Posted On: Tuesday - July 29th 2025 7:40PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Music Curmudgeonry Race/Genetics
It's been half a year, but Peak Stupidity WILL get around to putting online some posts about Uruguay. One thing I was not just not impressed with, but de-impressed with, was the amount of graffiti around in Montevideo. Those people make the urban dwellers of my town look like pikers! You don't see this in China, as we reported back in '23.
No, that ain't China! (The image itself has been tagged, with Alamy logos.)
I looked a few things up about the history of graffiti. Sure, that's what they call some carvings in the ancient world, but, nah, not the same as what we've got now in any area with Blacks! and Hispanics. That "graffiato", we archeologists call it, took a lot of work. It didn't take up whole walls and destroy the scenery. I was surprised to find out that modern graffiti started as recently as in the early 1970s in, you guessed it, the NYC and Philly subways. (Without cameras, it was much harder to catch anyone... I mean, if you wanted to also...)
I don't recognized what any of the graffiti is supposed to mean, so guess I'm not hip or hip-hop. They say you "tag" these objects with all that paint to make your mark, as a cat tags the corners of the house and the car bumpers. The cat piss washes off though.
I've made monsters on the concrete sides of house foundations as a kid. I've done a few carvings on trees with what you'd expect, "PSM + REDACTED" That's Peak Stupidity Moderator LUVS some [REDACTED] girl, which is I suppose a bit destructive in someone's yard, but not out in the woods. I also see a nice "Trump '16" carved in the sidewalk in the [REDACTED] neighborhood still holding up well ... I don't know how THAT got there...
That's a White people thing though. It has some meaning. It also doesn't destroy the scenery and mar otherwise beautiful freight trains. Just once I'd like to see a whole line of cars, the hopper cars full of grain or coal, the tanker cars full of chemicals, gondola cars with scrap steel, and the box cars, just painted with nice solid colors.* Some people appreciate neatness. Others like to destroy but still enjoy the nice, slightly fearful, virtue-signaling folks calling what they do urban artwork. Nah, it's as nasty as rap music.
I guess the railway companies just can't keep up. I've thought that as long as you could just keep these "artistes" out of the freight yards, they couldn't do all that spray painting that we see. I suppose it's done anywhere the freighters stop, and you can't fence in the whole railway... I wish J.P. Harriman and The Regulators were still around:
I HATE graffiti. I HATE tattoos too.
Why would you do that to a previously nice body like that?! I mean, unless those are watercolors that come off in the shower... you gotta scrub and reach into everywhere ...
Is there a connection between people who tag objects with graffiti and those who tag their very bodies with tattoos? How does the Venn diagram look? Most White people with lots of tattoos don't spray paint freight trains. Most Blacks! who spray paint freight trains don't have visible tattoos, because, well, they're black colored, and the latter must be a waste of ink. (The stuff costs lots more than spray paint, in the application at least.) Maybe they get them anyway, hence the median of $1,305.14 in savings.**
Then there are Hispanic people for whom tattoos show up pretty well who are also the type who hate nice clean freight cars and want to mark their territory, for what said territory is worth. (Why isn't it the ritzy areas that are marked up with symbols that say "It's ours - stay TFO!?"... in marble and tile?)
Union Pacific can occasionally re-paint the hopper cars, but these people with skin tagged with ink, they'd better mean what they say. It's a long, expensive, painful, and not necessarily fully successful process to undo all that.
Graffiti is about marking one's territory and saying "I've been here.". What's body tattooing about? I don't get it.
There is probably correlation for people that hate both Graffiti and Tattoos. I'm in there. Go ahead and Tattoo You - I don't have to like it. See, that early 1980s Rolling Stones album, mostly taken for older material they hadn't finished, is not my favorite. Their great melodies and sound had peaked out beforehand. Since this is the post, though, let me feature here a fairly decent song from the album. It's Waiting on a Friend. In this 4 1/2 decade old video I saw an old Datsun(?) with a big bullet hole in the left fender panel, but I don't recall ANY tattoos.
NYC didn't look so good in the early '80s. Regarding graffiti, the building of which Mick, and Kieth for a while, are standing in the doorway is the same one, 96-98 St. Mark's Place, that is shown on the cover of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti from a half decade earlier.
