this so totally depends on so many things there really is no one simple answer i could give to it. factors involved include surface being tagged. is it being improved or worsened by doing so? the scroll itself. is it artistic? just some ego tripping on their name? does it say or depict something to make someone stop and think about something they otherwise might not have? there are many architecturally dead space that need life brought to them. tagging/wall scrolling/graffitti, whatever you want to call it, can sometimes do that. sometimes it might even be intended to. sometimes it might not. i would really reserve my judgement, untill i saw the finished work. unless of course, it was just in a totally innapropriate place, such as where it would be lowering rather then raising its aesthetic. or of such a nature as to promote unthinking ignorance. we've already got politics and religeon to do that. =^^= .../\...
It's a matter of private ownership and vandalism. I don't think people should put anything on another persons property; gov. or private. It's un-American. Maybe that's why people do it in the first place I guess.
exactly first off please define for me what is american so i can understand whats unamerican whats labeled as american is often bad for america & the world being unamerican is standintg up for whats right & its gonna take alotta ppl being unamerican before we can change what it means to be american for the better
I have to love the phrase it's un-american. I agree with what themnax said, it really depends on where it is. Most graffitis I've seen have been in parking lots, baseball courts. Of course it would be innapropiate if it was on a person's house or a court of justice to put an example... But in the places I've seen them, it's almost like they belong there and if they weren't there would be something missing, maybe I have that perspective because they have been very elaborated designs. For me they are artist and they chosen medium is the streets, and like in all art forms there are bad ones and there are good ones. There are people with something to say and there are people with nothing to say. Art is out there, every indiviual needs to be their own judge of whether they like it or not. I mean just because I think hmm Britney's music isnt music, doesnt give me a right to ban her from the radio (though I wish I could) but there are many many many people that like it. I know the difference here is with the act of "vandalism" but I guess it all depends of the location of the graffiti, like it has been mentioned before.
i wonder how exactly is anything an american does unamerican if its being done by an american? but could not vandalism be art when its purpose is to make a statement? what is art is defined by the artist not the viewer a mountain of horseshit can be art or compost depending on the intention of the creator just like the lines between porn & art are defined by the intention of the artist grafiti can be art, or vandalism, or both simultaniusly depending on the artists intentions..to create or destroy but both can be 1, creative destruction, destructive creation so how do you define art?
this sounds like the most truth it is both. creative destruction, destructive creation .. i like that
I am just saying; it's like pot smoking. Some people break the law because they don't think the law is fair, just, right, etc. An American would not want to break the law because they like the laws of the land. Laws can dictate behavior. Grafitti is against the law. An American would oppose it. I don't know if this stands up as a tautology but anywho. An American would say,"IF it's not broken, don't fix it". What do you want, anarchy? I hate the, "If it feels good do it" philosophy. I bet it would feel good to punch someone in the face if they piss you off, but guess what? It's against the LAW. If it feels good to piss on someones house, is it Right? The only statement graffitti makes is that the country is falling apart at the seams.
