"Vandalism is never art - it is just a crime, plain and simple"
Now that Memorial Day is over, it is time for me to go on another rant. In my working days, I traveled to, worked in, and visited many cities both in this country as well as other parts of the world. One of the things that I have noticed is there is no universal code in how people treat the cities in where they live. Some cities are immaculate with no vandalism or graffiti. Others, like Minneapolis, not so much.
When I sit at a railroad junction waiting for a train to pass, I can't help noticing how many railcars have graffiti scribbled all over them. Some are older cars - others are so new, they look like it is their first day on the job. They have been defaced by someone who had absolutely no right to do so. They have been "tagged", painted, or messaged by someone taking advantage of a railcar no being watched or monitored 24 hours a day. In short, what happened to these railcars was a criminal act.
Lets use a new tanker car as an example. Currently, the railroads can buy a tanker car for somewhere between $50k and $60K. Almost as soon as a tanker car is delivered, it goes into service. With the oil boom in North Dakota, as well as the shortage of pipelines, there are a great many tanker cars coming into service. Almost immediately, many of these cars are "tagged". This is an act of disrespect to the people that own them and use them. It is an act of disrespect for all of us who have to observe this garbage when we are waiting for a train to pass.
My feeling is all graffiti is a crime. It is not art, it is not helpful to disadvantaged youth, it is just plain a crime. I would like these criminals to be caught and punished. I don't want them to receive community service, or to paint a mural on a wall somewhere in the city - I want them fined and put in jail. It cost a lot of money to remove graffiti, and even after removal, the item painted seldom looks the same again.
The next time you are driving around town and see a wall, overpass, railcar, or whatever that has been defaced, ask yourself this - is this okay? Do you want to live in a city where the criminals are allowed to run free and do what they want? Do you want to live in a city where visitors come in from other countries and see this type of garbage? I have been in other cities where I did not see one speck of graffiti anywhere. It simply was not in the DNA of the people who live in those cities to tolerate it.
Just like when some butt headed kid drives over a nicely groomed lawn leaving tire tracks that last for weeks, graffiti is a total sign of disrespect. In the old days, people who disrespected the community were taken to the city square, humiliated and punished. Maybe we need to get back to those days - that punishment seemed to work just fine.
Lets use a new tanker car as an example. Currently, the railroads can buy a tanker car for somewhere between $50k and $60K. Almost as soon as a tanker car is delivered, it goes into service. With the oil boom in North Dakota, as well as the shortage of pipelines, there are a great many tanker cars coming into service. Almost immediately, many of these cars are "tagged". This is an act of disrespect to the people that own them and use them. It is an act of disrespect for all of us who have to observe this garbage when we are waiting for a train to pass.
My feeling is all graffiti is a crime. It is not art, it is not helpful to disadvantaged youth, it is just plain a crime. I would like these criminals to be caught and punished. I don't want them to receive community service, or to paint a mural on a wall somewhere in the city - I want them fined and put in jail. It cost a lot of money to remove graffiti, and even after removal, the item painted seldom looks the same again.
The next time you are driving around town and see a wall, overpass, railcar, or whatever that has been defaced, ask yourself this - is this okay? Do you want to live in a city where the criminals are allowed to run free and do what they want? Do you want to live in a city where visitors come in from other countries and see this type of garbage? I have been in other cities where I did not see one speck of graffiti anywhere. It simply was not in the DNA of the people who live in those cities to tolerate it.
Just like when some butt headed kid drives over a nicely groomed lawn leaving tire tracks that last for weeks, graffiti is a total sign of disrespect. In the old days, people who disrespected the community were taken to the city square, humiliated and punished. Maybe we need to get back to those days - that punishment seemed to work just fine.
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