Bitching about Life in London and Society is a weekly column that attempts to delve into the smaller irritations in our society.

Oompa Loompa doompadee doo
I've got another puzzle for you
Oompa Loompa doompadee dee
If you are wise you will listen to me
Who do you blame when your kid is a brat
Pampered and spoiled like a Siamese cat?
Blaming the kids is a lion of shame
You know exactly who's to blame:
The mother and the father!
From Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Background:
Let me start this by saying that there is a difference between graffiti and tagging. Graffiti is the voice of the streets. If the great graffiti artists of the world got together and created a children's colouring book, it would sell well with the taggers.

Tags are those (as if I need to tell you) cryptic scrawls. A quick stylized signature, that pops up in prolific numbers as you cruise the city. On walls, buildings, fences, signs, doors and bus stops. Watch for it next time you are on the bus or driving around, tags are everywhere!

Tagging has much more impact in cities like New York and Los Angeles where tagging is a mark of territory. A gang related corner marker that warns, promotes and denotes the zones of proliferation.

Tagging in cities like London, Ontario is the result of idle minds! How many times have I written about the cultural vampire? Those so uncomfortable with their own identity that they adopt the style of another. Why is the gang motif so popular I wonder? Baggy pant, hoodie, white sneaker donning stalkers of the night that meet in secret basements of inattentive parents to plan their hit.

The Tagger:
They practice their marks in books, binders and desks at high school. They gather a collection of spray paint, grease markers, shoe polish and bingo dabbers. They are trained, they are equipped, and they are motivated. They meet at night, plan their attack and sleek around town in direct competition with raccoons, skunks, stray cats, and cops. They tag on walls, they tag on signs, they tag over someone else's tag and they tag over erased tags. They deface, ruin, destroy and irritate an entire city. So I ask you, why? Is it because they have the power to deface, to ruin and to irritate an entire city? They incur a degree of notoriety amongst their circles, they expand their illusionary territory in competition with other taggers, and they solidify a place in their tribe.

One may draw the conclusion that when one does not have a firm grip on a healthy self-identity, one forges an identity and sense of belonging by shocking and assaulting acceptable social standards. I used this same paragraph in previous articles on the BOOM BOOM BOOMer, and the Bus Rider. There seems to be a pattern forming here!

My Take:
There are many cities of the world where one lives in utter poverty. The people are ghettoized, persecuted and must forge and fight for every gain in their life. These cities and countries breed a nation of head turners that are too afraid to cure the cancer that is growing in their backyards. London is not one of these places. We have our issues, our social problems, our form of ghettoizing and persecution. But we have the ability to confront social issues without the fear of gang retaliation or bullets. Too many parents are head turners in our society, too many of us will look the other way while others deface, despoil, take up two seats on a busy bus, toss garbage on the street, force us to listen to their music and find power in intimidation.

In my opinion, most active taggers display a lack of social conscience or understanding that writing their tag on someone else's property is a violation of the victims themselves:

The small business owner who has to clean up his property every week, London Transit that has to replace etched windows, trashed bus shelters, and signs, the Thames Valley School board that cannot buy new computer equipment or sports supplies, because they are spending their budget to clean up graffiti.

Who is the real victim? The community is. We must make our active taggers understand that they are part of the community and, therefore, they are victimizing themselves!

Conclusion:
Tagging, as the digital age advances, may find its “mark” in places like Facebook. A digital catharsis to a growing tension, fear, lack of self and communal identity.

You make a mark on a wall because you cannot make a mark in life. Sounds like Facebook jargon to me.

Comments? Look for the group B.A.L.L.S. on Facebook.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.