# Graffiti **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 1999, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849 "1999-10-01T14:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/1 "1999-10-01T14:55:00Z")
My new roommate is a graffiti artist. He goes out at night and paints murals in the subway tunnels and under the expressways. He’s been arrested once, but knows not to call me to bail him out if he gets busted again. (During the day he’s an art student) He’s actually has great “can control” and has corrected me on some misconceptions about graffiti that I had. What do all of you think about graffiti? Ever done any? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/2 "1999-10-01T14:57:00Z")
Sorry, I meant to post this in MPSIMS. Can it be moved, please? ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/3 "1999-10-01T15:18:00Z")
I dabbled, but this was in the early '80s when you HAD to have a can of paint to be a New York juvenile deliquent! Now the walls and subways are clean and to be a juvenile deliquent, you have a gun. Hmmm… * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/4 "1999-10-01T15:18:00Z")
::chingka-chingka-chingka:: ::sssssssssss:: Graffiti can be cool. ::ssssss-sss-ssssssss:: Especially when some forethought goes into a project… ::chingka-chinka-chinka:: ::sssssss-sssss-ssssss:: I like the murals where your first thought is… ::ssssssss-ssss-ssssss-ssssss:: “Boy he really risked his ass to get that up there!” ::chingka-chingka: ::ssssss-ss-sssssss-sssss:: But taggers ought to be shot. ::sssss-ss-sssss-ssssss. Ssssss:: And leave the subway cars alone. Please. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/5 "1999-10-01T15:40:00Z")
I’m moving this to MPSIMS at the request of the OP. Lynn/SDStaff Lynn ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/6 "1999-10-01T16:37:00Z")
Your roommate is not an “artist,” he’s a “vandal.” He damn well should be arrested–or better yet, maybe he’ll touch the third rail and/or get squished by a subway train next time he’s out making his town look like crap. It sure as hell wouldn’t be any great loss to society. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/7 "1999-10-01T16:42:00Z")
I’m with Flora. If he wants to paint a mural, let him do it in his own home, or get someone’s permission to do it. If he’s doing it on other peoples’ (or public) property without their consent, he’s causing damage to, not improving, his “canvas.” And that’s the ones who actually produce something that looks art-like. People who just leave illegible scrawls which are (I assume) intended to be an “I was here” symbol but mean nothing to the thousands or millions of people who actually see it, the statement applies even more. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@schicktech.com](mailto:ckeller@schicktech.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/8 "1999-10-01T18:41:00Z")
I’m fine with graffiti as long as it’s somewhere that nobody is going to have a problem with. Arroyo walls, concrete traffic barriers, etc. are fine. If they spraypaint someplace that’s going to need to be repainted, or even worse, a brick or stone wall that can’t be repainted at all, that’s where I draw the line. Taggers I can generally take or leave, but in Albuquerque when I was growing up, there was this one, RAK, who put his tags in some pretty impressive places, like signs over the interstate. I have to admit, I admired that guy. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/9 "1999-10-01T18:52:00Z")
Oh, well, yeah–who needs to become a doctor or a scientist or a writer, when you can do something really impressive like vandalizing a highway sign? As far as I’m concerned, what’s the difference between graffiti “artists” and the jerks who drop their cigarette butts or Coke cans by the side of the road? ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/10 "1999-10-05T09:14:00Z")
Flora McFlimsey uttered: > [@](#): > > He damn well should be arrested–or better yet, maybe he’ll touch the third rail and/or get squished by a subway train next time he’s out making his town look like crap. It sure as hell wouldn’t be any great loss to society. Ooh. The death penalty for graffitti artists. Yeah, I’d say the punishment fits the crime there. In fact, I say we throw all those people who committed small crimes like rape and murder and stuff back onto the streets so we can put these heinous art students behind bars where they belong! > [@](#): > > Oh, well, yeah–who needs to become a doctor or a scientist or a writer, when you can do something really impressive like vandalizing a highway sign? Gee… I looked under occupation for you and it was blank. Must be nice to have a job where you do so much good you won’t say what it is in your profile… The kid is an art suudent. If he gets busted, appropriate measures (not including death, Flippy McFuror) will be taken against him. And there are a LOT worse things a kid can do, with a lot more damage. You are way too uptight, Ms. McFuror. I’d suggest you get laid soon. ---
**Author:** ![TheDoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@TheDoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheDoll)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/11 "1999-10-05T13:09:00Z")
I whole-heartedly agree with Satan, no way could I have said it better myself. And my friend SCRIBLZuno Says ”graffiti is what most people call it, but those close to the subject call it “piecing.” It is a piece of the artist, a representation of his/her emotion and skill and if you think that all graffiti artists should be dead you should look @yourself and wonder if you are not truly dead, you wish that you were as alive as some of these artists.” Oh and hey, take a look at Albert Einstein’s veiw on being a doctor or an artist. * * * “Imagination is more important that knowledge.” Albert Einstein ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/12 "1999-10-05T13:48:00Z")
You know, there’s nothing I fucking hate more than when someone takes a quote from a well-known personage and misuses it to support a point that is entirely unconnected. Jesus H. Jumped-Up Christ, TheDoll, you _really_ think that Einstein quote has anything to do with “being a doctor or an artist”? Puh-leeze. And, FTR, I don’t think it’s a good idea for people to paint things that don’t belong to them. ---
**Author:** ![TheDoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@TheDoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheDoll)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/13 "1999-10-05T14:00:00Z")
Ok, let’s take some kind of reality check…I wonder if anyone has ever heard of symbolism…maybe not, but that is too bad. ## And pldennison, you can flame your ignorant ramblings somewhere else…hhmmm any one hungry for BBQ? “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” – Albert Einstein ---
**Author:** ![TheDoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@TheDoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheDoll)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/14 "1999-10-05T14:04:00Z")
Oh, and another great one for ya… “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds” –Albert Einstein ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/15 "1999-10-05T14:16:00Z")
Oh, puh-lease. You all know damn well I didn’t advocate the death penalty for graffiti vandals, so stop putting words in my mouth. What I said–and what I still say–is that if the little jerk falls under a subway train while vandalizing the tracks; hey, good riddance. As far as my own profession, Satan, I am successful author and editor–what difference does that make? If the kid’s an art student, let him use the canvases from school, or let him hire himself out as a muralist. Unless, of course, he’s not talented enough for people to pay him–in which case, he’ll eventually grow out of vandalizing cities and get a job flipping burgers or something. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graffiti/8849/16 "1999-10-05T15:51:00Z")
Im an art student & don’t graffitize. As a matter of fact some gangs are tagging [graffiti gang signs] our parking lot. I have to write every comp. that owns anything they tag to get them to clean it off & that is A LOT of work. Even though I do like some of the artsyness of it. I can’t condone it, its too much work for the property owners to clean up.