Flash Mobs & Graffiti vs Vandalism

As I watched the News they started to talk about Flash Mobs as a group of young teenagers getting together in huge groups beating people up and mass robbings in stores and just flat out vandalism. I was happy that they made a short and brief comparison to what Flash Mobs are with groups of people doing Freezes and breaking out in dance and things towards the more peaceful end of it.

This got me thinking. Mostly about how I read a person’s comment on a news paper article in Portland Maine talking about a local Mosque getting slurs and other things spray painted all over it. The comment was something like “How is that vandalism when I will be fined if I don’t clean graffiti off my walls, why isn’t that vandalism?” (The rule of cleaning your building or getting fined in Portland ME is a big thing right now  -listen to the talk I taped on here http://actsofrandomart.blogspot.com/2011/04/talk-on-graffiti-in-portland-me.html.

These things got me thinking. Some of it is not the problem people have with it, but the education of the differences. It is also how vandalism is easily tied to public, street or gorilla art. I think that there needs to be some clarification of these and graffiti would be the hardest to fight with. That is because there is a true art to graffiti. Then there is the doing things on peoples property with out permission. To me though a true difference between vandalism and graffiti, is that vandalism is when people put insults, slurs, racial comments and the like along with taking a can of spray paint and doing it just to do damage. Graffiti, on the other had is more thought out, and never to do it just to do damage. It is done with the thought of making something look better to the writer -making it colorful and interesting. As much as people say graffiti is for other graffiti writers it’s also very public and for everyone. I’m sure that people would not be happy with those comparisons though. And some would say that there is no difference. 

For Flash Mobs, I put that on the media and city officials who are calling the mass violent, vandalism groups a Flash Mob. Because that is not what Flash Mobs are about - it’s another art form that is for the public and the reason for it is to make something interesting different happen in the everyday. This can be people breaking out in dance to music or to have lots of people all of a sudden stop in their tracks, or for some way for a large group of people to do one thing all at the same time. This sometimes weird’s people out, makes them laugh and just all around have a different experience in everyday life.

Now the other “Flash Mobs” the media and city officials are calling “Flash Mobs” is a problem for the people who are out trying to do artistic Flash Mobs. Violent groups need to be called the violent mob that they are - just like protests that break into fights are usually started by people that just want to start a mass fight. Let’s figure something different for the media to call them. Flash Mobs are for fun. Don’t take that away because others just want to cause problems.