Anyone interested in a good laugh should check out this is apparently a website for assholes. I’ve noticed an alarming trend, stay with me on this: How many times have you witnessed someone who became so enthusiastic about a given cause that they decided they must persecute another, completely unrelated belief/lifestyle choice/whatever? Likely to come to mind is the ‘guilt by no association’ war in Iraq, where our fearless leader sought to flex some muscle and kill a lot of people who had nothing to do with 9/11, in response to 9/11. So wrapped up in a collective need for revenge, congress went along and we find our nation in its present, rather embarrassing debacle. Once again, blind belief+repressive indoctrination process=ignorant assholes. It doesn’t stop at religion and politics either, I’ve seen Ford guys who would never admit how cool the 09′ Camaro is, Vandy fans who refuse to wear orange, ever. I’ve witnessed traditional Japanese and American style tattooers nitpick the very best of the color portrait genre, so bad you’d think it was the work of a first-year apprentice. So where am I going with this?
Just because you like something doesn’t mean you have to look for something else to hate in order to make what you like seem better. Penn and Teller had a show about just this sort of thing, I think it was called Bullshit. If you need to bitch about what someone else is doing, when what they’re doing has no impact on you, you’re being an asshole, stop it. I don’t call your religion stupid so don’t pick a fight with me about my tattoos. My tattoos will stand up to scrutiny, your religion won’t. This is a not my opinion, this is a fact. I can prove I have tattoos, you can’t prove your god exists, which god it is, or even what that god expects from us.
Religion is faith-based. That being said it is utterly dependent on the beliefs of its practitioners to adhere to, or change, what said religious doctrine ‘means’. This can be illustrated in Christianity by the turmoil surrounding homosexual church leadership; the lack of persecution of nazi Germany during WWII; abortion rights; marriage; birth control; slavery; money-lending; what to eat; even whether or not Jesus was black. This inconsistency over time is not a Christian monopoly either, it’s a religious one. Seems to me religious leaders and laymen alike have given themselves carte-blanche to conduct themselves and their congregations in whatever manner they deem fit. Dissention in the ranks is not well tolerated, however, and throughout history deeply religious societies amended their beliefs until they were unrecognizable or wholly secular. Once again, not my opinion, the shit just HAPPENS. Tattoos however, good ones at least, will always whip a horse’s ass with a belt.
So the next time some overly pious prick gives you shit about your tattoo, just let it go. You’re never going to convince someone who doesn’t like tattoos that they, or their god, is wrong. They’re entitled to their belief just as you are to yours. I take solace knowing that I’m right right and they’re wrong, but then, so will they.
Yad Lachim.
Wildo.