But Will It Play in Peoria?

[XLFD]

Vaudeville Comes Back to Peoria Via Its Mayor, Cops, and City Hall

If you have watched your share of old Marx Brothers movies or footage from the Vaudeville days, you may have heard Groucho or others ask the proverbial question:  "Will it Play in Peoria?" which effectively means asking whether it will appeal to mainstream America.  The phrase has its origins back in a nineteenth century novel by Horatio "Go west young man" Alger. 

The phrase caught fire during the Vaudeville era, when the Madison Theatre (pictured), a Peoria stop on the Vaudeville circuit, became a metaphorical name for not only a 'typical' venue, but also as a convenient place to make jokes about such as: 

 "Have you ever played Peoria?"

"Peoria? Oh, yes—I spent four years there one night!"

But the widespread use of this good-natured humor at Peoria's expense was less a shot at the banal nature of the theatrical stop, but more a nod to its rich theatrical tradition.  Which brings us to a new stage in today's Peoria, its politics and current politicians.  According to Reason:

Politicians can be a thin-skinned bunch. You'd think they'd let insults roll off their backs given how much power they have over the lives and livelihoods of others. But if you have all that power, why bother letting insults roll of your back when you can use that power to disproportionately punish people? 

Jim Ardis, mayor of Peoria (pictured), Illinois, ordered police to track down whoever was responsible for a parody Twitter account mocking him.

As a result, police raided a West Bluff home, seized property, and detained three people for questioning. The Twitter account, @PeoriaMayor, has been suspended. According to the Journal Star, the account had all of 50 posts and an equal number of followers. The Twitter profile apparently did not initially indicate that it was a parody account, but added that label in early March.

The label was hardly necessary, though, to prevent reader confusion. The Journal Star explains that "police were informed of the account by Ardis on March 12. The tweets implied 'Mayor Ardis utilizes illegal drugs, associates with prostitutes and utilized offensive inappropriate language,' according to an affidavit filed for the warrant." Who would actually believe such tweets were coming from the mayor? Well, maybe residents of Toronto.

Nevertheless, police raided this home and intend to charge whoever was responsible for the account for false impersonation of a public official. The police chief also doesn't think it was obvious the account was a parody and thinks the impersonator "went to great lengths to make it appear it was actually from the mayor."

In the end, they didn't arrest anybody for running the Twitter account, but they did charge a guy with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, so that should allow them to justify the whole thing. They seized all things digital, including iPhones and two Xboxes. Hope nothing goes missing from the evidence locker! (To the Peoria police chief: That was a joke.)

And of course, in the comments under one of the Journal Star stories, somebody has registered as "Not Jim Ardis" to engage in more mockery, including posting a picture of the mayor with a tiny Hitler mustache. There's also a new Twitter account. There is even less chance of victory in the war against parody than there is in the war on drugs.

TORCH ANALYSIS:  Thin-skinned politicians who use their office and the people's resources to carry on battles against those who peacefully dissent from their stances, lampoon, or call them forth for their shortcomings in the political front, exist all over, not just in Ludington.  Put on your grown-up pants, guys; it makes you look guilty of impropriety and worse when you use the force and the power of the state (or the city) to go after chroniclers and parodists.

[Willy]

Here's how I look at this situation. I don't blame the mayor for being upset and frankly It should be illegal to impersonate another individual and cause harm to their reputation or to instigate fraud. What I find unacceptable is the Mayor using  public employees to take care of his personal business. He should have hired someone to track this guy down and then file a lawsuit. I probably would have found the guy myself then beat the crap out of him while shoving a twitter up his a_s.

[XLFD]

Unfortunately, I cannot retrieve the posts that was put up at @PeoriaMayor, but I didn't see anything in the warrant applications showing there were attempts to impersonate Peoria Mayor Aris, just to poke fun at him or satirize his persona.  It would be kind of similar for someone to come on here with the name LudingtonMayor and start posting ridiculous material from the viewpoint of Mayor Cox.  Few people would believe it actually was him; I would know it wasn't him immediately, because Cox doesn't have the cojones to do so.  Apparently, only Wanda Marrison has.

Attempts were made to clarify it was a parody account in March, and then the Mayor's troopers came in.  I doubt the mayor has very much for any civil lawsuit considering the warrant applications were very general and had no supportive material.  Now, the parodists have the better basis of a civil lawsuit.