TAGGING READING
Following on from a fellow bloggers piece (hello Oranjepan), in 2008 I worked for a company that was ‘hit’ by a tagger. The company had new equipment literally covered in tags by one arsehole which it had to spend over £2k on getting the paint removed before being able to take said equipment to another job.
The tagger was eventually caught ‘red/yellow/blue/white handed’ and the court awarded the company five pounds compensation to be deducted at a rate of fifty pence per week from the taggers benefits.
IN MEMORY OF
Paddy Higgins
GID'S NIB
A couple of wrinklies have won £25 Million on the Euro Lottery saying that it's not going to change their lives.
Silly bastards, make them give it back.
2080
Rainy winters snug by the fire, sunny hot summers like Spain growing olives, grapes, lemons and limes; this is climate change - don't listen to them - they're talking bollocks.
HARMAN BACKS BROWN
Harman tells reporters: Like every sturdy knocker, this Country needs a knob and Gordon's the best man for the job.
WELL DONE PIERRE
A big thank you to Pierre, Jean Paul, Luc and Marco, the four Froggie fishermen for starving Britain of goods over the last few days - that's not 'French' at all is it?
HELLO
Please follow one of the many links scattered around to the Orangutan charities.
Following on from a fellow bloggers piece (hello Oranjepan), in 2008 I worked for a company that was ‘hit’ by a tagger. 
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7 comments:
Hi there.
I'm all for freedom of expression in a defined space and some graffiti can be very artful, just not when it's indiscriminate, ugly and out of keeping with it's surroundings. If it's unconsidered and done without full permission then it will only ever be detrimental.
I'm really not all that surprised that it causes such anger, but at the same time it makes me wonder what furtive emotional need the taggers are trying to express.
Is it trying to create ownership for a hidden disenfranchised underclass or is it rebellion against an invisible and unresponsive authority?
How can society channel the urge in a creative and cultivated, not destructive and random, way?
Maybe I'm overthinking this, but we can't just wish the problem away without looking at it's causes too.
Your views surprise me - "a hidden disenfranchised underclass ...." could refer to anyone from 16 to death in the UK yet the vast majority don't spray tags that reduce the quality of a public area.
Everything has a system, not liking it and going down the gorilla route generally affects the people in the same position as the gorillas.
Sure, but graffiti is only one form of expression the repressed destructive urge can take - there are plenty of others and much worse ones at that.
The root cause is all the same - an unhealthy political system which doesn't cater for or cope adequately with our needs.
I went ape on many occasions because I felt I couldn't do anything to change my situation, but then I discovered that active politics gave me an outlet which meant I could focus on my target.
I accept it's not for everyone, or at least there are different ways of approaching the situation depending on your particular preferred mode, but I think the reality is that we all have a deep need to address our own circumstances in the hope that we'll improve them.
BTW do you still live on WEAve? How are things down that way?
Oranjepan - this is how the disenfranchised underclass can rebel against authority - you're doing it.
Like the WEA link - very good - you have one over me.
Can you get in touch - my email is: oranjepan[at]hotmail[dot]co[dot]uk
Maybe those taggers just have no respect for other people's property and being caned in the sqaure would give them cause to reflect on respect for property.
A few red marks on one's own ass would be a fitting punishment to go along with the gruelling repayment of 50p a week.
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