It’s no secret that I have tattoos. Some you can see, some you can’t. No big deal. Sadly, according to some, it is a big deal. Not in the way you’d expect though. It’s not because it affects my job or it causes prejudice. This isn’t a case of people telling me not to get tattooed – let’s face it, it’s a bit late for that. No, this is a case of people deciding how I get tattooed.
I recently wrote a post about how some people can ruin your day with a single comment. The internet is full of them. Most of the time you shrug it off and ignore them but sometimes what’s said can upset you. Recently, something was said that angered me more than anything.
After posting a photo on Instagram, I received some comments from 2 guys which really pissed me off. I actually deleted their comments and blocked them straight away…but I kind of wish I didn’t now, so I could share it on here. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll just refer to them as Beavis and Butthead. According to their profiles and photos, both are heavily tattooed and both like to live at the gym. First up, here’s the photo I uploaded:
Now Beavis came across my photo and decided to comment. Not to me though. No, this genius decided to tag his friend, Butthead, saying “check this retard, neck blasted but no leg tattoos”. His partner in social media crime replied with “stupid people do stupid things” before they continued to talk to each other. On my photo. Not only were they making negative and arrogant comments about me, they were doing so on my post…where I can see. The social media equivalent of talking about somebody when they’re in the same room. There were actually 3 things that annoyed me about what they did. That was 1 of them. Next up was the use of the term “retard”. Not very nice really, is it? Who, in this day and age, uses such a pejorative term when referring to somebody? Oh wait, they do. Clearly they didn’t get the memo about that.
The 3rd, and most important, thing that annoyed me was that they were judging me because I had no leg tattoos yet I had my necked “blasted” – which for those who aren’t as cool as Beavis and Butthead, is slang for “tattooed”. According to them, I was a “retard” because I had my neck tattooed before having my legs tattooed. I won’t lie – when I initially read their comments, I did get a little excited, thinking that the 2 presidents of the Intergalactic Tattoo Approval Council had somehow discovered my photo. No such luck. Just these 2 Samaritans, who took it upon themselves to police the world after deciding you can only get your neck tattooed (or blasted, if you want to be street) after you have your legs done. Were they concerned that the ink to skin ratio may cause me to topple over? Were they worried that having my neck tattooed would affect my chances of getting a job in the future? If only they knew where I worked…
At work, we have a policy where we refuse to do visible tattoos (eg hands, neck or face) unless the customer is already heavily tattooed. We’re not talking 7 or 8 tattoos dotted about though. We’re talking full sleeves and a full front etc. Beavis and Butthead would have a valid point if I had no tattoos and went straight in for my neck (but not valid enough to use the term “retard”)…but I do have quite a lot of tattoos. Actually, there comes a point when it’s no longer about the number of tattoos but surface area. Just because you can’t see them in that particular photo, does it mean I’m a “retard” or got tattooed in the wrong order? Here are some points which Beavis and Butthead may have overlooked:
- When looking at somebody from the front, you can’t see their back.
- When looking at somebody from the front, you can’t see their side(s).
- When somebody is wearing clothes, you can’t see their skin (unless said clothing allows for it)
- When somebody appears to not follow the same “rules” as you, that doesn’t make them a “retard” – or anything else for that matter.
- When somebody isn’t harming or affecting you in any way, what the actual fuck has it got to do with you?!
I could have replied with something like “well your mom (or dad?!) didn’t seem to mind about my legs when I was knee deep in her” or even explaining the importance of not judging people based on what you see. But why should I? Would they ever stop to listen and understand? I’d like to think so (they could have been a bit too enthusiastic about seeing another tattoo and forgot to consider the bigger picture?) but then if they’re happy to throw the term “retard” around, I don’t think they’re the conscientious type. Am I making assumptions of them? I wouldn’t have thought so. What I’ve said and my knowledge of them is based on their actions and what they wrote – after all, choice of language can say a lot about someone. We can all agree that any assumptions would be fairly accurate.
The fact is, people like this exist. They say hurtful things in a hurtful manner, not stopping to think about what they don’t see. Much like how some people get annoyed when they see a driver parking in a disability bay, only to then get out of their car and walk away. Not everything is visible. What they did annoyed the hell out of me mainly because it could be really harmful to somebody else. Being fully tattooed themselves, they decided that qualified them to cast judgement on others. That’s not cool. No matter how much you use the term “blasted”. To be fair, at least they didn’t have an issue with me being transgender? Or maybe they never stopped to consider that too?! Haha.
Featured image: via Google
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