Chris+R+OpEd+Article

=“Tagging”= What is the difference between street art, graffiti, and tagging? Many will say that it’s all the same to them at first glance, just vandalism. To me there is a substantial difference; I only consider street art and graffiti to be worthy of the title “art”. Tagging on the other hand is flat out vandalism. It's the average Neanderthal’s way of letting people know their simplistic thoughts at that very moment. There is no point to it at all. Street art and graffiti has some sort of value behind the drawn image, whether it is Banksy’s politically moving art, or some teenager’s time spent drawing instead of being in a gang. Street art and graffiti has a purpose in our society, street and graffiti artists express their feelings and thoughts through their art. Tagging on the other hand is a contest to see who can etch their name on the most objects. We’ve all seen tagging. It can be etched on the toilet seats in the public restroom or spray painted on the walls on the side of the freeway. It ranges from names of the vandal to the simple saying of “(name of vandal) was here”. What is even more aggravating is when people actually respond and engage in a full on conversation on the wall with a sharpie. It goes on and on with insult after insult until some blessed person decides to cover up the etching with a fresh coat of paint. We have even seen it in the boy’s restroom from time to time here at Foothill. Foothill for crying out loud, I would understand if it was Buena or Ventura, but Foothill. Out of all of the taggings I have seen here on our campus, one of the most prominent saying that has struck my mind is a string of words that is so obscene that the author of the quote switched the first letters of the first and second words. Come on, who would be so immature to actually commit these crimes against humanity. The only type of person that comes to mind who would actually do this obscenity is a swag-obsessed underclassman, mainly freshman. I’ve met a couple of taggers before and when I confront them about it they are proud that their name is permanently etched on a bus window or sticker slapped on the side of a wall. I have even asked why they do it and what is the purpose for their work. They usually respond, “When you put your name or your symbol on the side of a table, people recognize that that spot belongs to you.” To which I usually respond with, “No one believes that you own a fiber glass table at McDonalds.” Honestly speaking, tagging gives a bad name to good artwork. People stereotype too much and assume that all graffiti or all street art is the work of some good for nothing tagger. Tagging is the reason why graffiti and street art is considered vandalism. For all I care, taggers can crawl in the fetal position and die in a hole.