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Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 8:11 PM

Letter to the Editor: Graffiti: When Opinions Turn into Vandalism

Letter to the Editor: Graffiti: When Opinions Turn into Vandalism
Graffiti at former Cock-n-Bull restaurant near CCHS in Fallon. Photo by Caesar A.

Someone vandalized the Cock-n-Bull in Fallon many weeks ago. They graffitied the message “NO AID TO ISRAEL” on the board which covered one of the windows. I know this because I saw it myself. I snapped a photo of it while on one of my lunch breaks. It is gone now. Someone painted over it. The board shows a large black scuff in its place.

I would rather that the words were never painted there, to begin with. Graffiti is nothing new, far from an unknown problem in our community. Even behind my home, there is an alley whose wall is littered with such degenerate symbols. Someone sees a spray-painted tag, scratches it out, and replaces it with one of their own. 

I’m not writing this because the graffiti bothered me, at least not more than usual. I’m writing this because of the words which were written. More specifically, the fact that they were written.

It seems that everybody tends to let their political opinions get the best of them. They let it get to them to the point that they forget what it is like to be decent and kind people. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. That is an undeniable fact. But that opinion should stay just that, an opinion. That opinion shouldn’t become malice, and it is certainly no justification for the destruction of private property or for forcing people into a state of terror in their day-to-day lives. There are a multitude of ways people can express their opinions. Graffiti is one of the ways not to. If only the people who knew no better were able to learn. 

It doesn’t matter where you stand on the issue. Scrawling words on buildings and other similarly-minded actions won’t change anything. All this makes life harder for everybody around you, who has nothing to do with that issue. 

This has not nearly become as big a problem in Fallon as it is in other cities, at least not yet. I am writing this in the hope that it never will.

 


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