Althouse: "The whole thing boils down to class warfare... People all over the world are wondering why they did that to 5Pointz. My answer is, why not?"

December 3, 2013

"The whole thing boils down to class warfare... People all over the world are wondering why they did that to 5Pointz. My answer is, why not?"

"Do we really think some landlord is going to give a damn about the culture of the working class? This was an art form invented by the children of the working class, not children with last names like Trump or Rockefeller."

"There are hardly any spots left in the city for graffiti writers... It’s going to mean that everybody’s going to be fighting for space. And you know what happens if they don’t have space to express themselves."

33 comments:

Gahrie said...: Wah Wah Wah

I'm not going to be allowed to use somebody else's property for free anymore!!!

If they want to paint walls, they can either buy or build their own.; 12/3/13, 2:01 PM
chuck said...: There are always tatoos and butt cheeks.; 12/3/13, 2:04 PM
madAsHell said...: Let me keep my entitlement!!; 12/3/13, 2:05 PM
Jaq said...: "I'm not gonna payay,
We're not gonna payay,
We're not gonna payyayy
Last year's RENT!
This year's RENT!
Next year's RENT!"

It's all there in the musical.; 12/3/13, 2:14 PM
SteveR said...: Thinking of it as class warfare is your first mistake, you aren't a "class" and its not "warfare". Just because you have a degree doesn't mean you've learned anything.; 12/3/13, 2:16 PM
Alexander said...: Now, now, let's not be coy. Tell us, advocates of multicult, what exactly happens when groups with different backgrounds and cultures are in close proximity and one of those groups concludes it doesn't have enough space?; 12/3/13, 2:17 PM
Hagar said...: Well, using "working class" in its snobbish sense, I would definitely call "The Donald" "working class," and was not that trainwreck conductor's name Rockefeller?; 12/3/13, 2:27 PM
Anonymous said...: "Do we really think some landlord is going to give a damn about the culture of the working class?"

Well, we know YOU would never think it. But after all, that is the real issue here: why you think you can say anything accurate or meaningful about other people by referring to them only with a large-group label.

Landlords

Whites

Women

Upper-westsiders

Even the use of the name Rockefeller to mean something is totally called into question when apparently the engineer of the Metro North train that crashed was a Rockefeller.

"Do you expect a Rockefeller to drive a train off the tracks?"; 12/3/13, 2:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Working class is left code for welfare ghetto.; 12/3/13, 2:34 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: You can buy a ream of paper for less than five dollars.; 12/3/13, 2:47 PM
Joe said...: We learned a long time ago that graphitti begets graphitti and while the initial work may be nice, the subsequent work rarely is. You can even see some of that in the pictures at the link!; 12/3/13, 2:47 PM
Michael said...: It is class warfare and for the time being the ownership class is winning. They won't for long the way things are going but for now you "artists" will just have to go back hanging from railroad trellises.

Oh, and the "culture" of the working class happens to be Kim Khardashian and Kanye West and not gross graffiti on other peoples property. So stick that rude bit of info up your ass.; 12/3/13, 2:50 PM
rehajm said...: The whole thing boils down to class warfare...the Boone Avenue strip, which has been a stop for the global graffiti showcase known as Meeting of Styles. Not just anyone can paint there...

Class warfare! Elitist snobs! How dare they deny anyone the right to deface!...Oh, wait...I think I missed the point...; 12/3/13, 2:57 PM
donald said...: I'm working class. I'm a landlord. I respect other peoples property. I'm a racist in there somewhere.; 12/3/13, 2:58 PM
Patrick Henry was right! said...: If these folks were actually working members of the working class, they would not have time to deface someone else's property. They might also actually have the money to buy their own property and then they could deface that all they wanted to.; 12/3/13, 2:58 PM
MadisonMan said...: I don't feel sorry for the graffiti artists. I guess I hate art.; 12/3/13, 3:02 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Like a Trump or Rockefeller bought that dump. Lefties are dumber than dogshit.; 12/3/13, 3:12 PM
Mary Beth said...: If people other than the artists valued it, there would be plenty of places to do it.; 12/3/13, 3:17 PM
Henry said...: If the man isn't putting you down, what's the point?; 12/3/13, 3:24 PM
David said...: Take photographs.; 12/3/13, 3:27 PM
n.n said...: It sounds like a threat. Aren't there any patrons of the graffiti arts who are willing to make available their private property? Even working-class people have something which they can call their own. Perhaps The New York Times could offer their building.

That said, you can purchase a suitable computer for around $50. They could learn the digital graffiti arts. Of course, that wouldn't fulfill the ego requirement; but, at least they will have an outlet for their creative expression, and that's really what it's all about, right?; 12/3/13, 3:33 PM
Anonymous said...: And you know what happens if they don’t have space to express themselves.

They turn to vandalism?; 12/3/13, 3:56 PM
Wince said...: Everything you see belongs to me, to one degree or another. The beggars and newsboys and quick thieves here in Paradise, the sailor dives and gin mills and blind tigers on the waterfront, the anglers and amusers, the she-hes and the Chinks. Everybody owes, everybody pays. Because that's how you stand up against the rising of the tide.

- Bill the Butcher on the "Five Points"; 12/3/13, 4:18 PM
The Godfather said...: My wife has a pension from her years as a public school teacher. Fortunately, it's from Virginia/Fairfax County, not Detroit or Illinois, or Puerto Roco. But to some extent that's just luck. Please have a little sympathy for the regular folks who are going to get screwed out of some or all of the pensions they thought they were promised. Yes, I know, they elected the union leadership, and the unions made those corrupt deals with the Detroit politicos, and they received unreasonable bonuses during fat years, and all that. But most of us take the status quo for granted, as someone said, We fucked up, we trusted you. Bankruptcy is the right way to go. But it's going to hurt some innocent people. So shed a tear for them.

And if there's a way to tar and feather the union leaders and politicos that caused this problem, show me the tar bucket!; 12/3/13, 4:22 PM
Curious George said...: I think the NYT should offer up their building to these "artists."; 12/3/13, 4:25 PM
Peter said...: "... culture of the working class?"

More like a subculture of the non-working class.

Whatever makes this fool think that working class people wish to live in graffiti-defaced slums? Would the author choose to live where practically everything is covered in graffiti?; 12/3/13, 5:26 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: To be working class you have to work.; 12/3/13, 5:56 PM
Howard said...: If they did it for like realz an shit, they would need to get a conditional use permit and the city artistic consultant would reject their designs and demand changes to reduce the hard edges and bright colours.; 12/3/13, 5:57 PM
Gahrie said...: So shed a tear for them

Not if they are still willing to vote for Democrats, and I bet most of them are.; 12/3/13, 5:57 PM
William said...: I don't think many of the early practitioners of graffiti considered themselves artists. They were more interested in getting their tag out than in creating beauty. I wouldn't call them working class either. I don't think anyone with a working class background considers graffiti an art form either. You know the neighborhood is shit when there's too much graffiti everywhere.; 12/3/13, 7:04 PM
Michael K said...: Since the link took me to the NY Times, I also read part of the story about fast food workers. Times' readers are really clueless, aren't they.; 12/3/13, 7:05 PM
Annie said...: Where I come from, graffiti marks 'turf'. Nothing working class about gangs.; 12/3/13, 10:17 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: This was an art form invented by the children of the working class, not children with last names like Trump or Rockefeller.

Yep--totin' dem barges, liftin' dem bales, defacin' dem walls....; 12/4/13, 12:53 AM