what america do you live in? america was formed by breaking the laws that governed it america became america by fighting for change , which meant breaking unjust laws loving america does not mean loving the laws loving america means loving the land on which you live an american, a true american would seek to change unjust laws not be a mindless sheep & just accept them, thats the way people behave in totalitarian dictatorships which is what america will become when you allow them to pass ajny old law they want unchallenged an american would be smart enough to know when somethings broken & try to do something about it look at american history, yes we all know about the revolution, but all of american history is minor revolutions that brought about changes slavery was the american way untill americans chose to break & opose american laws, unjust laws & fight for change pot laws are unjust as well so smoking pot may be illegal but is not wrong are you saying that an american is a coward? afraid to stand up for what he believes in? if so wouldnt usa still be spelled with a k not sa? you have a very limmited view of what it is to be an american, im guessing you only mean right wing republican fundamentalist christian yup go on thinking thats what all americans are better yet stop definning who you are by where you live we are humans, nothing more to be an american meanss to be born on this patch of dirt that some1 labeled as america.. does that mean that your thoughts, your actions & beliefs are somehow absorbed from the dirt under your feet? are you saying that every french man thinks different from you? why do u even believe theres such a thing as american, because a line was drawn in the sand long ago & every1 on this sides american & every1 on that side isnt? oh yes lets not forget, if your on this side of the line u must believe this u must act this way & be this way.. but if your on the other side you cant possibly think the same are you an american or a sheep.. america would not be america if all americans defined being american the same as you think about that before calling anything unamerican
well thats partialy correct but it also makes the statement that this country needs to come apart at the seems it needs to be reawakened, rebuilt .. it makes the statement that this bullshit dont work no more & time to start over fresh is a lil paint gonna tear apart a country? or is a lil paint juszt to draw attention to how the country is rotting in its grave
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-5037701_ITM IN AN ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL CRIMINOLOGY, JEFF FERRELL (1993) HAS SHOWN HOW graffiti and wall painting have emerged as an accepted and structural media system. Ferrell explores the export of graffiti from the U.S. around the world and its use as part of the imaginaries of resistance. He also shows that graffiti can constitute a way of resistance to imperialism by appealing to icons that are recognized unambiguously as revolutionaries. In Nicaragua, for instance, the image of Sandino was used to express rejection to Somoza's dictatorship and to protest against U.S. imperialism in Nicaragua. Through wall painting, Nicaraguans engaged in a revolution of the walls, that is, the mere act of wall painting was conceived as part of the strategies of resistance to an oppressive regime (Ferrell and Sanders, 1995). Yet graffiti can also show the ambiguities of globalization. Ferrell's analysis of wall painting in the former Soviet Union shows how American-like graffiti could be part of an imaginary in which the youth used U.S. cultural icons to reject oppression within the Soviet Union. In this way, what in other contexts could be perceived as cultural imperialism became in Russia an important part of a subculture of resistance, with youth as its most important agent. As Ferrell and Sanders (1995: 287) put it, "cultural symbols can have different meanings; symbols of cultural imperialism can be used to repudiate and undermine domination domestically." Graffiti and wall painting link crime and culture. Ferrell shows how subcultural activities are labeled as crimes and that crime can be part of a culture. In the structure of graffiti, there is a close connection between the cultural and the legal, because graffiti can only be such as part of different strategies of illegalities. In this intersection between culture and crime, youth appears as one of the most important actors. They construct a different world of meanings and contest the established one. This is seen in style and fashions, in the way they dress, the way they talk, and the way the act toward the rest of society. In defining the identity of youth and their social activities, there is a question of style, a struggle for style, but also a negotiation of meanings (Ferrell, 1993). Graffiti is a way to reject traditional culture. Against the written word, the young imagine the world differently and use the walls to express their discontent and style. Ferrell's research shows how hip-hop culture is expressed on the walls of New York and Denver, how a new style is fought for on the streets. As he puts it, the fight is not so much about property as it is about style. By using a different style and means of language, the young can contest the state as well as traditional forms of contesting the state. In traditional resistance struggles against state power, the young in places such as Colombia employed normal channels, e.g., guerrilla warfare, riots, etc., making them part of a revolutionary subject that raised its voice in the name of the oppressed. However, successful revolutionaries--those that stayed alive during the war--ultimately failed in their revolution. As subjects of social change, they were unable to bring about change: as revolutionaries, they often demonstrated some darker sides of the revolution. In Colombia, traditional forms of resistance used walls as part of revolutionary strategies. Commonly found painted on the walls of Bogota, Cali, Medellin, etc., were expressions such as "Por la guerra revolucionaria, FARC-EP" (for the revolutionary war), or "Celebrar estruendosamente el cumpleanos del presidente Mao, Guardias Rojos" (loudly celebrate the birthday of President Mao, Red Guards), in which authorship and command were clear in the message. Young people used what was available to them to resist the government, with walls becoming another way to express their rejection of the state of affairs in Colombia. However, in an increasingly bloody war in which no rules applied, the young found no path to follow. Though they wished to resist the government, the revolutionary war was no longer an option for them due to the increasingly authoritarian character of Colombian guerrilla movements. The relationship between graffiti, wall painting, subaltern... in other words graffiti is very american but is being adopted worldwide as a form of peaceful resistence to oppression so how unamerican is it to opose it?
