If you’re asking who Jeremy Meeks is, where have you been? He’s the 30-year old convicted felon whose mugshot went viral after being posted by the California Stockton Police Department following his most recent arrest. Can we say mugshot gone wild? He’s been dubbed as #DreamyMcMugshot and #FineFelon on the internet. Plus his photo received over 70,000 Likes and more than 20,000 comments on the Police Department’s Facebook page from men and women so far, and it’s still growing.

In case you hadn’t guessed, Meeks is a handsome fellow – at least in that photo – but some of the posted comments are quite shocking. In essence, they express strong desires to be with Meeks regardless of his crimes of five felony weapon charges and one gang charge. A few even requested to be raped or kidnapped by him. On top of that, modeling agencies have been beside themselves, claiming that he can make between $15k-$30k a month for his looks. Come on, folks! That raindrop tattoo on the side of his face does not mean he likes rain.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time society has appeared to place a person in higher regard because of their looks. Think back to Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots football player who was arrested for murder, or singer Chris Brown, who stays in trouble with the law because of violent-related crimes. They received similar social media responses because of their looks. These posts seemingly express that we put aside the fact that they committed crimes because these men were “sexy, hot, handsome”.

Now, I’m not saying everyone shares these views. As a matter of fact, there were quite a few that said just the opposite. But I’m very interested in what these comments teach us about ourselves and what society values. It’s no surprise that we like beautiful things, but does that trump the good characteristics beneath the surface like personality, integrity, and honesty? What do you think? Are we really glamorizing crime or just overreacting to a picture?

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