windmill hill graffiti

Sounds like freedom to me!

As opposed to
"Queue for a possible job, wonder if the kids will ever have an education, wish you could afford some footwear, act as if your every word is being monitored, try to catch some news from anything but the state media, worry you'll never make old age, fear anarchic violence.
Repeat after me: I am free"

--
Seen in my contacts' photos. (?)

Sam Judson (75 months ago | reply)

www.flickr.com/photos/knautia/424307039/

pshab (75 months ago | reply)

Thanks Sam. And this one too. www.flickr.com/photos/knautia/427385894/

dayyvester (62 months ago | reply)

An addition if I may add to the US version....

"go to work, PAY INTEREST, send your kids to school, PAY INTEREST,
follow fashion, PAY INTEREST, act normal, PAY INTEREST,
walk on the pavement, PAY INTEREST, watch TV, PAY INTEREST,
save for your old age, PAY INTEREST, obey the law, PAY INTEREST,
Repeat after me, I am dead and now my loved ones will PAY INTEREST."

eric gates [deleted] (62 months ago | reply)

These viewpoints are not mutually exclusive.

This is just one person ridiculing the free choice of another.

All of us ought to consider the pleasures of living our own lives without trying to be the pastor for someone with a different idea.

That's freedom.

keith.burgun (62 months ago | reply)

lammmmme! Next time just spray-paint "I LACK PERSPECTIVE"

savingstrangers (62 months ago | reply)

agree with Mance 100%.

CyberSteel (62 months ago | reply)

Exactly! I agree with Mance..however who said that is the only other option?
What about:
Work as every human being, send your kids to school or educate them at home if you want, follow fashion only if it conforms to your beliefs, act your definition of "normal" not others definition, dont watch TV because you know its just crap, have your family happily support you in your old age, and obey the law only if it justice.
That is freedom.

thegeoman (62 months ago | reply)

I can see that some of you didn't get the pic.

Toh Gouttenoire (62 months ago | reply)

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Words, Palabras, Mots..., and we'd love to have this added to the group!

CubicleNinjas (62 months ago | reply)

I think the point of this graffiti is: if freedom within my culture does exist wouldn't the people who had a whole world of unique possibilities take them?

The sad answer is an obvious no. We don't. We burrow into the corner of our cages and wish to adventure via proxy.

Great photo!

conclusionsyllogism [deleted] (62 months ago | reply)

I've seen the little trendy, well dressed white kids in San Francisco spewing this same type of pablum onto the walls of mostly small businesses and homes and public transit. Trustafundians we call them. How do they really rebel? By not talking to their parents except when they need cash to buy pot or meth. Or post bail.

Graffiti: the most impotent for of rebellion.

myprivatetokyo (62 months ago | reply)

True true.

Now all of you get back to work! (*crack of whip)

aneeley212 (62 months ago | reply)

yes, we are free. but, i think the purpose of this message is to get people to realize that society can imprison our freedom of thought. he's talking about freedom of consciousness--not action.

xMetalDetectorx (62 months ago | reply)

MANce is the MAN

bigelectricmouse (62 months ago | reply)

... right up until you need the assistance of the State.

zionsnightcrawlr (62 months ago | reply)

nice remark Mance, but i think we miss the point here in that most people (almost saying All) dont live their lives to the utmost. its just repetition.

So, lets try more than just 2 perspectives here.

ChrisGeee (62 months ago | reply)

Let's just say you're young and foolish and you don't really want a home in the suburbs, you don't want a 60" plasma, you don't want a Volvo, and your idea of 'making a difference' isn't flipping real estate. Gawd help ya.

The almighty buck guides almost everything the developed world's youth are directed to pursue. 'Reality' tells you that your life *should* turn into an episode of Survivor, clawing, lying and conniving your way to a larger net worth.

Save whales? Protect nature? Play your guitar? Read to old ladies? Walk dogs? Write poetry? Far from noble pursuits.

Apart from death, there are no inevitabilities.

Rage against the machine. Rock the boat.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

(far, FAR too many cute little quotes in here) :)

Mutiny32 (62 months ago | reply)

So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers, all false. The truth is that I'm a bad person, but that's going to change, I'm going to change. This is the last of this sort of thing. I'm cleaning up and I'm moving on, going straight and choosing life. I'm looking forward to it already. I'm going to be just like you: the job, the family, the fucking big television, the washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electrical tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisurewear, luggage, three-piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption, clearing the gutters, getting by, looking ahead, to the day you die.

-Trainspotting

Er, that's what it reminds me of. Love this picture though.

