I think when we hang out with like minded folks, we fit in and it's ok to look a certain way
Many people have the attitude, if they don't like what I look like then ( curse word) them.
They forget that most of society doesn't feel, act or dress that way

I grew up in NYC. One learned profiling early, especially on subways and subway stations.
I'm no expert, and I never 'violated' someone's alleged constitutional rights. But it got me away from or out of danger umpteen times.

Imagine how many dead police officers there would be absent the survival tactic of profiling?

I agree with the OP. Many many times, tattoos are a signal. Some idiot wants to 'belong' to his peer group of losers and social misfits. Or wants to imitate those role models locked up in prisons.

I grew up seeing men once in a while with one or two on them. Not a 'sleeve' as they now say, nor a full back full of drawings. I am glad I am not in the 'dating game' now. Women with tattoos are not my cup of tea. YMMV.

I was waiting to pay for a purchase once; the sales clerk was an attractively dressed woman who had her back turned as I approached the counter. When she turned around, I saw what I thought was a string of snot dangling from her nose and stuck in her hair. I didn't want to embarrass her by making a big deal out of it, but I felt I should say something. Then, as I took a closer look, I realized that she had a chain running from a ring in her nose to a ring in her earlobe. I was surprised that it wasn't a violation of some dress code at that particular store. At least it wasn't snot though.

I believe the great progressive Jesus preached that we should, "Judge not ..."

I think that using our common sense and protecting ourselves with solid decisions based on available evidence is not "judging". It is something akin to taking care of our health and using our talents, which is another parable. But I am not a literal interpreter of sacred scripture.

I'm surprised that is not a health code violation of one sort or another.

I have to say, some of what I am reading here has me stunned !!
I didn't think so many people were into the "profiling" or blantly "judging" thing.
I just pray that you are not on a jury convicting someone because of their tattoos or piercings. :pray:
Very scary indeed !!!

Yeah, I think all murderers and child killers should be good looking and clean cut like Ted Bundy.

Some of the nastiest people are very attractive to look at thinking back about some of the law students I knew at the University of Minnesota Law School. Outer beauty had nothing to do with inner beauty.

I know a lot of tattooed retired people who had a stint in the military who are quite nice and many of these people are here in the Villages.

Now if you have a skull tattoo on your face I am crossing the road to go look at that store over there.

I remember some prisoners at the Minnesota Correctional Facility around 1987-1989 in Stillwater who had tear tattoos. I thought that was a little cute until I found out what it meant. That they had killed someone to get their status in a gang or had done it as an rite-of-passage into the gang. Of course, in 2014, it may mean something entirely different given wherever you are.

Prison fashions often became very popular with the teens -- just look at the pants on the ground trend.

I always wondered if boys would wear pants down below their hips if they knew it was a prison signal to let others know you were "available" for a "liaison"? I did mention to that one teen and he immediately pulled his pants up. However, the next time I saw him, they were dragging again.

As a society the U.S. (Wrongly) has an issue with profiling. Every law enforcement officer who addresses the press must spend hours in front of a mirror saying "we do not profile" without laughing.

In 1999 we went to watch our daughter, a freshman in collage play her first collage soccer game. When the game ended we noticed when she took off her jersey and went to her tank top she was sporting a tattoo on her mid back. Some refer to as a "tramp stamp". She walked across the field to give hugs and as she spoke we noticed she now had a tongue ring. We always encouraged our children to express themselves and said nothing. A couple weeks later, we arrived at home coming and used magnetic studs in our noses. Her father, with his traditional buzz type haircut looked a bit unusual, but I'm certain I looked equally as ridiculous. Her comment was "seriously" and an eye roll. At graduation she walked over to us and before the traditional hugs and kisses, she stuck out her tongue and the tongue jewelry was gone. She is now a teacher and is very cautious when she bends over that her tattoo doesn't show, but is still very proud of the design she drew herself with a Celtic theme showing her heritage.

The tattoo is beautiful and truly shows her creative side and she must cover it up because of perception. It's unfortunate our talented, caring, compassionate daughter is judged by the art work on her body. It's reality and is not going to go away. Our daughter's tattoo is hidden for the most part and in all honesty, we've had multiple discussions with her, and she is thankful she kept her creative expression limited to her mid back. I wonder how many people get the piercings or tattoos when young and then wonder 10 years later, what was I thinking!

In the 1960's the song "Long haired freaky people need not apply" was popular and 50 years later, not too much has changed.

Nice post and what a great sense of humor to turn up in nose studs:icon_wink:! I think I have read somewhere that Kelly Rippa has a rose tat on her ankle, or somewhere, and her Mother also told her that one day it would come back to haunt her, I believe she now spends quite a bit of money either on trying to get it removed by laser or good makeup!

There's no question that some people hide who they are and some people put it out there for all to see.

That has to be one of the most misunderstood quotes from The Bible. Matthew was talking about the final judgement, saying that humans cannot judge is another man is going to heaven. We really can't tell what is in another man's heart.

As I said, judging people is one thing and judging actions is another. What do you have to say about a man that rapes a nine year old girl, or someone that murders a family because they thought it would be fun? Should we not judge those actions? Should we not say that those people did bad things? Can we not make a reasonable assumption that someone who continues to do bad things and has no remorse is a bad person?

Sometimes a person will commit an atrocity and later come to see the light and regret that deed or perhaps there was some kind of emotional or mental issue going on at the time for which the person has gotten help. In those cases, we might say that the person did something terrible, but because he shows remorse and is truly sorry or was somehow inflicted at the time, he is not a bad person. It was simply a mistake.

Are we not passing judgement in any of these cases? Can we not judge people to be fine upstanding people?

Matthew 7:1-3 is one of the most misunderstood passages in The Bible. Unfortunately, people use it to excuse all kinds of bad behavior. We all judge every day and it is not wrong to do so.