I have to admit that bad-tattoos is one of my guilty pleasures, however, I completely agree with you're saying here. I'm generally not too big on the unfair comments in that community, like calling people fat or ugly or remarks on their stretch-marks, etc. That said, bad_tattoos is all about making fun of people, I mean that is it's main purpose. It's sophomoric, stupid, and just plain old mean, but that is it's purpose. The community has to be taken with a grain of salt
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I understand where your coming from but that was not the point of that thread on bad_tattoos. The point was to mock her out and put her down because they didn't personally like what she had done. It was not playful teasing it was saying it was disgusting and scary and completely different from some funny commentary on how a tattoo is poorly executed
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I'm totally with you there, that thread (and most others)went way out of hand and the whole community often times absolutely reeks with comments like "retard" and "fag", "or "ewww! that girl has armpit hair gross!" and I really can't stand that. I also don't like the idea of posting someone's face without their permission. As I said, their are a lot of extremely nasty things about that community that really shine a light on the problems with our culture. But unfortunately for me (and probably for many others) it's like rubber-necking a car wreck, or eating too much candy, or watching crappy tv. It's like indulging in something you know is terribly unhealthy and goes against everything you stand for. It's very bad, and it proves how weak some of us can be. I go in there knowing that sometimes that is all I'm gonna see, and I wish it didn't exist, but it does. To be honest, I actually have no idea why I'm defending it. I guess I wish it were more like an MC battle, you know?
Its my personal worldview that I try as absolutely hard as I can to not partake in stuff like that and try to work against it because unlike eating candy or watching infomercials, mocking people out is something that can really hurt other people. I guess I am extreme in this in that I really truly try to not behave this way, not in real life, not online. I am not a "kidder" nor have I ever been one. I have never been a person to put others down, when I was young I was the one that everyone else put down, and I'm not one of these pretty, rich kids whining that they were the geek but they were really actually very popular, I WAS that geek, I was the loser, the weirdo, the freak
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I agree with your worldview, and I too try to live my life in way that reflects my beliefs and experiences. And I know exactly what kind of hypocracy you're talking about. I am an extremely sensitive person and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I have been judged in my life too, in really hurtful ways. But I myself am a kidder, and I like funny things, and I will, on occasion, laugh about someone, or put somebody down if they are doing something that i disagree with. But for the most part I respect people. For example, I laugh at jokes about president bush. I also laugh at jokes that make fun of people like me when the jokes are made by people who ARE like me, you know? I'm having a hard time articulating what kind of humour I find ok, but I'm hoping you get me
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I read you, don't worry. I am just trying to let you know that while I completely see where you are coming from, and by the way I believe that in some sense we are all hypocrites, I just come from a different place.
I've been told that I need to lighten up, that I'm a little uptight about things like this because my sense of humor isn't as...broad as some people's about stuff like this but that's just the way I am.
And I don't think any less of you for reading bad_tattoos, I do too occasionally when I'm bored at work and have for some time. That's definitely not to say I agree with what goes on there and at the same time as I think what people can say is terribly sad and pathetic, its also a really interesting cultural phenomenon that we have created a culture of low self-esteem where mocking is institutionalized and regimented.
Noone is perfect, we are all highly imperfect. At once that is sobering, reassuring as well as terrifying.
Plus, alot of the members DO have tattoos and piercings. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the people who created the community did so because they have tattoos and were pissed off at the fact that tattoos have been adopted by what they consider to be "the mainstream", and they felt that the body art culture is now being copied by the types of people who used to make fun of them for having tattoos or piercings. It's really weird when you think about it, because now probably many of the members of the community who make the most vapid insults are those very same "mainstream" folks. Complicated!!!
For the record, I personally don't think of myself as cooler than anyone, whether they have tattoos or don't, whether they are "mainstream" or not.
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I've been told that I need to lighten up, that I'm a little uptight about things like this because my sense of humor isn't as...broad as some people's about stuff like this but that's just the way I am.
And I don't think any less of you for reading bad_tattoos, I do too occasionally when I'm bored at work and have for some time. That's definitely not to say I agree with what goes on there and at the same time as I think what people can say is terribly sad and pathetic, its also a really interesting cultural phenomenon that we have created a culture of low self-esteem where mocking is institutionalized and regimented.
Noone is perfect, we are all highly imperfect. At once that is sobering, reassuring as well as terrifying.
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For the record, I personally don't think of myself as cooler than anyone, whether they have tattoos or don't, whether they are "mainstream" or not.
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