Robin - I realize this gets us off on a deep, dark philosophical debate that easily becomes non-Minneapolis specific, so here goes the short version.
Advocating more visual pollution because you don't like the current visual pollution is great logic in an eye-for-an-eye kind of way, but ignore those of us who dislike commercial speech and feel that, ahem, political art just makes a double-scoop of arrogant folks polluting the commons. I realize I'm the guy who advocates tagging a prized possession of everyone caught for tagging. So I'm a hypocrite here. But to bring it back to Minneapolis, there are ways - legal ways, democratic ways - to control commercial speech. If the community doesn't like it, it can pass a law. (And for the First Amendment types, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that commercial "speech" deserves less protection than political speech.) The folks in St. Paul have been pretty aggressive - if not always successful - in reining in billboards. I don't recall a similar effort in Minneapolis. I'd love to see one- at least try democracy before spray-can vigilantism, whose only result is an arms race that clutters the landscape, rather than cleansing it so we can more easily think our own thoughts. David Brauer King Field > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Garwood, Robin > I put up with a lot of crap I'd prefer not to see every day - billboards for products I will > never buy featuring improper grammar and blatantly manipulative images, badly designed > corporate logos, tasteless ugly storefronts. As far as I'm concerned, these are examples of > people using public space in ways I would prefer they not, without my consent. (If you > don't believe these are "public space," I have some questions for you: why could I not mow > my front lawn [or my landlord's, to be precise] in the nude? Why could I not start a store > called "a bunch of really f_cking cheap sh_t!" with the vowels still in place?) I grudgingly > accept these visual intrusions because I have consented to live in this society, and that's just > one of the membership fees. TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