Ok, you won me over. Graffitti is art, and a soulful expression of the desires and aspirations of an oppressed society.
remember graffiti is an american creation.. how can americans be unamerican? are you the only american? do you define what is & isnt american? do you define what is & isnt art? if so what are your credentials that prove your expertise?
Well I know a french rock band, the best of all, that was totally unknown, and who made their first concert by advertising for free. To do so htey used all the advertising big banners that were on motorways and in the city, and who were free at that time. And when one isnt advertising with something, it shows the number where to call to put your add on it and says "telephone" and the number under it. So what they did is to spray under the name "telephone" the place and date where the concert will be, and everybody all themedias and everyone in Paris and else where was wondering whom had done so and what was going to happe that day there. All they knew was the name "Telephone".. who was wrten in red letter in all those banners. And no pub was put on the baners they had painted because some thought it was already a special artistic form for add... So they made their concert a wek later, and incredibly lots of people came up to see it and the tv companyies too, and it was recorded, and it made their first album, who was called "telephone" and that was the name of the band from then on. And they had a song who was called telephone and made a hit for years, and all the tema were about living in the city, and the life of the kids there, the homeless kids or those living mostly in the street. So they got known by grafities at a time when grafity was an unknown art form. It was in the seventies. They also made "the human Bombe" and many real good music and lyrics, and all their songs and story was like a myth. I am sure you never heard of them in the US. They were talking about the deshumanised way we communicate, before the cell phone, and before the internet. But I would like to kno what it means this unamerican way. Like smoking pot is unamerican, alright so I thought i was in an american forum, are oyu saying that nobody here is an american? and what about the gatherings? so there is 60.000 foreigners gathering illegally inside the border of America and meeting soem place in Arkansas, but who are not going to be arrested? So you are saying that the entire Hollywodd crew and actors are all unamerican? And all the singers too? maybe a handfull both sides that do the booz and not the pot or do both or do coke instead of pot or booz, but nonetheway thats a lot of people who are not american. I guess that leave you with the mormons, which mostly come from Danmark, to live with as entire americans and i hope hell you are wrong. A french singer once defined the american as : <<Behonce our winds, over our borders, In those countries sun of sand and stones Where thus the cross and thus the prayers Gods have forgotten those cursed soils In his poor suitcase, his thin stuff A banal story of man and misery He hold in his skirt his ultimate richness his two couragous arms, his harsh youth And all against his skin, like an Inca treasure His name on a visa, for the USA But long is the road hard is the way heavy my load But deep is my faith Long is the road On the 61 highways, the shaddow of a Zimmerman Ten trains of losers, for one Rockfeller Burning your skin to become a Battling Joe When each hope is declined in dollars Until the bans where the stars show themselves out Under the lights, all is white, clean and rich From the "black thursday" until the blue of John Ford In each story a gold digger is hidding himself.>> Jean-Jacques goldman 81 - 89 "Singulier" Well I dont care about being american nor what american is, I love the man, and i dont care if its on Venus or Mars that my star will crash, I will follow him. American roots are on Europe, being an american, as a most common inheritage, is to be uprooted. An american is an uprooted. The rest is history. And on that, i am sure, all we agree. Long is the road, to the gathering point, where all will be reunited. So long after, they are still looking, for each others, and for the end of the road. Must be why there is so many highways. There is always hope, at the end of the road Must be. Where else?
