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NiMexicatl wrote:
The comments in this thread...

Being of indigenous heritages (both what most of you would consider Native America as well as Mexican which in reality is more similar than most of you will care to understand) tattoos and piercings have for thousands of years been very significant traditions. Traditions that are not foreign to the place where you all live mind you. This blanket judgmentalism is idiotic and insulting. But it's no different than the general disregard I encounter almost daily from the unappreciative narrowminded. It's sad. It's enraging. But i doubt many of you will care. It has no place among those who claim to be good, decent people who are misunderstood and targeted by liberals. Just another tally in the "maybe I should just leave this forum" column.

You'll note that I deliberately said I do NOT judge. I also said that, since others do, and since that may affect your employment, which can affect your income, and financial security, etc., are you willing to suffer the consequences in order to keep the tats and piercings? If you're willing, then I salute you for having the consistency to be true to your standards. If you're not willing to suffer those consequences and are willing to undo whatever can be undone, then I also salute you for being willing to set aside some things that are important to you, in order to have other things which are important to you. Either way, I salute you. Where I won't salute you is if you are both unwilling to accept the consequences, AND unwilling to take the steps to rectify the situation. Nobody likes a complainer who won't take action to improve his situation.

The decision to tat or not, or to pierce or not, is nobody's business really besides the person making that decision. Like I said earlier, it's not for me, but I have plenty of friends, particularly friends who have put in military service during the past 15 years of war, who all have a lot of tattoos......like WAAAAAAAAYYYYY more tattoos than people used to get when I was a kid.

Back then, if a guy had a "globe and anchor" on his upper arm, or maybe his girlfriend's name or something, that was a guy who was courting a little bit of an outlaw image. I had nothing against it........I was even a little envious at the time. But I was just a kid, and I was scared to death to come home with a tattoo and face my dad - a USMC combat veteran - who would have not received it very well. As time went by, I forgot about wanting a tattoo, and the desire for one never came back. I'm glad, because I've gone through several weight gain/loss cycles over the years, and by now, any old tattoos would look like dishrags. And I'm starting to get old people's crinkly skin, so it's not a good canvas anymore for the artist's work.

Now, all of that said, just like any of the other choices we can make in life about our personal appearances, whether or not it is fair, these choices are not without consequences. But some of those choices are reversible simply by changing clothes or shaving. For instance, I have a pretty long and bushy beard. Now that I am retired and on a more or less fixed income, it's possible that I might have to seek a job some day to supplement that income. I'm fairly certain that - unless I was being hired to play Santa, or an old trapper or gold miner - most prospective employers would probably want me to at least trim my beard way back, if not shave it off entirely, before they would hire me into a position which faces the public. But at least I have the option of shaving it all off if I want the job badly enough.

Most body and limb tattoos can be covered by clothing. But some people have tribal-type facial tattoos, or old prison tattoos on their necks above the collar line, or different kinds of bizarre facial piercings which are hard to ignore.......stuff like lip/nose/eyebrow/tongue piercings that are a lot more obvious to the observer than say a simple stud in an earlobe kind of thing. You can't shave off a facial or neck tattoo. What happens when an employer who provides products or services to a fairly conservative-minded market won't hire you because you have old gang tattoos around your neck, or decorative tribal tattoos on your face? If you have those kinds of things, will you accept the consequences of your decision to get those tatts, and not complain about it.......since you did it to yourself?

If it happens enough, will you get them removed (if you can), or will you content yourself to not be very employable in certain industries?

ALL actions have consequences, independent of any moral judgement about those actions.

LAYGO wrote:

Ryan wrote:Judgmental much...

I've got pierced ears and tattoos. Lots of them. And I OC all the time. I bet that drives some of y'all batty huh?
I'm glad times have changed. Some of y'all just sound bitter. Lighten up. Let people live their lives and be happy.

To quote some of these fellas . . .

Hey, I truly don't care what y'all do with y'all's bodies. If you can afford it, and that's what floats your boat, then go head on, brother. It just holds no charms for me.

But I will say this...... I know that tattoos can be very expensive. I don't know what it costs to get a piercing, but if you get enough of them, it has to add up......and then there's the cost of the metal bits that will fill the piercings. Now, I don't really care if an otherwise self-sufficient person wants to ink and pierce his/her body. But if you're on the dole, you can't afford that stuff. If I'm ever made king of the world, I'm going to deduct the cost of tattoos and piercings from the aid checks, because I don't think the taxpayer ought to foot the bill for those things.......and too often, that's the case.

I'm not saying YOU guys are on the dole, but I have seen a LOT of welfare queens and gangbangers sporting tattoos that I doubt were paid for by honest jobs.

Abraham wrote:TAM,

I had to take a second look as "moob Jewelry" holds no interest for me.

The only puncturing/metal stuck through the hole I find normal is ear rings on girls.

The rest of humanity that puncture themselves wily nily, stick some metal in the new hole, just make me grimace with disgust.

Sadly, I think most who participate in this practice of "bits of metal gone wild" are trying hard to be non-conformist, except when they get together.

Then, the non-conformist is the one with no metal pieces sticking out here and there...what a weirdo.

Hey, you're preaching to a guy who has no tats or piercings, has stayed that way for 63 years*, and intends to die that way.

There's always an *...... Here's mine.....

When I was 18, I was enamored if a certain young lass of what you might call "free spirit". I would have done almost anything to get to know her in a more carnal way, and in my case, letting her pierce my ear was the price of entry. Luckily for me, about a week later, my father.....a man who never griped about my long hair or clothing choices at the time.....saw it for the first time and immediately asked me a question. He said, "Tell me son, do you like living here rent free?" To which, I replied in the affirmative. He then said, "take it out now and let it heal closed, and don't ever let me see that thing in your ear again". He was safe in being that specific as to anatomy, because there isn't enough beer in the world to entice me into piercing any other part of me.

(......EDITED TO CORRECT TWO TYPOS..... TAM)

mojo84 wrote:I remember this from when we discussed it back when it happened.

http://www.texaschlforum.com/viewtopic. ... gun+tattoo

Reading the previous thread was an interesting read.

You know, when I posted this I had a sneaking suspicion that it might have been previously posted, but I couldn't find it, so......

What I find remarkable, is that nobody noticed his jewelry.......

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/guys-gun- ... -arrested/

THIS GUY’S GUN TATTOO ALMOST GOT HIM ARRESTED

Michael Smith was woken up by a tree removal service on his property. They called the police because they thought he had a gun, and he sort of did.

A shirtless Maine man emerged from his house after being woken up by a tree removal company that was on his property. He spoke his peace and soon went back to sleep. That is, until Maine State Police arrived at his doorstep.

Wielding assault rifles in various sniper positions in the driveway, the Maine State Police were called after the workers of the tree company thought they saw Michael Smith with a gun. What they really saw was his tattoo: a handgun conveniently on his body in a carry position.

I leave the commentary to y'all..........