* One of my favorite children's books is Steam Train, Dream Train, by one Sherri Duskey Rinker. I have great memories of reading it to my kid. Animals are involved. The elephants load the tanker cars with paint using their trunks. There are even monkeys on the train - they goof off a lot, but at least they don't go tagging the damn train! This is why it's a children's book, alas.
** Yes, I made up that number. The real one might just be lower though.
Comments:
Adam Smith
Wednesday - July 30th 2025 12:36PM MST
PS: Good afternoon to you too, Mr. SafeNow.
Cheers! ☮️
Cheers! ☮️
Adam Smith
Wednesday - July 30th 2025 12:35PM MST
PS: Good afternoon Messrs. M & Moderator!
https://i.ibb.co/0jqVKgcD/Banksy-Rat.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/LXWVLSLB/Otherwise-Beautiful-Freight-Trains.jpg
It's difficult to do graffiti art properly...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t55BWEH_uWY
Exit through the gift shop...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqVXThss1z4
Steam Train, Dream Train...
https://files.catbox.moe/nxen68.pdf
While there are some truly gifted tattoo artists and some examples of beautiful tattoo art the vast majority of the tattoos I see are horribly trashy. I'm really not sure how they turned into such a fad. (Or at least I hope its a fad.)
Aside from the fact that tattoos are permanent and difficult/expensive to remove there is growing evidence that the tattoo ink can cause illness and even cancer. (Sometimes the ink can even reach the brain.) A few quick notes...
• Tattoo inks often contain chemicals, including heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and aromatic amines, that are known or suspected carcinogens. The tattooing process involves injecting these inks into the skin's deeper layers, and the ink particles can migrate and accumulate in lymph nodes and potentially other organs.
• Lymphoma: Research, including studies on twin cohorts and case-control studies, suggests an association between tattoos and an increased risk of lymphoma. One study from Sweden found a 21% higher risk of lymphoma in tattooed individuals compared to those without tattoos with some studies suggesting a higher risk for larger tattoos.
• The presence of heavy metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium in some inks can raise concerns about potential long-term toxicity, including nerve damage and negative effects on the brain.
• Infections, particularly from Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes, are also common complications, often linked to unsanitary practices or contaminated ink.
Also... I'm sure that girl's tattoos are going to look even better on her as she ages.
Cheers! ☮️
https://i.ibb.co/0jqVKgcD/Banksy-Rat.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/LXWVLSLB/Otherwise-Beautiful-Freight-Trains.jpg
It's difficult to do graffiti art properly...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t55BWEH_uWY
Exit through the gift shop...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqVXThss1z4
Steam Train, Dream Train...
https://files.catbox.moe/nxen68.pdf
While there are some truly gifted tattoo artists and some examples of beautiful tattoo art the vast majority of the tattoos I see are horribly trashy. I'm really not sure how they turned into such a fad. (Or at least I hope its a fad.)
Aside from the fact that tattoos are permanent and difficult/expensive to remove there is growing evidence that the tattoo ink can cause illness and even cancer. (Sometimes the ink can even reach the brain.) A few quick notes...
• Tattoo inks often contain chemicals, including heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and aromatic amines, that are known or suspected carcinogens. The tattooing process involves injecting these inks into the skin's deeper layers, and the ink particles can migrate and accumulate in lymph nodes and potentially other organs.
• Lymphoma: Research, including studies on twin cohorts and case-control studies, suggests an association between tattoos and an increased risk of lymphoma. One study from Sweden found a 21% higher risk of lymphoma in tattooed individuals compared to those without tattoos with some studies suggesting a higher risk for larger tattoos.
• The presence of heavy metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium in some inks can raise concerns about potential long-term toxicity, including nerve damage and negative effects on the brain.
• Infections, particularly from Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes, are also common complications, often linked to unsanitary practices or contaminated ink.
Also... I'm sure that girl's tattoos are going to look even better on her as she ages.
