Just wrong in the head

The Livvi's Place playground was hit again over the weekend. I've reported it to Council (as usual), and it will be cleaned up again...

Not even the trees are safe from the spray can.

There was an article in the SMH just after the first Graffiti Action Day. They managed to dredge up a couple of clowns who said:

He said the government should create more spaces for legal graffiti and give young people who tag - write basic names or signatures - the chance to develop their artistic skills.

"If you encourage more legal spaces it increases the quality of the work because kids can spend all day and improve their technique," he said. "[The government is] never going to make it go away so they should try to make it better".

Cameron McAuliffe, a fellow at the centre for cultural research at the University of Western Sydney, said he helped organise ''Keep Australia Colourful'' because he was concerned the state government's campaigns against graffiti were criminalising people who did legitimate work.

Well, here is a proper bit of art in the playground, and some "numskull" has applied a tag next to it. How this is supposed to have improved their "artistic skills" is beyond me. Maybe Dr McAuliffe can explain this to us.

The canteen and toilet block were hit as well. I can't make out the big tag properly, but it starts with "big bad". Yeah, right. Probably a puny little weed with zits and an ego problem.

Charles Purcell wrote a column on graffiti for the SMH recently and copped a lot of flak in the comments. I agree with everything he said. Here is one comment:

One of his great quotes is "Any advertisement in a pubic space that gives you no choice whether you see it is yours. It belongs to you. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head" (Wall and Piece)

Why is it ok for oil companies to put out unsolicited greenwashing campaigns or junk food companies to promote obesity in public space, while somebody who wants to improve society through discussion is not acceptable? I guess brick walls are much prettier than thoughtful attempts at social discourse and humour...

The only "advertising" at Livvi's Place are a number of small plaques that name the companies that helped pay for this playground. There are no billboards or hoardings anywhere near the place. So what justifies someone tagging this wall?

I know it's very non-PC to say this; but anyone who tags a playground for the physically disabled must be mentally disabled. You can't be right in the head and think that this is a good idea. It's plain retarded. I just had to say that - I don't know how else to put it.