On Saturday, Caleb Neelon, an artist known as Sonik, the editor of Swindle and a Cambridge native, spoke at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art about why prosecuting Shepard Fairey is bad for the city, likening the effort to the early censorship of now-celebrated artists such as Walt Whitman.

People laugh at Boston for being a city of culturally clueless Puritans, and because of that, business that depends on an audience to the contrary, avoids Boston. This arrest has renewed our subscription to this unfortunate perception.

As an example of the opportunity Boston missed by digging up and dumping old charges on Fairey, Neelon pointed to Los Angeles, where Fairey executed a mural for the launch of “Stages,” a global art exhibition to raise funds and cancer awareness for the Livestrong Foundation.

Instead, we have 29 felony charges. Those 29 felony charges are Shepard’s to bear and to deal with, and he will. He has good counsel and plenty of money to address those with. But what begins as an attempt to make an example of Shepard as a vandal who met the law only makes an example of Boston as a city to avoid when investing any culture dollar.

Though Fairey’s lawyer says he’s “never seen less credible evidence presented for a criminal charge,” Fairey’s future is still up in the air when he returns to court next Tuesday April 14th. Boston’s future: continued mockery as usual.

Mugshot from Fairey’s arrest in Boston via NEJAR