There is all types of it. Most people think it’s vandalism. I think it is a great look into unmuffled free speech. From male phalluses and vulgarity to Political statements, I have always loved it. In my opinion I would rather see any type of graffiti on a wall than leave it blank. Yes, even phalluses. Just leaving it blank is bland and without culture.
Maybe this will help:
Look up the graffiti artist “Banksy”, I love him.
Graffiti is amazing, and except for cases of purposely rude graffiti (penises, racial slurs, etc.) I don’t think it should be illegal. Some of it (like Banksy) is not only really good but also has a point, and makes the area more beautiful and thought-provoking, making it seem more personal instead of corporate.
I love Banksy also.
banksy.co.uk/outdoors/tramp.html
Give me graffiti over a blank wall any day.
I’ve done a few things indoors, but nothing compared to the link above.
I agree that graffiti is amazing, but I believe that it should be kept illegal so that people keep doing it.
-OKComp
Good point OK. I guess if it becomes legal then it becomes art?
To be truthful, there’s lots of graffiti that’s just vandalism by another name and I hate it but I also think a psychologically healthy society needs low grade law breakers to keep reminding ourselves to jump out of of the box from time to time. If we don’t exercise the freedom to cross the line with occasional misdemeanors, then we may as well be caged.
Laws change over time to accommodate the societal change, so we must push against some laws and challenge their validity constantly.
Hey Mudman, here’s an old thread about graffiti and some fun examples. I never did finish posting all the pics I had…
ilovephilosophy.com/phpbb/vi … sc&start=0
Thanks for telling me I forgot to include the link SIATD 
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so be sure not do anything when someone spray paints your car or your house…
what do you mean? having “save a tree!” spray painted on the hood of your car is art… in fact you should pay the “artist” for turning your car into an environmentally friendly canvas…
-Imp
Km,
You forgot to include a link to the thread.
I don’t think that most graffiti is up to much - it’s basically some egotistical moron who probably listens to mainstream hiphop and therefore idolises gold jewelery and criminality, spraying some petty, half-assed, unoriginal ‘expression of his individuality’ onto a wall because he lacks the brains, imagination or guts to make proper art and stick it up for criticism. Instead, you paint an indecipherable tag on a wall somewhere and show it only to your friends, who’ll automatically approve because they are as bored and moronic as you are.
On the other hand, I remember the train journey from Schipol airport to the central station in Amsterdam, and the walls as the sides of the tracks were covered in absolutely brilliant graffiti, obviously not made by egotistical morons.
This work is all of exceptional quality. But does it have anything to do with graffiti? I mean apart from the fact that it is painted on walls. Some of the things I see (such as the one with the burned out car in the field) are aparently anti-tagging.
this almost made me cry
banksy.co.uk/manifesto/index.html
I was aware of that when I posted that’s why I said a lot of graffiti is simply vandalism and a lot of it I hate. I’d be extremely angry if someone painted my car/house but I’d also understand that this is the price you pay for not having a police state and ending up like soulless, boring Singapore.
By the way imp, if Rumsfeld can shrug off the 2003 destruction and looting in Iraq as signs of the people’s freedom, then a little paint on the car’s not so bad. Remember this: "It’s untidy, and freedom’s untidy. Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things… ". Rummy, you and me are soul mates.
Anyway…
I’ve never done any graffiti myself --out of respect for other people’s property – but I supported this (below) – it cost me $1K. Sometimes committing a small, repairable crime is necessary to try to halt a major irreparable one.
(Thanks SIATD. I added the forgotten link to my previous post )
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no, when (if) it becomes legal then it is not art, it is merely a waste of time.
-OKComp
You do realize that the general opinion in this thread is that that kind of graffiti is stupid, but the kind that say, Banksy does, is art?
do you realize that art is in the eye of the beholder? do you realize that defacing property that is not yours, even with the mona lisa, is a crime?
-Imp
Banksy has some of his work displayed in the background of the new movie “Children of Men”. Just thought I’d share.
Aaaaand, that would be why it’s illegal. But that doesn’t make graffiti bad. Jaywalking is illegal, and I do it every day. There’s nothing bad about it, because I’m smart enough to look for oncoming cars. If I did graffiti I would also be smart enough not to spray paint Save A Tree on people’s cars, for the same reason I don’t tell people I’m vegetarian. It sounds (and usually is) self-righteous and seemingly demeaning, and people are less likely to listen to you and support your cause if you annoy them.
If I had the talent I would paint a mural in every city I visited, to make it more beautiful and personal. Graffiti (like anything else) can be used for good.
“The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.”
– Simon and Gerfunkel
And so are the somewhat creative territorial markings of the taggers.
Since I am somewhat of a socialist, I don’t believe coroporations as a unit has as many (or more) rights than a person. painting a boring large white lifeless wall of a corporation I think just makes a city more interesting, and gives it less of a stale prison or bad hospital look. Besides this doesn’t really hurt the business, especially if it is meaningful art. And lighten up, art can be fun or bad, it deepends on the art and the beholder.
Spray painting an individuals property I feel is different, and is not tasteful or respectful. I have however little respect for corporations that exploit their workers or decide to put up a cinderblock wall and paint it white because it costs less than making it aethetically pleasing, even though scores of people have to walk past it everyday.
I live in idaho, and sometimes I get stuck on a railroad crossing, and I swear some of these trains go soooo slow and have like 200 cars, that would be 15 minutes of boredom, but thanks to spraypainters I get to look and try to read some “writing on teh wall” so to speak, and I appreciate it, and sometimes there is some really peculiar art.
I think society should reconsider what it considers art. Is art only what you see inside of art museums?
Didn’t God tag something on a wall once? If defacing property is OK for God then who’s to say it’s wrong?
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crime is good for society…
-Imp
great… then is it ok to breed billions of locusts and drop them on less than friendly countries because god did it?
-Imp
imp, I like you because of the unpredictable things that you say at times. Sarcasm and political puns amock. I honestly and seriously love people with flavor, and wit. 
You would be great to take to sunday school!!! =D>