Graffiti on the Wall
Sometimes graffiti annoys you, as it's there simply to mar the beauty of whatever was there before. It doesn't improve on things, it simply removes things, preventing the future from seeing the same things we can see now in the past. Kilroy was here.
Sometimes, though, you wonder if they had the same problems in times long past. Did the ancient Chinese emperors have to hire armies of people, not to keep the invading Mongol hoardes out, but to keep the wall clean of graffiti? Or was it ok with them if, after having spent the stored money in the treasury and taken out a loan the size of a football field (a really, really, really big football field) the people around used it to leave messages for future generations?
Or maybe, just maybe, the stone came pre-graffitied so any additional graffiti was unable to further decrease the value.
posted by Silik at 2:57 PM
2 Comments:
On a recent trip to Newgrange in the Boyne Valley, Ireland I saw graffiti from the 1800's in the passage tomb...at least I think that is what the tour guide said :)
That's only so his supervisor didn't fire him for being bored and drunk late one night. But the whole "Bob was here, 5/6/03" should have given it away.
Post a Comment
<< Home