Rufus T. Firefly wrote:MurphOnMillerAve wrote:...... there is an amazing absence of litter, esp. plastic cups, bottles, and styrofoam packaging floating and blowing all around, as well as a total absence of graffiti in these latest photos provided by Rufus. (I wonder who started all that mess.)
100 years ago none of that stuff existed. The world was not dominated by a disposable existence and everything was reused as a matter of course. Bottles were 5 cents deposit when I was a lad. That disconnection to a tangible value may have some impact on why everything became disposable and then why so much was not worth the time to get up and walk over to a trash can and put it in its proper place. People stopped caring and decided that it just did not matter and for that matter what's a little more in our environment anyway...the world can absorb more trash and rubbish and why should I care, etc......
Graffiti has been around as long as man has been able to express himself graphically.
Those photos were also out in what is still something closer to nowhere than the majority of people will ever experience. But even then the people that lived there bothered to pick up after themselves.
Sadly, that's not been true for many, many years. People stopped caring.
Rufus, You make so many interesting points and perspectives.
Taking the last one first, when I taught art history in Italy, we took note of a graffiti remark written in charcoal on a marble (hence its longevity) entrance stone to an sport arena in Pompeii. It said, in effect, that so-and-so was the best athlete. Inscribed right next to it was that it was only his mother who thought so. I enjoyed that. (Graffiti is an Italian word: graffio, [i] meaning "a scratch."
Yet, I must add, that when I travel around parts of this country, esp. along interstates, if I see "tags" and all sort of illegitimate writings and drawings on the walls along the highways, to me, that announces a certain "ilk" [i]presides there, and I avoid taking the next exit. Somebody has marked "their territory" with their "scent," and I have gotten the (unwelcome) message. I feel safer, too, staying out of such areas.
Regarding the litter you mentioned not existing a hundred years ago, that's another good point, of course. However, sixty years ago, when I was a boy, some kids used to think nothing of throwing their candy wrappers and snack bags onto the street or out car windows when finished with them. Also, I recall an effort being inaugurated back in the early 60's (or was it the late-50's?) that started urging people to be desirous of not being "litter bugs." That stuck with me. We can't stop others from inflicting their mess on everybody else, but we surely can refrain from adding personally to the heaps.
Mitch used the word, "slobs," which to me fits somebody who does not consider how his actions with garbage or disposable packaging affects others. If you can forgive my using one of the photos of my "close-to-nowhere" retreat place, again, when I walk here, it never occurs to me to throw anything (except for maybe the occasional peach-pit or apple-core) into/onto the environment. Garbage-up "my" own pleasant place, a place others visit and enjoy, also, for peace and quiet and an escape from slobs?! Not I (and apparently, not others either.) I've never seen a single piece of anything man-made littering the roadway, its edges, or the forest interior. Even the deer appear to be neat (!)
