7th January 2008, 02:57 PM
In response to Austin Ainsworth -
Acts of vandalism can be viewed on two levels simultaneously, and both can be entirely valid.
The act itself may be an intrinsically 'bad thing'. How bad may vary from case to case, depending on what is vandalised, on how destructive and/or irreversible the damage is, and (in some circumstances) on the motivation for the act.
That does not stop the act from being sociologically/ historically/ archaeologically interesting. If I were an Egyptologist, for instance, I might be angered by ancient vandalism to hieroglyphs etc (both because it damaged something beautiful and because it destroyed useful evidence), but at the same time interested in why it happened.
The individual case that most infuriated me was the painting of graffiti on the megalithic temples at Mnajdra in Malta, but I can see why a sociologist might be as interested in the vandal's motivation as they were disgusted by the act. There could also be an interesting debate about whether the Maltese government's reaction (protect the site by putting large chain-link fences all around, very close to the stones) is actually a worse piece of vandalism in itself.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
Acts of vandalism can be viewed on two levels simultaneously, and both can be entirely valid.
The act itself may be an intrinsically 'bad thing'. How bad may vary from case to case, depending on what is vandalised, on how destructive and/or irreversible the damage is, and (in some circumstances) on the motivation for the act.
That does not stop the act from being sociologically/ historically/ archaeologically interesting. If I were an Egyptologist, for instance, I might be angered by ancient vandalism to hieroglyphs etc (both because it damaged something beautiful and because it destroyed useful evidence), but at the same time interested in why it happened.
The individual case that most infuriated me was the painting of graffiti on the megalithic temples at Mnajdra in Malta, but I can see why a sociologist might be as interested in the vandal's motivation as they were disgusted by the act. There could also be an interesting debate about whether the Maltese government's reaction (protect the site by putting large chain-link fences all around, very close to the stones) is actually a worse piece of vandalism in itself.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished