Breaking Down The Phenomenon of Vandalism: Positive and Negative Sides

People turn to vandalism because of the satisfying feeling of watching something physically fall apart. The disassembling of objects creates a feeling of accomplishment for the vandalizer, because it was his goal to break someone’s belongings. The vandalizer has motive to break the possessions of other or public property and he makes it his goal to destroy an extension of that person or create a disturbance by ruining public property.

More often times than not, vandalism is used to hurt someone. The vandal wants to deliver a message that tells someone that he wants to hurt someone for some reason. A younger sibling may take or ruin a belonging of an older sibling to let the old sibling know that he has hurt him. Vandalism is most often used as a way to hurt extension of someone, as an alternative to hurt someone physically. Destroying belongings replaces words; although it is quite negative, vandalizing becomes the voice of the vandalizer.

However, vandalism has been used positively. Banksy, a well-known graffiti artist, vandalized several public place in order to clarify facts of current social issues. In 2015, Banksy painted a mural depicting Steve Jobs carrying a duffel bag in Calais, France called “The Son of a Migrant from Syria”. His motive for painting it was to remind European citizens that Steve Jobs was the “son of a migrant from Syria”, and he because extremely successful as the CEO of Apple, which was a counter-argument to the popular belief that migration has a negative impact on a country’s resources. His point of view became known and changed the minds of many people, which helped to ease tension between migrants and natives.

Vandalism is used to get a message across from the vandalizer, be it negative or positive. The vandal only wants to be heard because somehow his words have failed him, and he needs release. Vandalism is not the best way to resolve an issue, but it is better to ruin something someone can replace than to hurt someone physically.