Slog tipper Tim asks, "Are we going to stand for this depiction of Seattle?" Tim was linking to a Slate story from yesterday headlined "Seattle Is Overrun With People Who Dress Up Like Superheroes and Cause Trouble." Here's a sample paragraph:

Seattle, being a somewhat silly place, is the home town of the Rain City Superhero Movement, a group of eccentric citizens who roam the streets wearing homemade superhero costumes, occasionally attempting to stop crime but mostly posing for photographs. Last year, several of the Rain City members inserted themselves into the protests, attempting to stop the anarchists from causing trouble. The independent review on May Day 2012 found that the superheroes just made things worse: “Rain City Superhero Movement individuals were allowed to participate in the melee at 1010 5th Avenue (U.S. Appeals Federal Courthouse). Their participation resulted in allegations of assaults/crimes.”

I'm ordinarily the first person to come to Seattle's defense when a journalist pokes fun at Seattle's provincialism. But the answer to your question, Tim, is that there is no defense for this shit. Our city deserves every ounce of ridicule that it gets for tolerating—and even, on the media's behalf, encouraging—these sad little children LARPing their little-kid fantasies all over the city. This is one case where a little street harassment could do some good; I'd love to see an entire block of Seattleites shouting "GROW UP" at these preening fuckwits as they mosey around feeling good about themselves.

Phoenix Jones trolls the parts of town where drunk people mill about after bars close, looking for a fight and calling it heroism. He causes more problems than he solves. I have no problem with him wandering around Emerald City Comicon acting like a celebrity, but the people of Seattle need to let him know that he's not welcome on our streets until he puts on his big-kid pants and behaves like a responsible citizen. The anarchist clowns silly-stringing Phoenix and his dress-up fanboys was a good start, but if you can think of any legal, nonviolent ways to shame these jackoffs into retirement, I'm all ears.