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Steed
Location: Edmonton/Seoul Gender: Male Total Likes: 2666 likes
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Race Traitor
| | | | Dealing with taggers: advice needed < on 1/20/2017 3:49 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | This might all sound quaint to most of you. In Korea there have been many taggers and graffiti artists but not many urban explorers, but almost all of this has been foreigners passing through the country inflicting conflicting moral codes. I have made enemies with some taggers, and friends with others who Ive gone exploring with (under the understanding they dont fucking tag or evwn bring any f those tools with them). Once an east European visitor contacted me asking for subway tunnels; I quickly found out he was a tagger and he was later arrested and left the country after a short detainment. There has been a disturbing number of foreign taggers coming here to tag subway cars,which is ridiculous because they will be cleaned off before anyone sees. But I face more profiling as people suspect I am going to places to tag them. But now there are kids, what we would call Instagram explorers, who are locals here. They are clearly influenced by all the crazy Russian videos as well as other things including graffiti. One kid has posted videos, one in which they bumrush a subway tunnel and tag the inside, another where they infiltrate a construction crane and he writes REVOLUTION on a wall. I will find and share them tomorrow. There are two working together, both young,both inevitably growing on social media, and both have tried to contact me. I made it clear I could not have contact with them: as a foreigner, I face a higher standard when it comes to property crimes or political activism. If they die or are arrested and have messages in their phone from me, I will be scapegoated: this has happened in Korea many times. Some of my friends/collaborators have met with them despite me expressing my disapproval. They describe both of them as respectful (being young of course). These kids are definitely bound for either a body bag, a jail cell, or online fame. It has even been suggested I taken them under my wing but in my opinion they have already formed their own way of doing things. One is more extreme with the other,but the second will likely share any location with the first so I cant collaborate with either of them. And it is making me trust my friends less. Plus the rest of my local network will certainly disapprove of further cooperation with them. Hoping that by posting here, I can get feedback that helps me figure out a way forward.
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| Dee Ashley
Location: DFW, Texas Gender: Female Total Likes: 1378 likes
Write something and wait expectantly.
| | | | Re: Dealing with taggers: advice needed < Reply # 5 on 1/20/2017 10:39 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | I've actually been curious for a while now, so this seems like a good time to ask... Are you Korean or a Korean resident there? Your ease of use of the English language always led me to believe you had moved there later in life, but I also know people (Mexico in particular) who have never left their country and speak/write better English than I do! Since you touched on the issue of nationality, I'm guessing that you are not a Korean citizen. I've lived in a foreign country as a guest on a visa before, and their hospitality was conditional on my behavior there. I think this is a sort of unspoken law in almost any country in the world. As far as the taggers, I would do my best to avoid their association, if for no other reason than it sounds like the Korean government follows a sort of "guilt by association," rule. You certainly wouldn't want to be tagged (sorry - no pun intended) as an accomplice in any of these kid's misadventures. I've had a couple run-ins with local taggers and I've been lucky. All of my experiences with them have been positive, but once I left that location, I leave any association with them behind. I've had a few of them ask for locations and I've never shared anything sensitive - even a little bit. Like I said, all of the taggers I've met have been friendly, polite, even helpful, but I don't really know them and I definitely don't know who their friends are. Just because they are friendly doesn't mean their associates share their hospitable attitude. It sounds like on some level you know the answer to your own question. Keep a healthy distance. They'll get the message without you even having to do or say anything to them. If they don't, then that is a different issue altogether that would need to be addressed, but I suspect they will just lose interest in you and go on with their exploits with or without your company. What does your gut tell you about the issue? Over the years I've learned to listen to my gut instinct. I almost always regret it if I ignore what my gut is telling me to do! Keep us posted and good luck. Hopefully, this or someone else's post will help you in deciding how to proceed...
| I wandered till the stars went dim. |
| Steed
Location: Edmonton/Seoul Gender: Male Total Likes: 2666 likes
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Race Traitor
| | | | Re: Dealing with taggers: advice needed < Reply # 7 on 1/22/2017 7:22 AM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Thanks for the advice. I'm not so much worried about the justice system regularly, as I am public perceptions going forward. Society here tends to be quite reactionary against anything foreign-seeming, so if a couple dumb Korean kids got in trouble, people would check their phones and social media, and if they saw a white guy giving them advice, that person would be singled out. You see it all the time: take a look at this article, about a Canadian busted for weed, then you get to the end and it mentions 42 people were busted, but 41 weren't newsworthy because they were locals. That's exactly what I'm afraid of happening. FYI, I am as white as possible: in the last Canadian election I was what the Conservatives called "old-stock Canadian." Because I'm an outsider, even though I've been exploring here since 2005, it is entirely possible some new locals could spring up and say they're more legit than me. The main tagger's YouTube channel is apparently "Real Korean." Also, here are URLs to the two most problematic videos. This one, about a minute in, he tags the subway tunnel. The guy making the video is the main one I am concerned with; his accomplice I am pretty certain is the other one people are now trying to get me to meet. https://www.facebook.com/ParkSeongHyun2/videos/vb.100005701740971/537606463106074 In the second, around the 25-second mark while infiltrating an active construction site, he scrolls "REVOLUTION" on a wall. This comes after he tried to make contact with me and I told him I don't associate with taggers. https://youtu.be/U4B5nfPHKzQ Several months ago, I told him: Thanks for the friend request, but I really can't associate with taggers, especially as a foreigner. As an urban explorer I have to respect the places I visit, and I can't help anyone who would harm them.
| He replied with a thumbs-up and a "Good" and we never exchanged any other words. I don't think he understood me. Another friend was annoyed he was calling what he does parkour, and got him to stop using parkour hashtags. I think mulletcat is exactly right, that he could want my respect, or he could just focus on the growing number of admirers who don't see any problem with what he's doing. He has no real motivation to listen to me about what he shouldn't do and what urban exploration is, so I'd rather just block him out as well as any of his collaborators.
[last edit 1/22/2017 7:27 AM by Steed - edited 2 times]
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| blackhawk This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: Mission Control Total Likes: 3996 likes
UER newbie
| | | | Re: Dealing with taggers: advice needed < Reply # 10 on 1/22/2017 6:11 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Once I ran into the serial tagger the "Phantom" at Pennhurst. We chatted amicably for a while. He was brazen, intelligent, organized, and interesting. Hiding in plain sight. However he expressed no interest to swap text etc, nor did I. He understood the fine line between being friendly and privacy. Anything that went beyond this chance encounter would have been awkward and probably would have had negative consequences. A better understanding of him made his numerous tags a bit less disagreeable to me. Good as it gets. Unfortunately he was leaving the steam plant as I was getting ready to shoot it
| Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in. |
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