Who Are The Outlaws?

Of cowboy hackers, Robin Hoods, and street gangs:
Four academics discuss what's left of the American outlaw archetype, whether our society needs outlaws, and which up-and-coming generation of rule-breakers will change our country. It's from the NYTimes Opinion Blog, which seems to be supplying some of the magic that our beloved NYTimes columnists are missing.

My favorite passage is from Graham Seal, professor of folklore at Curtin University of Technology in Australia:

Deserving of such treatment or not, outlaw heroes are the smoke of a fire burning deep in the resentful core of an ethnic, cultural, religious, or class group that perceives itself to be the victim of injustice. Perception is the important concept here. Whether the group is actually being oppressed does not matter; it only needs to believe that it is.

The outlaw hero has troubled societies of all kinds for thousands of years. He ranges the unsettled borders of the old world and rides the frontiers of the new world. He hides out in mountains, marshes, forests, and other places where his pursuers cannot reach him.

He is the usually undeserving but chosen bearer of the ancient dream that refuses to die: there can be justice, all people can have fair access to the available resources, and wealth and power should not be the prerogative of a select few.

Who is your favorite outlaw? I must admit I am partial to anti-slavery crusader John Brown. And whatever happened to Shawn Fanning from Napster? Now that Comcast has blocked my access to Limewire with a firewall, I miss him more than ever.

Pictured: 2 bonafide Outlawz.