Cheers! ☮️
SafeNow
Wednesday - July 30th 2025 11:26AM MST
PS
A very thoughtful post, thank you. I was curious about the psychology of taggers, coming from professional shrinks. so I googled to see what that unfortunately ridiculed journal, Psychology Today, has to say. An essay by a psychiatrist caught my eye. Here is a quote that I liked:
“Whatever its motives, tagging conveys a sense of insecurity on areas in which it is prevalent. Because any tagger would be stopped by authority if caught in the act, the very fact that tagging is prevalent indicates that authority is absent from the area, that there is a kind of power vacuum that anybody ruthless may fill. Everybody understands this, even if he cannot articulate it.”
From the same article, an interesting observation regarding “the epidemiology of tagging”: In England and France, taggers have architectural taste, as they do not deface architecturally aesthetic - - usually meaning old - - buildings. However, elsewhere in Europe, especially in Italy and Portugal, this principle does not apply.
A very thoughtful post, thank you. I was curious about the psychology of taggers, coming from professional shrinks. so I googled to see what that unfortunately ridiculed journal, Psychology Today, has to say. An essay by a psychiatrist caught my eye. Here is a quote that I liked:
“Whatever its motives, tagging conveys a sense of insecurity on areas in which it is prevalent. Because any tagger would be stopped by authority if caught in the act, the very fact that tagging is prevalent indicates that authority is absent from the area, that there is a kind of power vacuum that anybody ruthless may fill. Everybody understands this, even if he cannot articulate it.”
From the same article, an interesting observation regarding “the epidemiology of tagging”: In England and France, taggers have architectural taste, as they do not deface architecturally aesthetic - - usually meaning old - - buildings. However, elsewhere in Europe, especially in Italy and Portugal, this principle does not apply.
Moderator
Wednesday - July 30th 2025 8:44AM MST
PS: I guess the invention of spray paint was a key thing, M. Right. Before that, you'd have run around (or away) with a pint can for each of our colors and a set of brushes... and turpentine... Too much planning.
Yep, people go for the looks of the rock stars, athletes, and models and such... I wonder if any new leggy supermodels have significant tattoos. People should check...
Yep, people go for the looks of the rock stars, athletes, and models and such... I wonder if any new leggy supermodels have significant tattoos. People should check...
M
Wednesday - July 30th 2025 3:32AM MST
PS
Apparently the spray paint aerosol can was developed in the early 50s. So about 10 years for it to become cheap and ubiquitous enough for gangs to use as territorial markers. Perhaps this might also be related to changes in the makeup of said gangs.
As for tattoos? I think some people end up liking the feeling (I was going to say "addicted", but I think that's overused these days) and get more over time. Admittedly, the difficulty in getting them removed means the coverage stays the same or increases, so there may be bias.
I think there's a herd effect as well. When only sailors had them, it tended to stay with sailors. I've tried to track musicians' and athletes' use of them over time, since those are very visible people and would tell others that it's ok (a little rebellious but not too much) to have them.
Apparently the spray paint aerosol can was developed in the early 50s. So about 10 years for it to become cheap and ubiquitous enough for gangs to use as territorial markers. Perhaps this might also be related to changes in the makeup of said gangs.
As for tattoos? I think some people end up liking the feeling (I was going to say "addicted", but I think that's overused these days) and get more over time. Admittedly, the difficulty in getting them removed means the coverage stays the same or increases, so there may be bias.
I think there's a herd effect as well. When only sailors had them, it tended to stay with sailors. I've tried to track musicians' and athletes' use of them over time, since those are very visible people and would tell others that it's ok (a little rebellious but not too much) to have them.
Before the invention of aerosol paint, the tagging might have been of posters.
There is a history of posters being put up illegally, and also being put up to cover rival posters.
However you have to have the resources to make the posters and people to carry them around and put them up. So you have less of it, and different groups doing it.
The other candidate for tagging would be chalk. It would be as portable and even less likely to get you caught. The downside would be that it is much less durable, so you would have to refresh it often. The signs would also be smaller and in sheltered areas, so less noticeable.
I am quite skeptical of any medical research in this area, like I am of pretty much any "health" research. Studies of humans necessarily use tiny populations (expensive, and humans are long-lived), and the results are generally tortured into finding something significant to report.
E.g. an effect size of only 21% would have to have a group of thousands for me to start to trust it, and I'm pretty sure they didn't have that size.