If you haven’t seen this photo floating around social media…well, you may be the only one.
Jeremy Meeks, a former Northside Crips member and convicted felon, was recently arrested in Stockton, California. He is being charged with illegally possessing firearms and ammo, carrying a loaded firearm in public, and criminal street gang activity. (Okay, so the ‘former’ gang member part of the earlier description depends solely on with whom you speak…)
The Stockton Police Facebook page uploaded Meeks’ mugshot along with a few others and the picture suddenly started to go viral.
Why? Well… look at him.
I’m not in the mood to analyze this type of phenomenon. However, fear not, this will surely come in the next several days from many journalists, psychologists, and bloggers.
Watching the reactions from people has been almost as fun as looking at the photo. Everyone is pretending not to be amused by this photo of a convicted felon, yet it keeps getting around. There is a little embarrassment or disclaimer with each post I see, yet it still is being shared rapidly via Facebook and Twitter.
I personally had a few thoughts run through my head when I saw it:
1. That is an unusually attractive man. (Rare.)
2. He is a convicted felon and he’s attractive. (Even rarer.)
3. He can rock a face tattoo pretty well. (Especially rare considering the douchiness of a teardrop tattoo…sorry people with teardrop tattoos, it’s just true.)
4. Why does this entertain me so much? (Because the photo is fun to look at and it beats the cat videos my other friends are sharing…)
Of course, with news stations covering the story, it is a little different. They have to at least pretend to be serious, right? How would hot mugshot guy fit into the evening news?
For me, the only thing worse than a media outlet selling out for ratings is when they pretend they are not selling out for ratings…and then they go and blame the audience for caring about the story.
Well played, ABC News10.
