Tagbuster
I clean up graffiti in my neighborhood, and sometimes write about it here, but here's a blogger who's taken it a step further -- he posts photos of the site of the vandalism, before and after he cleans it up.
There's room for disagreement about this, but I'm not in favor of his approach. Any attention these folks get, positive or negative, feeds their mental illness. If you're bothered by their sick handiwork (as both he and I are), of course you want to strike back. But I think I'll just continue to send those "before" photos to the city's graffiti abatement officer, and forget about posting them on the 'net.
Go for the cleanup gusto, "Nascar Dad." But when you kill a cockroach, just throw it away.
| Posted at 7:51 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (9)
I’m thinking not too many taggers would be looking for their art work on his site. If posting the cleanup makes nascardad happy, more power to him. Some information slanted to how others can DIY, would also be a positive. Unfortunately, without follow up or now cheep surveillance cams, we may be just providing fresh canvase.
Posted by D man | October 9, 2006 9:24 AM
I came here for advice, and I will think seriously about what you wrote. I too have thought that maybe taggers would enjoy seeing a photo of their stuff, even if it gets erased. I know that local taggers have seen my site, because once I went on theirs and taunted them a bit. My hit counter went through the roof over the next several days. If you want to see how low these guys go, make up a fake login name, and go here:
http://www.12ozprophet.com/forum/index.php
They have a nauseating chat room for Portland.
N.D.
Posted by Nascar Dad | October 9, 2006 9:46 AM
I'm not sure "enjoy" is how I would put it. I suspect they get a charge of some kind from seeing it, and that charge may lead them to tag even more.
Maybe -- I'm no shrink...
Posted by Jack Bog | October 9, 2006 10:43 AM
NASCAR Dad, my vote is for you to post all you want. Far be it for any of us to tell you how to do the good work you're doing. I appreciate your efforts.
Posted by Larry | October 9, 2006 1:36 PM
Good for you, Nascar Dad. I'm sick and tired of the idiots who tag everything they can find in my neighborhood--fences, houses, walls, trees (?), signs, mailboxes, etc. etc. etc. I wonder why more people don't get together and try to catch more of them in the act--if only on film. There are enough spots in my neighborhood (34th and Belmont area) that get tagged over and over and over that it seems that a cheap video camera put in the right place could get enough shots to give someone some much unwanted face time.
Posted by Dave J. | October 9, 2006 2:28 PM
I fully appreciate the cleanup work -- like I say, I do it myself. The postings are what I wonder about.
Posted by Jack Bog | October 9, 2006 2:59 PM
http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html
Amazingly talented and subversive art.
I think nascardad's open "mocking" of a small portion of graffiti around town is hilarious. I don't think the tagging gets done looking for approval from the likes of nascardads, but if turning occasionally pleasant (but often scribbled and pathetic) images into big blocks of mismatched paint is your gig, more power to you.
Posted by Kevin Higgins | October 10, 2006 9:44 AM
i dunno...
kids always go after the angry "get off my lawn" neighbor even more. egg him on.
i don't see this as anything but encouraging to the kids.
Posted by george | October 11, 2006 5:57 PM
I'm with Nascar Dad all the way. Obviously the city isn't doing enough to cover up the graffiti or people like him wouldn't be out there covering it up! So what if he gets a little notoriety... he deserves every bit of it! It's people like him that will make this world a better place! Keep up the good work Nascar Dad..you've got alot of fans!
Posted by Stevey | October 12, 2006 9:51 AM