa Parks by refusing to move to the back of the bus, but he has moved to the front of the line as far as being a candidate for a Darwin award. In his defense, maybe he ran out of room on his body for another important and socially conscious tattoo, and perhaps he couldn't find the right location on his own house for a proper anarchy symbol and instead opted for government property. Regardless of his political views or feelings it is ludicrous for a 37 year old man who is somewhat in the public eye to have performed such an act; and rather than draw attention to the wrong which is the war in Iraq as he intended, Jeff Monson just drew attention to himself.
Jeff Monson didn't make a difference, he just made the police blotter; and while we all have varied opinions on the leaders of our country, I think our opinion on athletes who make the news for all of the wrong reasons is one and the same. Thankfully for every Jeff Monson, Quinton Jackson, Josh Neer and Jeremy Jackson we have a guy like Goran Reljic who does something we can be proud of.
I will take Goran Reljic and my brother-in-law Wil Lay's bravery over Jeff Monson's form of anarchy any day of the week. The men who make a difference in this world are the ones who have made it so a guy like Jeff Monson can make an ass of himself.
That spray painted "A" does stand for a word that comes to mind when I think of Jeff Monson, and it certainly isn't anarchy.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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