# I'm mad at my theiving son, so I'm going to destroy a billion dollars worth of art **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 20, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973 "2002-05-20T17:42:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/41 "2002-05-22T22:04:20Z")
**DesertGeezer** , it stands for Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off. There’s a list of the commonly used ones in About This Message Board. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/42 "2002-05-23T01:50:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DesertGeezer \* > \*\* > > WTF=Waste Treatment Facility? How about World Tennis Federation? Or one of thirteen other hits on the Acronym Finder. (Actually, I get that one. :rolleyes: ) > > The point is, why bother posting at all if your entire post is an acronym that may or may not make sense to readers? Does **Tuckerfan** assume that Dopers keep a comprehensive list of eight-letter acronyms in their heads? Whatever happened to words, phrases, even the odd cliché? Maybe I’m just suffering from the generalized loss of memory that comes with geezerhood. But I would really appreciate posters taking the time to _ **write the fucking words!** _ \*\* DNFTT ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/43 "2002-05-23T02:19:24Z")
Welcome to the internet, **desert geezer**. You’re new here aren’t ya? Part of the September that never ended, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/44 "2002-05-23T03:58:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Peyote Coyote \* > \*\*Miller, BlackKnight, MGibson: You guys really need to develop a sense of aesthetics. Great art IS NOT mere stuff. > \*\* Well, who’s to say I _don’t_ have a sense of aesthetics? And assuming I do, who’s to say that it’s not more refined than your own? (I’m not claiming it is, just pointing out that “great art” is entirely, completely, and totally subjective. Expecting someone to agree with you that those things that were destroyed were great works of art is like expecting people to agree on what objects are holy.) I suppose a case can be made that these things were historical records of a sort. I can see increasing the sentence slightly for that, but I can’t understand increasing the sentence just because some people find the stolen merchandise pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/45 "2002-05-23T23:32:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kalashnikov \* > \*\*Welcome to the internet, **desert geezer**. You’re new here aren’t ya? > > Part of the September that never ended, no doubt. \*\* So what is _your_ problem? I don’t think **Tuckerfan** was really bothered by my comments about acronyms, but if he says he was I’ll apologize. I kinda had my shorts in a knot about something else, and got bugged unnecessarily about an acronym I had to look up. In fact I apologize to **Tuckerfan** anyway, and to everybody else for the hijack. But what did you mean by that “September” crack. If it’s what it sounds like, you can go lurk under a bridge with the other trolls, park your lips around a drainpipe and take a big suck. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/46 "2002-05-25T02:16:14Z")
Kinda warm in here! Yes, the bitch should be punished. She was also destroying evidence. And about acronyms, I sometimes have trouble with them. I think I only know WTF, WAG, BTW, FWIW… ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/47 "2002-05-25T13:24:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DesertGeezer \* > \*\*The point is, why bother posting at all if your entire post is an acronym that may or may not make sense to readers? Does **Tuckerfan** assume that Dopers keep a comprehensive list of eight-letter acronyms in their heads? Whatever happened to words, phrases, even the odd cliché? Maybe I’m just suffering from the generalized loss of memory that comes with geezerhood. But I would really appreciate posters taking the time to _ **write the fucking words!** _ \*\* Actually you are the first person I’ve met in years who doesn’t know what ROTFLMAO means. It’s right up there with LOL as far as being understood. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/48 "2002-05-25T14:31:59Z")
Geezer: You don’t understand the meanings of the acronyms? Maybe you should get the Central Intelligence Agency or the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States of America to find out for you. When they’re not busy warning us about terrorists wearing Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatuses, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/49 "2002-05-25T14:41:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*Hey, _ars longa, vita brevis_. > > WHOOPS! \*\* Her vita would be plenty brevis if I was around. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/50 "2002-05-25T17:33:18Z")
Dear \*\* OpalCat \*\* and **matt\_mcl** , If you read back only a few posts from your last ones, I apologized to everyone for the hijack. I don’t apologize for not knowing an eight-letter acronym, however, no matter how common it seems to you. **GHIP** ( **G** eezerhood **H** as **I** ts **P** riveleges). 😉 **Opal** , I feel just as you appear to about the destruction of art. Subjective or not, it seems to me that destroying (or altering) someone else’s expression is the same as destroying the person or making him/her lame. It’s evil, pure and simple. ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/51 "2002-05-25T21:26:24Z")
