International Railroad Discussion > Australian graffiti bandits

These people seem to have no fear of getting caught or prosecution . I believe one university down here is even offering a course/degree in ""Street Art"" .
Regards,DK
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/04/08/10/43/passengers-oblivious-to-brazen-graffiti-bandit

Of all the countries I've visited, I found Australia to have the most graffiti of just about anyplace. Curious given the countries relatively low crime rate. How about this. When caught, they should be given the appropriate materials and made to clean up their work. Why someone thinks this is acceptable is beyond me.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Of all the countries I've visited, I found
> Australia to have the most graffiti of just about
> anyplace. Curious given the countries relatively
> low crime rate. How about this. When caught, they
> should be given the appropriate materials and made
> to clean up their work. Why someone thinks this is
> acceptable is beyond me.

I'll go a bit further. They should be made to restore the vandalized item to its original condition at their own expense. For example, if they spray paint a block long wall of natural stone they would be required to media blast it along its full length and height so that no evidence of the paint could be traced. If the item was a large building, the entire building would get repainted, again, leaving no trace of the graffiti. This business of covering up the graffiti with paint that does not really match still leaves ugly scars.

Cheers,
Jack



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/14 08:55 by africansteam.

African Steam, I wish they would do it here in the U.S.A. The sad thing is that people will complain about being too hard on the taggers, but this is the only way to make them stop. I wish that the trains would be graffiti-free like they were in my youth.

Just cut their hand off that will do.

I have been re watching Pentrex videos from around 1995-96 and there is no graffiti. What happened all of a sudden? Maybe it has something to do with suddenly becoming unfashionable to spank your brat's. Now society is perhaps reaping the rewards of that.

Rick

Unless things have changed, Amsterdam would have to be at the top or pretty close to the top of the list of most graffiti'd cities. Back in 1990 my wife and I visited Holland and were very surprised, in a bad way, the amount of graffiti on the old buildings in Amsterdam. And people not picking up after their dogs(right in middle of the sidewalk) was another issue. Otherwise we enjoyed the trip in that beautiful country very much and enjoyed meeting the people.

Nothing scientific here, but my observations are the more liberal socially a society is, the higher the amount graffiti.

Jay

You guys should all move to Singapore where you can get caned for chewing gum (which I believe is still illegal in the city/state). It's so perfect, it's boring as hell.

Further to my original post.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/04/14/05/43/train-passengers-take-on-vandals
Regards,dK

masterphots Wrote:
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> You guys should all move to Singapore where you
> can get caned for chewing gum (which I believe is
> still illegal in the city/state). It's so
> perfect, it's boring as hell.

You cannot buy chewing gum in Singapore. The only reason for that is that people cannot be trusted to dispose of their used gum without expectorating it onto the street. AFAIR, you are not allowed to bring it into Singapore and if that is their rules then I have no problems honouring it.

I like the place for their stance on keeping their society clean. Australia media found it interesting (laughed) at the American media making out in favour of that American graffiti kid (1996ish) who tried to impose his own "culture" on the Singaporeans. Singapore is not boring but don't drink anything but bottled water as it makes for an uncomfortable flight home.

Rick





If clean streets are boring, then so be it, I say. Women are safe to walk home during the quiet times and I don't have to step on gum or see garbage on the streets. I guess the only boring bit is not reading about typical Western views/crimes in the news or not seeing the artistic flavours of criminals who deface the structures like in other countries.

rschonfelder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> masterphots Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You guys should all move to Singapore where you
> > can get caned for chewing gum (which I believe
> is
> > still illegal in the city/state). It's so
> > perfect, it's boring as hell.
>
> You cannot buy chewing gum in Singapore. The only
> reason for that is that people cannot be trusted
> to dispose of their used gum without expectorating
> it onto the street. AFAIR, you are not allowed to
> bring it into Singapore and if that is their rules
> then I have no problems honouring it.
>
> I like the place for their stance on keeping their
> society clean. Australia media found it
> interesting (laughed) at the American media making
> out in favour of that American graffiti kid
> (1996ish) who tried to impose his own "culture" on
> the Singaporeans. Singapore is not boring but
> don't drink anything but bottled water as it makes
> for an uncomfortable flight home.
>
> Rick
>
>
>
>
>
> If clean streets are boring, then so be it, I say.
> Women are safe to walk home during the quiet
> times and I don't have to step on gum or see
> garbage on the streets. I guess the only boring
> bit is not reading about typical Western
> views/crimes in the news or not seeing the
> artistic flavours of criminals who deface the
> structures like in other countries.

The chewing gum ban is more rail-related than some TO members realize. The jamming of the doors on the then-new subway system using chewing gum to block the sensors was the last straw that made the Singaporean government decide to legislate the ban in 1992. I've heard this story years ago, so I did a quick wikipedia search to confirm.

masterphots Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You guys should all move to Singapore where you
> can get caned for chewing gum (which I believe is
> still illegal in the city/state). It's so
> perfect, it's boring as hell.

From what I just read (while doing a quick research on chewing gum vs. the Singapore subway), graffiti is a "cane-able" offense, but not chewing gum. The law is enforced with a fine. You can throw another urban myth out the window.

I keep my gum wrappers so after I'm finished, I wrap the used gum with it before I throw it in the trash. I am a fool who gave up my freedom (and my "rights") to throw away a gum however I want to. :-)

Singapore is geographically small, so you can run out of things to sightsee rather quickly. However, they seem to do capitalism very, very well.