Los Angeles is full of graffiti or tagging, on every street corner, on every bus stop, on every building wall. And it is only increasing. I cannot tell you how many times I have personally witnessed people tagging walls, signs and even the inside of the bus while other passengers simply stared and did nothing. Most likely out of fear that they will get shot or stabbed, which unfortunately is a real possibility in today's gang filled Los Angeles and age.
I remember once being on the way to school and a kid who was sitting across from me was tagging the bus. I told him a few times to stop it and he ignored me so I tap-hit him on the shoulder with the book I was reading to get his attention. He asked what that was for and I replied that he needed to stop tagging the bus. He then got angry at me saying I shouldn't have come at him like that and it was disrespectful. And I thought to myself, here is some stupid ass punk kid, tagging a bus, which is illegal and he thinks I am the one being disrespectful. Which only shows that there is a huge chasm between what is considered just and moral in the eyes of today's youths. I only wish I had kicked his ass to teach him a lesson in respect, but I am just not a violent person. Several months later I was waiting for a bus and noticed a kid not more than 3 feet from me was tagging a bus stop bench. I told him he needed to stop or I would call the police. He then threatened to have his crew come to my house and tag it. Which to me seemed like a lame threat since once I rent, and two this kid doesn't know where I live and it's not like he is going to follow me home on the bus.
Either way this is a major problem, and almost nothing is being done about it. Your average citizen definitely doesn't do anything about it, as there have literally been at least a dozen witnesses the vast majority of times I have seen someone engaging in tagging public property. Since I am 6'5 I guess I do not really have to fear from any sort of physical retaliation from anyone for speaking my mind or standing up for my principles, which is what your average citizen really can't or doesn't feel they can do because of their size. And like I said the very real fear that they might get shot or stabbed, since tagging crews are essentially gangs or at least they have gang connections. They also appear to be mostly Hispanic which I think speaks very poorly of the Hispanic community at large if there is something about their culture that promotes such criminal activity and/or they simply allow such negative going-ons to stereotype them even more.
Though it is not just the gang ridden streets of Los Angeles as I have seen an uprising in graffiti and tagging in my European travels as well. Especially during the Roskilde Music Festival. As I witnessed several youths going around tagging people's tents, writing their lame gang symbols or whatever the hell it was in spray paint, because it was essentially unreadable. I also saw random scribbles on every piece of furniture that adorned the festival, so that a few days into the festival every formally clean surface was completely covered in nonsense symbols. It was like a bunch of people who couldn't speak or write English saw a show about graffiti or tagging on TV and decided to copy it.
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