# Judging people with unfortunate tattoo choices? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 21, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judging-people-with-unfortunate-tattoo-choices/816502 "2018-06-21T13:20:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judging-people-with-unfortunate-tattoo-choices/816502/101 "2018-08-06T04:51:40Z")
If you[re that clueless about the world around you then on your head be it. ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judging-people-with-unfortunate-tattoo-choices/816502/102 "2018-08-06T21:31:33Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > If you[re that clueless about the world around you then on your head be it. Not sure which position you are advocating with this statement? ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judging-people-with-unfortunate-tattoo-choices/816502/103 "2018-08-07T03:09:22Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I had a student a few years ago with a large swastika on her neck (oddly, not the first). She was 18 or 19, so unless she was tattooed as a minor child against her will, the symbol shows a fairly recent like of ideas/culture a swastika represents. She was an okay, quiet student who wrote bland papers, but I was uncomfortable with her. Her ink was a big Fuck You to gay me, her peers of color/religion, my Jewish wife (whose grandma was murdered in Auschwitz), and basically any moral human being. > > Maybe she was unaware of the many meanings a swastika has; perhaps she has a boyfriend in a white power band and the tatt was a young love mistake. However, humans make snap judgements about others (is this a friend or foe?) and a swastika, for a vast majority of people, is a “Danger: Keep Away!” warning label. > > To a lesser but still significant extent, a gun tatt on the forehead is a warning label. Maybe he was just a young wannabe thug and has never even held a gun – but once he used his face as a billboard for a symbol of violence, he lost control of its meaning for others. > > On hiring: I’d check gun guy’s criminal history and hire him for non-customer facing positions if his record was okay. Swastika girl: not in a billion years. That’s incredible… See, I just don’t understand the thought process here…she’s either blissfully unaware of the symbolism, or she understands all too well what it means…I don’t know what is worse, ignorance or evil…and if it was a ‘young love mistake’, it can be altered…either way, I’m sorry, you absolutely have a right to tattoo whatever you want on your body, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t make a judgement as to what that says about you… Our lab contains four old farts and four Millennials…none of us old farts have tattoos, and just never had a desire, it wasn’t part of peer group experience, etc…all of the Millennials have tattoos, some more than others…all are tasteful, meaningful in some way to them, they’re not generally noticeable and we hired based on their abilities, transcripts and interviews, no care for the tattoos… Our chemists and technicians are expected to interact professionally with our customers, we work for a private manufacturing company, sometimes we visit customers, sometimes they visit us…some of our customers show up with tattoos - it’s much more mainstream in the Millennial than it was 25 ago for us Boomers…but visible guns and/or swastikas, no way, never, that doesn’t represent our company… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judging-people-with-unfortunate-tattoo-choices/816502.md?page=5)