Romat (62 months ago | reply)

Everyone makes fun of the "consumer life" but no one has a better idea. "Rage against the machine?" who cares. Just don't do it in my neighborhood. "Live life to the utmost?" Just how does one do that? Even high-risk stuff gets tiresome after awhile.

hatekillpuke (62 months ago | reply)

Sounds like a bunch of uptight old fuckers who're bitter because this described them too well. I kid, I kid!

Some of us are young and angry, and don't want what that sort of life (not yet, anyway). At least this person did something that might make people think, some kids would just smash your windows or set shit on fire.

chinggybaby (62 months ago | reply)

aneeley212 says:

yes, we are free. but, i think the purpose of this message is to get people to realize that society can imprison our freedom of thought. he's talking about freedom of consciousness--not action.

--------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
agreed... i think that it's pointing out how everything is normalized in society, with the existing belief system and values having moved into the realm of "common sense"... personally i think it's the media that perpetuates this as it is through media that such ways of life are perpetuated. but then again, theres a limit as to how much we can question notions of freedom since there has got to be some kinda social order.

danbri (62 months ago | reply)

Hi Paul, spotted you on Reddit when I mouseovered this:

I Am Free. [pic] [pics] (flickr.com)
123 points posted 9 hours ago by ARS_ 178 comments

Nice pic but I don't care much for the sentiment. It's cartoon thinking that divides the world into supposedly-mindless-drones and 'snapped out of the matrix' counterculturalists.I'm with the 'Rebel Sell' book on this - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rebel_Sell - too much of this style of thinking is as fashion-driven and capitalistic as it comes. Just dressed up in a different style.

www.thismagazine.ca/issues/2002/11/rebelsell. php

"""What we see in films like American Beauty and Fight Club is not actually a critique of consumerism; it’s merely a restatement of the “critique of mass society” that has been around since the 1950s. The two are not the same. In fact, the critique of mass society has been one of the most powerful forces driving consumerism for more than 40 years. """

(I'd disagree re Fight Club being same film as American Beauty; I found it smarter but maybe I'm reading too much between the lines...)

The scribbles also owe something to en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Trainspotting#Renton

"""Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life . . . But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who need reasons when you've got heroin?"""

ize_angel14 (62 months ago | reply)

yeah! i am free..

Pengster (62 months ago | reply)

Nice one there - we are so overmeta.

livingman13 (62 months ago | reply)

i think it is THE tragedy o our times that that is an idealistic lifestyle
it isunfathomable that we are all subject to such a life ideal and anyone who doesn't follow these rules or don't fit into our tight little circles operating in suburban white middle class. we pretend that nothing else happens and we are happy, fulfilled when living a lifestyle where we control as much as possible isnt living, it is being safe and until we all learn once again what it is to let go and actually go for it,not worry about what people will think, just find their passion and go for it

rushmc (62 months ago | reply)

Mance doesn't aim very high...

kamylyon (62 months ago | reply)

"Wake up, watch the sun rise, milk the cow(s) gather the eggs, weed the garden. I am free!"

David Leo Veksler (62 months ago | reply)

"There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist." - Ayn Rand

quadaudio (62 months ago | reply)

The elite's government FEARS you!!!!!!

Their fear is manifested in the laws they pass. Here is a law banning what MANY of the Founders wrote is a RIGHT of citizens when a government no longer represents them:

Section 2385. Advocating overthrow of Government

Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or
teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of
overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or
the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession
thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by
force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any
such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any
such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates,
sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed
matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity,
desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any
government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts
to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society,
group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the
overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or
violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any
such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes
thereof -
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by
the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five
years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in
this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned
not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for
employment by the United States or any department or agency
thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms ''organizes'' and
''organize'', with respect to any society, group, or assembly of
persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new
units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes,
and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.

The federal government is allowing MILLIONS of illegals to invade our country who are causing immense economic harm to America's working poor. Corporate America is becoming increasingly more powerful and influential. Yet, according to the government of for and by the elites YOU, a citizen, have to accept whatever the government does with NO recourse other than voting...... and there is sufficient proof that shows to me voting is worthless since the entrenched power structure ensures that the emplaced elite class can not be removed.

Several Founders specifically wrote of the people's right to abolish a government when it no longer represents them.

We are forced to live under an elite's TYRANNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hyramhank (62 months ago | reply)

i think quadaudio missed the part where it says "by force or violence". there are ways of going about overthrowing a government without the expressed use of force or violence, but that would require 300million or so people becoming united as one voice and peacefully redressing our grievances. Not just inder one voice that leads us into a predictable chaotic riot of ignorant behavior. and since we all know, as well as our government knows, that will never happen... they will continue to control us as they please.

