Tag

I often read the newspaper and see people complaining about graffiti, especially downtown. To be honest, I don't know what the fuss is about. Who cares? Graffiti is everywhere, it's just a part of life. Unless it has an offensive message I could care less about it.

"But Ash," you say, "a mailbox is one thing, but what if it was your house?"

My house already is tagged, and I don't give a shit. I live in an urban landscape, so this is what I expect. I admit tags might be unsightly on a suburban home, but that's not what we're talking about here.

Blogs are all about throwing out unfounded, cockeyed opinions. So here's one: the people complaining about tagging are old and like their walls, mailboxes and other public things to look plain. The younger generation feels less strongly about this because they all have ADD and any plain surface is unpleasant for them to look at. Everything has to look really busy, everywhere, all the time. That's why intricate public murals get tagged less often. Some say it's "respect for another artist", and that might be true to some extent, but I think it's mainly a question of busy vs blank.

I have to say I get a kick out of old people writing whiny letters to the editor.

"Because of laws today, kids aren't disciplined enough in the home. They never learn respect."

In the old days, a parent could beat their child senseless every single day for no reason except their own twisted pleasure, with no recourse. I guess that's what it takes to teach respect. *Note intense sarcasm.

I could go on and on about whining old people. But then I'd just be one of them.