"Along with some lesser Counts," the Revᵈ is replying, "'twas one of the least tolerable of Offenses in that era, the worst of Dick Turpin seeming but the Carelessness of Youth beside it,— the Crime they styl'd 'Anonymity.' That is, I left messages posted publicly, but did not sign them. I knew some night-running lads in the district who let me use their Printing-Press,— somehow, what I got into printing up, were Accounts of certain Crimes I had observ'd, committed by the Stronger against the Weaker,— enclosures, evictions, Assize verdicts, Activities of the Military,— giving the Names of as many of the Perpetrators as I was sure of, yet keeping back what I foolishly imagin'd my own, till the Night I was tipp'd and brought in to London, in Chains, and clapp'd in the Tower."
* * * * * * * * * *
Lines 47-49 Vulgarized:
"I was a whistleblower by way of being a slap tagging Zorro. Apparently calling out crimes by authority figures was seen as a worse crime than Dick Turpin's exploits as a horse thief and a highwayman. I posted printed accounts and the names of everybody I was sure had committed a crime but kept back my name as accuser, thinking, it being my name, nobody needed knowledge of it. But then one night I was caught, arrested, and thrown in the Tower of London for my crime."
Subtext:
It's interesting Cherrycoke drops the name "Dick Turpin" as his description of his near hanging is very nearly an account of Turpin's execution including the cadaver snatching (but minus the resurrection). I knew who Dick Turpin was thanks to Jack Whitehall's character in Good Omens naming his car Dick Turpin for some dumb joke. But I hadn't read the account of his execution because that's not the sort of information for which I normally plumb the Internet. I used to really enjoy the insane humor of edgelord sites that didn't give a shit who they offended, like Encyclopedia Dramatica, but then while rabbit-holing link after link on the site, I wound up on an entry (possibly for suicide) that had a gif of a man shooting himself in the mouth with a small caliber pistol (apparently Björk related, if I remember correctly). It wasn't graphic being that it was a small caliber, not strong enough, I suppose, to exit the skull. But it depicted his death and it was a gif and it kept replaying and I could not tear my eyes away, even as every ounce of whatever it is that makes a person human drained out of my being, leaving me a husk of who I had been. I can still see the life leaving him, repeated over and over and over, an infinite loop of his final moment caught forever in 1s and 0s. He will haunt me, this bald man, until the day I die.
The real subtext is that people in power can commit whatever crimes they want without any repercussions. But it's a crime to call them out on their crimes, of course. Reading about Dick Turpin's crimes on his Wikipedia page reinforces this idea that those with money and power could do whatever they wanted but poor people received the brunt of law enforcement (nothing's changed, right?). Here's a quote from the article: "During the 17th and 18th centuries, crimes in violation of property rights were some of the most severely punished; most of the 200 capital statutes were property offences." Because of course they were! To remain in power, the rich and powerful keep as many people in poverty as possible, knowing that people in poverty will become desperate when their survival is at stake. And so you make as many laws as possible protecting your stuff from desperate poor people while not giving any shits about making society better and raising people out of poverty in an actual effort to lower the amount of property crimes.
At least we know that Cherrycoke's crimes were of the Robin Hood variety, intended to bend reality toward actual justice. Which means Cherrycoke's father's denial of him is an even worse statement on Cherrycoke's father than before. He's simply embarrassed his son rocked the status quo.
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