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Magnus/Lillen did make some very good points.  Modeling American railroad stations in the South during the Jim Crow era might include separate waiting rooms and coaches for passengers. This doesn't mean that a person modeling that era advocates such abhorrent and absurd practices. As well, many people have modeled fuel/oil spills at engine servicing facilities and other environmentally irresponsible things (empty 55-gallon drums in creeks, etc.). Does this mean that the modeler in question has no respect for the real world that we all share? Certainly not. Modeling graffiti certainly falls into the same category. Modeling a freight car that has been defaced with graffiti doesn't necessarily mean that a person supports such activity. Moreover, as was mentioned many times in this thread, freight car graffiti is rarely racist in nature, nor does it typically have anything to do with gangs and their turf tags; the difference is obvious. Most importantly, as Magnus pointed out, we all have to make choices on how to selectively compress the real world that we model, and there is a wide spectrum of choices to be made. A person could model the American South in the '30's and choose to exclude anything relating to the Jim Crow laws of the time. Or, an engine facility with oil spills could be modeled without including an illegal toxic waste dump elsewhere. And just as well, graffiti on freight cars can be modeled without including any hate-group graffiti on fences or gang tags on buildings.   Reducing our choices to all or nothing is illogical and fallacious, a false dilemma.
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