I'm in Livorno, Italy taking a break in a coffee shop. Yes, it's amazing! I've seen political graffiti all over the place today and thought I'd pose a question for discussion: Why is there so much more political graffiti in Europe than in the United States?

I know we have some. But at least in my experience growing up in downtown Sacramento (where we have plenty of graffiti), rarely did I see political graffiti. Here, most of the graffiti includes political messages.

Is it because the populations that spray graffiti in Europe are more politically active? Informed? Generally better educated? Or maybe lower classes in Europe are more influential within their political systems and thus have a less defeatist attitude towards political engagement.

Does the United States do a better job of making oppressed populations complacent?

I personally think it's a bit of everything above, coupled with the fact that non-hegemonic countries are more resentful because they see themselves as less responsible for the world's problems. But that alone wouldn't explain the commonplace political graffiti directed at domestic issues.

It could be that a political graffiti culture grew out of a resentment towards countries like the United States and evolved into addressing domestic issues as well. Evidence of this is that even when addressing domestic issues, the common language used is English, regardless of country. One could interpret that to suggest that the messages were originally directed towards America/Britain and English over time became the political graffiti culture's default language.

Or maybe politics are just more frustrating in Europe than America. Maybe none of the above.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness post. I'm low on remaining wi-fi minutes. Ah, Europe.

What do you think?

-- KippMueller - 25 May 2012