Tagging

I walk every day through the city. Millions of dollars of federal, state and city taxes have been spent recently near my neighborhood. A new mini-city is being built with hundreds of units of housing and retail outlets. Brand new roads, wide sidewalks, beautiful trees. I enjoy watching the skilled laborers as they carefully construct this state-of-the-art infrastructure. This is what government should be doing.

Yesterday, as I walked by a newly installed electric box, I noticed that several sociopaths had painted their narcissistic labels on the gleaming stainless steel of one and the shining black enamel paint of another. These taggers, probably considering themselves artists, had pissed on the hard work of the skilled men who had installed the boxes. Their scrawl had taken minutes to undo the public aesthetic of scores of man-hours of design and skilled labor.

This is a malicious form of disrespect. It is not "public art", as some goofy Liberals have dubbed it. This is disrespect of the public space which is paid for and belongs to every citizen. It is disrespectful of the laborers who strive to produce a public space which is orderly, maintainable and cost-effective for the tax-payer.  It is a transgression against a communal sense of civic pride. 

As a practicing humanist, I believe that developing a respectful society depends on the mutual respect we all afford to one another in simple ways. Holding a door, exchanging greetings on sidewalks, voicing appreciation to those who tend to or improve the environment. I once corrected a young woman who was tagging a major bridge across the Charles River. Her orange Mohawk and many tattoos announced her fascination with ink and decoration. Apparently she was not content with decorating herself. Perhaps she had run out of space. 

"Fuck you," she responded with threatening movements. I persisted and explained that the bridge, which had been newly restored, belonged to us all, but to none of us individually. This, I explained, was what social institutions and infrastructure are all about. She scowled as I spoke. Finally, without engaging in a conversation, she gave me the finger and ran away. It was a warm afternoon. None of the other pedestrians on the busy walkway had paid any attention at all, with the exception of one middle-aged jogger, who gave me a sidelong look, as though she suspected me of soliciting the fleeing vandal.

Is this a story of a engaged civilized society? What is the state of a society where the narcissistic needs of the individual to vandalize the public space in broad daylight go unnoticed or even encouraged as "art"? I think of this often as I walk around the public environment. As a humanist, I do what I can to encourage respectful interactions and to model respect for the public spaces I use. Rather than spray-painting that environment, I try to make my mark by picking up litter, keeping up the property where I reside and encouraging others who do the same. This is part of humanist practice, as I see it.