The South Bend Tribune has one of those dreary stories not just defending and apologizing for those graffiti vandals who claim to be pursuing something noble but actually arguing for their nobility:
Despite the fact that, technically, he is defacing public property, he does not seem concerned about getting caught. His brushstrokes are quick but calm, and, when finished, he steps back to wipe his hands and admire his work.
“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives,” the aforementioned quotation, by the physicist Albert Einstein, reads.
“I really enjoy exploration,” the man says of the meaning of the piece, “like the childlike exploration of going out and exploring and not have any boundaries, and I really enjoy Einstein quotes. He's a very smart guy.”
Finished, he moves on, pasting a number of small wooden blocks stamped with motivational phrases - “Be an Explorer” or “Keep Learning” - to various objects around the park -- anything with a flat surface.
Yeah, quote that "very smart guy" Einstein about the pursuit of truth and beauty justifying exploring "without boundaries" to disguse the fact that you're just a common, ordinary punk who defaces public property, "technically," of course.
You don't get permission, it ain't art, no matter how pretty or insightful it might be. It's revealing that the newspaper puts the question -- "Art or vandalism"? -- in its headline and basically answers the question in the story by agreeing to the guy's request for anonymity. Another crime romanticized, more crime invited.
