Randalism

Vandalism intrigues me. Individuals insinuating themselves into your field of view, announcing their point of view to stir something up inside you. It is a claim upon the land, sometimes implicitly. I find some of these advertisements to be humorous, and others I find extremely shocking. Sometimes, they're unreadable (but they still affect you as the viewer). The act of tagging says, "I'm here, you better get used to it."

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Last week I had to clean up some vandalism outside of the building where I work. I used some really strong paint stripper to remove the tags - it worked perfectly. When the work was complete, I felt good. I'd cleaned up the facade and that was that.

The next day, ALL of the tags were back in the same places.

Ownership is a fallacy

often quietly employed

and agreed upon.

But, in fact,

these spaces are shared.

Some recent examples (including one of my own).

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"What is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, 

for the land is our mother, nourishing all her children, 

beasts, birds, fish and all men. 

The woods, the streams, everything on it 

belongs to everybody 

and is for the use of all. 

 How can one man say it belongs only to him?" 

 -Massasoit

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Draw your own conclusions.