What passes for security at these places? If it was 172 pieces, they averaged roughly $9 million apiece? Don’t they guard things? This wasn’t cheap stuff! Hint: Instead of having 20 real nice pieces, sell one and have 19 real nice SECURED pieces, because otherwise it sounds like you may soon have 19 real nice UNSECURED pieces anyway. Sounds like expensive stuff for smaller collections and regional museums… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/52 "2002-05-25T21:36:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Peyote Coyote \* > \*\*Miller, BlackKnight, MGibson: You guys really need to develop a sense of aesthetics. Great art IS NOT mere stuff. > > Kill the cunt. \*\* I resent the implication that I have no aesthetics. My point, which apparently is in orbit some five to six miles above your head, is that if there are accurate and faithful reproductions of these artworks, then the loss of the originals is not, to me, particularly important. And, hell, even if there aren’t copies, there’s no dearth of great art in the world, and there is more being created every day. This woman should be locked up, just as any other thief should be, but calling for her death because she destroyed a few objects, however pretty, is over the top. In terms of criminal behavior, what this woman does barely rates, compared to the regular litany of murder, rape, and sundry other brutalities people commit every day. I can go two miles down the road from my houseto San Quentin and find hundreds of people far, far worse than this half-witted woman. But, because you think some of the things she destroyed looked nice, you think she should forfeit her life. Nice. Tell you what, I’ll work on my aesthetics, you work on your morality, we’ll see if we can’t meet somewhere in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2002, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/53 "2002-05-26T02:27:04Z")
> [@](#): > > I resent the implication that I have no aesthetics. My point, which apparently is in orbit some five to six miles above your head, is that if there are accurate and faithful reproductions of these artworks, then the loss of the originals is not, to me, particularly important. If you think a reproduction is the same as the original, your sense of aesthetics IS deficient. Don’t shoot the messenger. NO reproduction , however painstakingly copied, can reproduce the the brushstrokes, the colors, the varnish, the cracks of age of the original. Hie thee to a museum, and see what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2002, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/54 "2002-05-26T02:44:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gobear \* > \*\* > If you think a reproduction is the same as the original, your sense of aesthetics IS deficient. Don’t shoot the messenger. NO reproduction , however painstakingly copied, can reproduce the the brushstrokes, the colors, the varnish, the cracks of age of the original. Hie thee to a museum, and see what I mean. \*\* You’re wasting your engery, **gobear** , even if **Miller** “heid hee” (hee, hee 😃 ) to a museum he wouldn’t get it. Some people think a Xerox can replace creativity. To them a xerocopy of a Goya sketch is the same as the sketch because the lines look the same. You’ll never convince them that the essence of the person is in the original (even if it isn’t “pretty”) and that destroying that escense is worse than murdering the artist. The artist will be dead within a century, but that escence, preserved properly, can outlive him/her by centuries more. Some of the people in San Quenetin may be as bad as the slug who destroyed those paintings. But none of them is worse. Pour salt on her, I say, and watch her shrivel and bubble. You are not morally superior, **Miller** , just because you wear your aesthetic poverty like a badge. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/55 "2002-05-26T02:58:35Z")
Miller seems to be the only one in this thread capable of doing what the thief’s mother did. I pity them both for their apparent inability to understand the enormity of this act. Even art that I don’t “get”, like Jackson Pollock, still deserves my respect. Someone who can destroy art like this has something dead in his soul. ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2002, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/56 "2002-05-26T03:30:05Z")
Put me in the “it’s stuff” category. It may be a great crime. She deserves severe punishment. However, comparing this to murder trivializes human life. The destruction of art is insignificant compared to the destruction of life. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/57 "2002-05-26T04:30:26Z")
A note about the September That Never Ended: It isn’t what you think at all. It’s a reference to the fact that, in the days of Usenet (before the web), schoolkids would often get access to computers for the first time in … September! This lead to a huge influx of moronic newbies into stable, intelligent groups with certain mores and norms. The groups would either absorb the newbies, making regulars out of some and outcasts out of others, or they would be overrun by the idiots and lose all internal cohesion. As the Internet became popular, there has been a constant influx of newbies into groups that would previously only have had to deal with an annual crop. Thus the September that Never Ended. Finally, do some research before you shoot off your goddamned mouth. Here’s a free abbreviation for you: RTFM = Read The **Fucking** Manual! A manual: [FOLDOC: The Free Online Dictionary of Computing. Plenty of Internet abbreviations and acronyms here.](http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/) ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/58 "2002-05-26T04:44:01Z")
Jesus Christ, people. I **know** I’ve seen some of you that are ranting about the bitch who destroyed the artwork speak _against_ capital punishment when actual murder was involved. Miller isn’t the one whose priorities are out of whack. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/59 "2002-05-26T04:45:53Z")
In defense of **Geezer** , I gotta say that while I might have been irritated at his tone, I wasn’t going to lash out at him. I mean, for fuck’s sake, folks, its just a stupid message board and no matter how much any of us may be addicted to it, **Geezer** ’s post ain’t worth getting your panties in a bunch over. Save it for something really important. I mean, shit, if I wasn’t so pissed off over it to start another Pit thread, then let the shit drop! Hell, just the other day I had to look up DNFTT (Do Not Feed The Troll) because I didn’t know what it meant, and couldn’t figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973/60 "2002-05-26T04:58:30Z")
Actually, on second look it appears **gobear** is the only one calling for blood. Extreme, but not to the best of my knowledge ineillectually inconsistent. Maybe he and **Com2Kid** could set up their own personal death squad. That would be kewl. I do find it amusing that some find art _they_ don’t like less worthy- ha ha, thousands died but at least they destroyed a few Lichtenstein’s. Whoo, that’s too god damn funny… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mad-at-my-theiving-son-so-im-going-to-destroy-a-billion-dollars-worth-of-art/109973.md?page=4)