I’d mind my own business. If he seems nice, assume he is nice. Who cares about a silly old tattoo?
It’s not like this is a butterfly tramp stamp. It’s a swastika, which is perhaps the major symbol for evil in modern times!
“Nice” is not “good.”
Nice is simply a perception of inoffensiveness.
Not a very wise idea to assume that “nice” people are good people.
And so what if it is, in fact, a real Nazi tattoo that he still feels strongly about. Then what?
What’s the end game? You give him a piece of your mind, lose someone whose conversations you enjoy enough to talk to at the gym and might have to give up your gym membership because you don’t want to go there while he’s there? Worry about getting into a fight about it? Tell him he’s an asshole and he brings his other Nazi friends to give you a beat down in the parking lot?
The only ‘good’ I can see is that he’ll say ‘man, that’s an old tattoo, I was young and dumb and my life was very different back then’ and he changes the topic. Other than that, I can really only see bad things coming from it. I mean, is it really worth confronting him about old faded tattoo?
What good can come from it?
Look at it this way, if he still feels strongly about it Nazi, um, stuff, aren’t you glad there’s some way to identify him as feeling that way. If he doesn’t feel that way and it offends you, it’s your problem, not his, he doesn’t have to cover it just because you (and most people) don’t like it.
Sounds like people happily and heartily engaging in the same judgmentalism they pretend to decry. It could almost be a humorous Hipster Irony skit on Portlandia.
An old faded tattoo? Probably just a remnant of a bad decision by a stupid punk-ass kid. Either got into some hate shit or just wanted to shock some people.
I figure if it was a symbol of something important to him, he would take care of it and proudly display it.
I would let it go.
How can you not judge a swastika tattooed on someone!?!? And when did I say I decry “judgmentalism”?
Who the fuck on earth equates judging Jews as bad with judging Nazis as bad? Who is this idiot?
NOBODY DOES THIS!
People that call for tolerance are calling for tolerating harmless differences. They’re not fucking calling for tolerating the advocacy of genocide.
Jesus Christ this old canard is stupid.
Allowing it to be seen by strangers is proudly displaying it. If he were ashamed of it, he would have found a way to have had it removed, had it altered to be something else, or covered it all times.
Thank you for responding much more eloquently to that nonsense than I could.
I find it amazingly easy and simple to not judge people based on decades-old tattoos. I highly recommend it. It’s so easy.
Judging people takes a lot of energy, and people who engage in it usually have way too much unproductive time on their hands. But hey, let’s run around demanding other people change based on our own completely ignorant assumptions. Freedom!
Like politicians, lawyers, police, including meter maids? I agree with you on that. 
Absolutely. A rock can do it. It takes no moral energy at all to recuse oneself from moral issues. A total coward can do it. You have no argument from me!*
For someone who hates judgment, you sure are spending a lot of time calling other folks hypocritical and ignorant.
- I am not, in case it’s unclear, calling you either a rock or a coward–just pointing out that your claims about how little energy it takes are not a recommendation for your course of action.
The irony burns. You have a swastika tattoo? I demand you explain yourself! You must remove it because it offends me! Let’s round up all the swastika owners and put them in camps! With ovens!
Not exactly. I would like to know why the person has it so I better understand if they are someone I would like to hang around with, or if we have too many fundamental differences to be friends. I don’t think anyone is saying “demand” except you.
Not at all, he can do what he wants. If he is proud of it, that tells me something about him and I can act accordingly. He has the right to have a swastika tattoo, and everyone else has the right to let that influence their opinion of him.
To be clear, with this sarcasm, are you advocating tolerance of Nazis? Or what is your point?
I’m pointing out the hypocrisy of people claiming to be anti-judgmental (or fascist or what not) while engaging in the same judgmentalism.
It’s not unlike Russia, and pro-Russians in Crimea accusing Kiev of being anti-semitic while going around marking crosses on the property of Tatars in preparation of forcibly relocating them. Again.
Um, it’s quite a bit different from Russia. I and others are suggesting we would think differently of this person if he still subscribes to Nazi beliefs. We aren’t putting crosses on his lawn.
And again, no one is claiming to be anti-judgmental except you. We are obviously judging those who espouse Naziism. In case Left Hand of Dorkness’s message wasn’t clear, there is quite a difference between judging based on who someone is (e.g, a Jew) and what someone advocates doing (e.g., killing Jews). Quit with the false equivalency already.
What if he had a stylish fish tattooed on himself?
That is a universally known symbol of people who were corrupt and mean to others & intolerant, etc. How do you feel about those folks and their symbols?
Unless you know you are meaner or tougher than those you would practice exercise your free speech on about them expressing their free speech does not give you a pass on the consequences of that free speech.
Guy in gym with old tattoo, might he just have a bit more experience in defending his free speech than those that would have an attitude about his old tattoo?
If I were to go up & tell someone that he has an offensive tattoo IMO & tell him what to do about & his reply is none of your business, you have then the choices of :
Leave him alone
You leave if you just can’t stand it
Try to get the gym to throw him out
Try to make him leave yourself
Get in his face again ( bawahahahaha )
And a few other really stupid things
What do you feel about a Japanese person with an old ‘rising sun’ tattoo? Hammer & cycle tattoo on random white person, rebel flag on a a guy or girl?
When a person opens these kinds of door, they do not have control over who or what walks in. Usually more comes in than you bargained for.
Might work out a bit more before you get in his face or even ask in a surprised voice.
YMMV
And if he just looks at you and smiles nicely?
If he looks like Billy Bob Thornton or John Statham, I would just leave & find another gym.
But that is just me, 
Personally, I’m non-confrontational. If he only smiled or gave me some answer that implied he liked what his tattoo stood for, I’d casually avoid him from then on. I wouldn’t tell him he should remove it and I’d probably keep my opinion of it to myself. I wouldn’t go as far as finding another gym.