The War on Wars

This letter was sent to the Wanganui Chronicle regarding the lynch-mob mentality towards taggers being propagated in Wanganui by Mayor Michael Laws and the 'dob a tagger for money' scheme.

I do not condone indiscriminate tagging of public or private property; however the civic response to this minor social problem is potentially more harmful.

Politicians declare war on unresolvable issues, to create the perception of being active, strident saviours of their constituents. Whether it is the war on terror, on drugs or on gangs, it is political currency not social benefit that is gained by this militant approach. As with the strategic tagging of the Library and Pool; declare war on taggers and they will fight back with their weapon of choice.

These members of our youth have been called, degrading, disgusting miscreants, and threatened with humiliation, vilification, and incarceration. They haven’t robbed grannies, shot babies or physically destroyed property, they write illegible words in public. Are they really so evil?

As the aim of tagging is infamy, recent political outbursts and front-page news coverage only serve to boost it. If working with taggers isn’t your cup of tea, the most effective way to deal with tagging, is to remove it quickly and quietly, sticking the culprits on permanent clean-up duty. As the people most likely to identify a tag, are taggers; rewards, offer taggers the ironic opportunity, to dob in their rivals and use Mayoral money to tag again.

Let’s deal with issues pragmatically, rather than declaring wars that only serve to up the ante for the protagonists, leaving the rest of us with an issue unresolved and an even worse taste in our mouths.

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