Murple's Nemesis (62 months ago | reply)

The best example of "freeedom" within the context of the above
is a middle aged homeless man with 20 bucks in his pocket.

bonez318ti (62 months ago | reply)

or..
"be different" and get a macbook or ipod.... along with everyone else.

the act of nonconformity is conformity in itself..

tonytortorici.net (62 months ago | reply)

That actually doesn't sound to bad, do you know how much effort it is to make a change?

MaikoCarlo (62 months ago | reply)

I completely agree with Mance's perspective.

Many people would sacrifice anything to have our version of a "normal" life.

recruz02 (62 months ago | reply)

Fulfill a dream. It is clear that the graffiti artist has no goals. Or if the artist does have goals, he is trapped in the life he lives unable to figure out how to get himself out of his "rat race". Hopefully the artist had the goal of "putting graffiti on a wall" because he certainly accomplished that.

bigbenorr11 (62 months ago | reply)

Freedom is not something most people are born with. like most other things in life, freedom must be earned, not only as a society but also as individuals. This is why I work, I am willingly giving up my freedom for a certain amount of time in order to achieve a greater amount of freedom later. Or so I tell myself.

Also @HeroicLife
You mean people who read Ayn Rand?

Tyler Gavett (old account) (62 months ago | reply)

@ mance

just because someone else has it worse doesn't make it right.

i could go off into a giant libertarian rant here, but ill spare everyone the bore. people just like restriction.

Hugh Wyeth (62 months ago | reply)

Wow man, that's like, totally deep.

"Graffiti on public walls, get the taxpayer to remove it, don't get a job, get the taxpayer to pay for you,
repeat after me: i'm "free" "

holotone (62 months ago | reply)

@Mance: You're confusing "freedom" with "security" - The two are not at all related.

City Eyes (62 months ago | reply)

I don't think a lot of people are getting this. It's not an attack on the idea that we have freedom in America, it's an attack on the methods in which the people that live here USE that freedom. Everyone is free to do what they want and make their own way, yet most people take the exact. same. path.

At least that's how I took it.

Tyrannosaurus Cal (62 months ago | reply)

What's freedom?

Arcex (62 months ago | reply)

No offense Mance, but the list you made? With the exception of the last item, that's pretty much where we are in the States right now. Obviously there are people who have it worse, and even now I'm sure there are plenty who would love to be where we are right now, that doesn't make what the people in charge are doing to this country OK.

Mance (62 months ago | reply)

Wow Paul - a lot of new friends dropped by!
No where did I say what my aim was. Or that these things are the limit of our aspirations. My critique was, as
put it - comparing our relative security with the lack of it offered in less stable regimes and economies. I believe Maslow had it right when he suggested that Self-actualisation (which requires freedom?) is one of the last high order needs that come only when we have security and shelter.
Doesn't make what right? The statements in the photo to me suggest conformity, not repression. Of course we should rage against unjust laws, illegal wars and vacuous consumption, but don't forget the freedoms/security our inadequate society does offer us. And yes - be different. Why not!

Mance (62 months ago | reply)

Can't speak for the US of A - (this photo was taken in the 51st State - UK)

ArghMonkey (62 months ago | reply)

Freedom is a myth ....

Its the same reason we look at security cameras and ask "Why is that camera there?" and get the same reply "For freedom" ...

The human race wont last much longer, good riddance.

merflickr (62 months ago | reply)

The graffiti was an intelligent remark about the conscience of the average life of most people's lives, who definitely well defined as stuck and un-'free' as in the statement.

A straight forward comparison to the totally opposite & worst side of the scenario, using the least intelligent form of cynics, the irony factor i.e 'get a job' as opposed to 'wait in line for jobs' is just silly.

For most people who filters opinion such as this one and digested only the meaningful part of it, instead of blasting a straight-forward critique as an act of supposedly intelligence, i'd like to just personally think that he moderately meant i.e 'get a job you love'.

Graffiti makes people read & think -legal or not.

peter.chang (62 months ago | reply)

This follows the same theme as Fight Club:

"God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact."

sfacets (62 months ago | reply)

What strikes me as odd is the 'artist' who is so obviously against consumerism still lives in the city. Free?

I.voice.my.opinion (62 months ago | reply)

I just finished an assignment and then beat off to some porn. I am free!

Until no one owns anything and we are on this land (earth) with what god gave us and allowed to do whatever we want to do we are not free.