NO!

Copyright for text and photos: Jan Krcmar 2008
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Don't get me wrong. This is not a simplified, ignorant European view on the restrictions to freedom in US society. It is not another prejudice shout of "why do you call yourself the land of the free when you are not allowed to do anything?".
This is merely a little photographic journey into language and how it enters our every day life without us knowing.



On the last day of our last trip to NY, I was walking around the East Village and I suddenly noticed the amount of notices and signs reading "no parking" "no eating" "post no bills", etc. and realised, how often the word NO features in American cities.



It is almost an integral part of everyday life, which people probably do not notice and probably ignore anyway. Post no bills does not mean that a construction company would really obstruct to posters on their wooden fences, it is just that they have to put it up to be safe from lawsuits.



When I was in Glacier Park Montana two years ago, I asked a ranger how effective all the guidelines were, that are meant to keep tourists from being eaten by bears. One had to learn a whole set of rules in order to feel safe, but when asked, the ranger admitted, that all the sings on the camping sites, all the videos played to tourists entering the park and all the other tipps and tricks on how to protect yourself from a bear were pretty much useless. "This is bear country, if a bear wants to kill and eat you, it will. It's a bear."



The "no" signs got me thinking about other cultures, in which the "no" is as present as in the US, only not visually. In the Czech republic (when it comes to services) it is present in the language of vendors or vendors. "You cannot have this food with this menu, you cannot have that coffee with this type of drink, you can't, you can't." In other cultures, the "no" is included in a set of rules of behaviour. "You don't do that in public, you don't speak about this during dinner, etc.".



Just a thought illustrated through photographs.



And, as the last item for today, a little bonus from what will probably be my next series: