Nihilism rearing its head being stood with in solidarity over at South Sound indymedia:

On the evening of October 6th, we disabled four Olympian delivery vans by slashing their tires. The Olympian newspaper is responsible for many crimes. We will not be able to list all of them here, but we will try.

They have four reasons why it was done. And, comment over there. [Comments activated: seems there's more to discuss -- Rick]

Hays Ave NW, Olympia WA

Huh:

To the businessmen who rot behind desks at the Wells Fargo Financial office in Olympia,

Last night we attacked your storefront and spray painted a letter of hatred on your wall as an assault on your participation in the prison-industrial complex. The company you work for is a major stockholder in the GEO Group, owners of private concentration camps around the globe, including a rather infamous one in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The GEO Group also owns the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Northwest Detention Center, located in Tacoma, WA, an institution which imprisons hundreds of human beings each year for indefinite periods of time, rips families apart, and ruins lives. This cannot continue.

I'm relatively new to town and have seen a good deal of graffiti and heard and read alot about the different approaches locals take on that issue.

So, my question is, what is the right response in that situation:

• Should I take offense, be angry that someone smeared stuff on my window, that I now need to clean-up?

• Is it art and I should feel honored that someone choose my store window for their self-expression?

What I did learn is that being angry and upset is usally seen as a lack of character and open-mindedness, since the place I pour my heart and money into supposally doesn't belong to me but to the people with markers and spray-cans.

So, enlighten me, invite me into your worldview. Perhaps I can learn something or even better, perhaps I could get to know the person responsible for it, so I could buy him a cup of coffee.

mathias

einmaleins

Commentary:

Citizens of Olympia woke up this morning to find that our state captiol building has been vandalized. Some one or some group of vandals spray painted anti-war slogans and the symbol for anarchists on some pillars.

With a typically callous disregard for our state, and the people who live here, they chose to vandalize public property to try to get a message across. The message comes after the milestone of four thousand U.S. casualties in the War On Terror began. A slightly longer news story can be found here.