[saurik]

Why can't vandalism be an artistic medium? I don't see any reason why someone can't be labeled both "vandal" and "artist". (edit: re-reading my sentence an hour later, I think even better wording might be "an outlet for artistic expression" rather than "an artistic medium".)

[DalekBaldwin]

Remember when Karlheinz Stockhausen called 9/11 a great work of art?

[radley]

It's only vandalism to those who want to control the city yet not participate.

[jevinskie]

Maybe the opinion of the property owner(s) is the most important when you determine whether it is vandalism or not.

[arrrg]

That entirely depends on your definition of “vandalism” and that is an extremely boring discussion to have. It’s quite pointless, actually. Who cares about the definition of what is and what isn’t vandalism?

[Tichy]

Do you own a building? Or may I perhaps defecate your web site, for the sake of art?

[James_Duval]

You'd have to eat it first, and servers can be crunchy.

[Tichy]

Well, it would be for the sake of art. You'd be surprised by the kind of things people do for art.

[arrrg]

What are you talking about?

I’m talking about definitions and the argument about definitions that’s happening here. Arguing about definitions is foolish, it’s point- and meaningless. Who cares what vandalism is? The important thing is how one views a certain act, not how one defines vandalism. That only clouds the issue.

Also, I find people who think there are absolutes when it comes to this issue extremely funny.

[cjg]

I don't think arguing about definitions is pointless, although it often turns out that way.

Take, for example, the classic "if a tree falls in a forest and no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?". Resolving this question comes down to seeing that it depends on how sound is defined: pressure waves in the air or a neural state change related to those waves hitting an ear.

Once we see that a words (like "sound") has several definitions it allows us to see the world more clearly. Perhaps we invent new words for the sub-concepts that are generated.

[Tichy]

presumably if you want to make a law about it, you have to define it somehow. What solution do you propose?

[rejoinder]

One hopes you'll use the bit bucket.