Prince Charming, who is he, I want a Prince Albert!

Its a perception though. Not wrong or right but a perception. Guy on the street asking for spare change with an mp3 player, a dog, a bike, some piercings and tattoos smelling of booze. Come on. You don't think to yourself, "Dude, sell some of that shit, eat the dog and get some alcohol treatment, then come see me."

I do. But the guy selling those newspapers meant to help the homeless have a job and some references, he could be tatted to the hilt. Those fuckers have to be drug tested and stay off of the hootch. Them? I give them a $20 for their $2 paper because of the effort involved in what they are trying to accomplish.

 

I have 4 tattoos (chest and upper arms), 00 gauged ears (relatively small, but big enough to fit a cigarette through the hole in my earings) and I work in a professional setting. I have never once heard anything bad or even remotely derogatory about my ears, which is kind of a surprise, although I do look rather clean cut minus the holes in my ears.

I don't think anybody is surprised that people base first impressions on outward appearance, we can't change that. Our brains use stereotypes to try gain information on what type of person you will be. What I am surprised about is the VERY strong emotional response by the opposition to the tattooed population.

The fact of the matter is that tattoos are becoming more socially acceptable with every soccer mom and upper middle class couple getting their kids face turned into an (ugly) tattoo by Kat Von D. I just don't understand how seeing a young professional 20-something with a nice sleeve (not my style, but to each their own) elicits such a reaction. If you work in an industry where body art is accepted or you get the work done in areas that can be covered up (90% of your body) then go for it, whatever floats your boat.

 

I associate tats with the following: Hipsters, bikers, men in the armed forces, fraternity members, and mechanics.

It can, technically, be argued that all of the above are negative drains on society. You can always find someone who has had a negative experience with a certain sector of the population and is ready to extrapolate their bad experience(s) and apply it to the rest of that sector. This is, in a nutshell, how bigotry and prejudice happen. So who gets awarded with "Most Correct Stereotyping"? I think we both make good points, yes? Answer: Neither of us. We're both wrong. Tattoos come in all shapes, all sizes, all colors...and they come on all sorts of people.

Frebis, please don't think I'm picking on you. I judged someone for a tattoo recently--my mechanic has a lady spreading her legs and playing with herself on his forearm. It was......detailed, and I don't want to see it again the next time I go in to have my oil changed. I judged him because he made me feel uncomfortable, and so I kind of get where you're coming from. But still...there are better ways of expressing your distate. Stammering and looking at the floor worked pretty well for me, so maybe you could give that a shot.

 

So are we saying it's ok to judge somebody based on the type of tattoo they have? If I had seen somebody with such a tattoo in public, I probably would have thought, "I bet that guy is a mechanic." Does that make me anymore of a dick?

 

A shitshow? That's your opinion. Here is mine: People stated their opinions and your "brilliant" bottom line consensus was arrived at several posts ago and is just restated here.

 

Since I can't see everybody on this board's tattoos, piercings, etc. I just judge you all by your avatar.

 

Sort of along those lines, what is the nature of judgment anyway?

Is it an objectively definable defense mechanism?

Or is it a subjectively definable state of hypocrisy and bigotry?

Or something else?

 

Would you wear that to a job interview? Would you wear it to a wedding? A funeral? The difference here is that your chosen style of comfort is not a permanent decision, and even if I didn't like your style, I'd at least give you the benefit of the doubt that you wouldn't wear that to a black tie affair. Somebody who gets a tattoo on their face or hands or neck is implicitly telling me that they don't give a fuck or that they made a bad decision.

And it works both ways. I work in the healthcare industry, and even thought I wear a suit and tie to work every day (at the corporate office), I NEVER wear a coat/tie when I'm in one of our hospitals or rehab facilities. It makes our patients feel uncomfortable - like I'm an auditor, or I'm doing a survey, or something official. Our goal is to make our patients feel as comfortable as possible around ANY of our employees. That means I dress down and let them know that I want to be there, not that I have to. If you had a tattoo of a dragon on your neck, I probably wouldn't feel comfortable putting you in front of one of our patients.

Then again, it wouldn't be fair for me to assume that everybody with a massive tattoo on their face necessarily wanted to work at a corporation, or in a healthcare facility, or at a school, etc. But at least I've given myself the option to do so.

 

I tend to be drawn to people who have nice tattoos and piercings. I think subconsciously, I am a little jealous because they did to themselves what I never had the courage to do. I've always wanted a tattoo but I never knew what I wanted and I refuse to get one until I am absolutely sure. I will not get ink on impulse. Some of the most intelligent people I have met had incredible body art and I refuse to judge them on that appearance alone.

I also happen to find women with piercings and tattoos to be incredibly hot. Who would throw these girls out of bed?

 

I can't believe you would make such an assumption. That's just fucking wrong, dude. In trailer parks across America, tattoos are traded to neigboring trailer dwellers for goods and services such as helping to drop a 572 into the Impala, a 6 pack of beer, smokes, or dates with the neighbor's 14 year old pregnant daughter.

Get your fucking facts straight before you judge people.

 

I cant believe you think everyone that works in a trailer park is white trash. There are plenty of black people too. And they aren't all poor. A lot of them live there because they had a subprime mortgage on a nice house, and later learned they could afford it making only 14k a year at the box factory.

Whats next, are you going to judge section 8 housing because it isnt up to code?!?

 

I knew it. I knew your were going to go there. Just because S-8 housing is built by lazy union members doesn't mean it isn't structurally sound. How dare you, sir!

 

How can we judge people based on their actions? Is that your retarded question? What other way IS there to judge someone? Or should we not "judge" anyone at all, and consider every human being exactly equal to one another?

Most people with tattoos and piercings have been calm and rational in their responses in this topic, but a few pro-body mod people (including a few who say they have done nothing themselves) seem angry and indignant at the shocking revelation that people judge them for the way they present themselves to the world.

Do what you want, but realize everything has consequences.

 

Wait a minute... it's because I sucked all those dicks that people call me a faggot? Christ, this is depressing. And enlightening.

 

This whole thread is one big masturbation session of moral elitism.

"Judging is wrong, how could you do it? I do it sometimes, but not as much as you! You don't understand my sub-culture! Wah, wah, wah."

"I understand judging is wrong, but sometimes stereotypes are true! Your sub-culture is strange and frightening! My sub-culture, on the other hand, is as American as apple pie! Wah, wah, wah."

Yeah, yeah... we're all fucking oppressed. It's called dealing with humans. The dick sucking remark was apt.

 

It's certainly true that every class or sub-culture, or whatever tag you want to assign to a group of people, has a few folks that perpetuate the negative image and stereotypes. This is hardly up for debate. However, I'd like to point out that it tends to seem worse than it is because the douchey-ist of the douchebags tend to get a bit more exposure than the stand-up guys and gals of the same group. I mean, everyone seems to love a scandal as opposed to a story of courage and bravery, right? I figure that this is part of the reason why humans, as a whole, can't just get over the idea of race, religion, and right here in this very forum, body modification. You see the worst because that's usually all you're seeing.

Just food for thought.

 

Indeed, it is basic selection bias. You have no reason to notice the silent and tasteful majority, that shit's boring.