etee's Blog

As a means of bringing a bit of satire to the whole Global War on Terror thing, I created a series of posts detailing a fictitious Global War on Graffiti (GWOG) via a series of Executive Decision (ED) Action Moments, complete with a color-coded Cheesy Threat Advisory Level and everything.

Alas, it seems our lawmakers in Austin, unleashed to do their 6-months worth of damage each biennial, are taking this nonsense seriously, introducing legislation designed to crack down on graffiti:

Graffiti hits the top of the charts,” said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio. His House Bill 1558 proposes mandatory driver’s license suspension for convicted taggers, requires restitution for private property owners equal to the amount of monetary damage, and makes a third graffiti conviction an automatic state jail felony.

Excuse me, but... making a Third Act of Graffiti an auto-frakkin'-matic felony!? Is the Lege out of their collective minds? (Don't answer that question: it was rhetorical.)

Admittedly, graffiti can be ugly (ugly, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.) It is (no question here) a defacement of someone else's property (unless you tag your own stuff, in which case why is anybody complaining!? Oh, yeah, the bit about "ugly". I forgot.)

It seems that a lot of folks are doing a whole lotta overreactin' in the name of "urban beautification". From threatening fines and court action against the victims, to sending the taggers to the State School for the Enhancement of Criminal Skills known as the TDCJ (or, even worse, one of the private 'charter schools' that have popped up recently, ready to turn human misery and suffering into profit for their investors.) While, in fact, there is a much easier way to address the whole problem: it's called "community service".

Catch the twerps who do this stuff. Haul them before a judge. Those that are convicted (or who cop a plea), sentence them to community service - at least several hundred hours worth (repeat offenders get increasing amounts - it's called deterrence.) Half of the hours are to be spent cleaning off graffiti (their own or someone else's, it doesn't matter which.) The other half is to be spent in real beautification - painting the houses of those who need it but can't afford it (or are unable to paint it themselves), outdoor art projects (which they can even help design - after all, they seem to have the skills), painting hospital wards/rooms and the like.

In other words, hit 'em with a one-two punch: 1) make them clean up the mess they contributed to, and 2) show them ways to express their creativity that don't include defacing that which doesn't belong to them. Restitution... and rehabilitation. It's a lot cheaper for us taxpayers than a full-tuition, room, and board scholarship leading to a Master's in Criminal Conduct.