Not “I would;” “I might.”
I get the feeling you’re trying to pin me down into saying 100% I would or wouldn’t do something, and I can’t say that. I don’t know what I’d do in the situation (and as Alice says, I’m not likely to be in it anyway); all I can say is what my tendency would probably be. Maybe after reading this thread, I might give people with full sleeve tattoos more of a chance; who knows?
This is the same weak argument Shot From Guns tried to pull. Getting a tattoo on your face says something about you as a person that being born black doesn’t.
The scary killer thing was just to put to the test Shot From Guns’s assertion that she wouldn’t judge someone based on their tattoo. I wasn’t saying that all people with tattoos on their faces are scary killers, instead I chose a picture of a scary killer with a demented tattoo on his face to see how far certain posters would lie about not judging people based on their tattoos.
In fact, if you had bothered to read my posts, I gave specific examples of face tattoos that I didn’t have a problem with.
And because I’m not pretending to be superior and completely (and impossibly) non-judgmental, like some of the people on this thread, I am plenty willing to admit that I will judge someone based on their tattoos.
Tattoo on face=probably stupid
Tattoo of tear on face=probably dangerous.
Tattoo of stars on face=stupid girl who isn’t dangerous. She can come in my house.
Giant tattoos of skulls on face and neck=Crazy and dangerous. This creepy son of a bitch cannot come in my house
Got it?
Aren’t you supposed to be good at math? The percentage of scary murderers with tattoos on their faces is even smaller than the percentage of facially tattooed people who are scary murderers.
Look, you’re allowed to feel how you feel. It’s okay, really. And I never claimed to be non-judgmental. I’m just not as irrationally power-freaked by the scary pictures as you are.
This is a question that can best be answered through the use of Bayesian statistics. Using the the calculations I laid out in my posts this morning, you can calculate the probability that a person is a criminal given that they have a face tattoo. Under the assumptions I made, someone with a face tattoo is 100 times as likely to be a criminal as someone without a tattoo. Maybe my estimates are wrong, but I would be willing to bet good money that someone with a face tattoo is many times more likely to be a criminal, to be mentally ill, to be below average IQ, than someone without a face tattoo.
Remember, it’s not dependent on the absolute numbers, but on their relative ratios in the population. For example, with reasonable estimates you could say that someone with a face tattoo is 1,000 times as likely to have killed than someone without a face tattoo, even if most murderers are un-tattooed, and even if most tattooed people don’t kill.
I think that the prejudice against facial tatoos and piercings is, very slowly, fading away as they become much more “mainstream” then they used to be. It is now, I think, quite possible to have a job even outside such ‘traditional’ areas as the entertainment industry with a facial tatoo/piercings, as long as they are not deliberately outrageous and offensive (decorative tribal types are more okay, swastikas and porn images obviously less so).
However, that being noted, there is still a considerable amount of prejudice out there in the real world, particularly in the professions where you have to deal with the public directly. Maybe there ought not to be, but there is, and the fact remains that getting a facial tatoo is going to add that prejudice to one’s burden in getting a job. Truly exceptional people will no doubt be able to overcome that, but for most, it will be a somewhat limiting factor for the foreseeable future - depending of course on what you want to do. If your ambition is to be a sound engineer working with rock bands, a tatoo would probably be an asset; probably neutral if you are doing behind the scenes stuff like tech support; less so if your ambition is to be a corporate lawyer. 
The reason I’d not get one (aside from the fact that they do not appeal to me aesthetically), particularly when young, is that I really had no idea what I wanted to do. It would be a shame to add a burden to one’s chances, something that has the potential to limit you (based on the whims of public prejudice and style). Your vision of your future career at 18 is probably going to be different at 28 and different again at 38.
I know I said I wasn’t responding to you, but this is just too much to let slide.
Let’s play EE vs. Zeriel on other topics!
Zeriel: The wearing of T-shirts with obscene slogans shows poor judgement.
EE: You’re just proud of yourself for drawing your line two inches away from mine. Wearing a t-shirt of any kind at any time shows poor judgement.
Zeriel: The use of vulgarities or explicit sexual discussions in public shows poor judgement
EE: You’re just proud of yourself for drawing your line two inches away from mine. Saying anything in public at any time shows poor judgement.
Since when are arbitrary bright lines more justifiable than considered use of judgement and reason?
UB ponders at the OP: “Visible tattoos - Are they as damaging as they sound?”
Then ponders the rantings and ravings of Evil Economist about facial tattoos, and wonders if he’s even on the same wavelength. There’s a big difference between an Ankh on the shoulderblade and “SexxMashine” on the forehead.
He THEN ponders the likelyhood of two IDENTICAL job candidates, one with a Tribal on their arm, and thinks that’s pretty unlikely. He then ponders further on two identical candidates, one who’s inked and hot, the other not, and wonders if looks would count more than ink?
He then wonders about talking in the third person and wonders if he should get that looked at.
I happen to be in a somewhat privileged position: if you come to my house and have the right credentials, I’ll let you in, but I still have large dogs who will happily eat you if you mess with their Mama. Minus that setup, when I’m in a position to hire, someone qualified for the job, minus visible tattoos, will be hired ahead of an equally qualified candidate with visible tattoos. I hire people partly on their resumes, partly on interview, and partly on my estimation of that person’s ability to make judgment calls. If that candidate’s judgment has been impaired to the point than he thinks a facial tattoo is a good idea? I don’t really want to leave him unsupervised.
Can you, as so many others have tried and failed, express a concrete reason other than “societal norms” precisely WHY a facial tattoo is a sign of incredibly poor judgment? Or even “a visible tattoo”, for that matter?
Frankly, as I’ve said before, I think “makes judgements based on rigid rules and/or irrelevant aesthetic considerations” is a much better indicator that a person has poor judgment than any non-obscene aesthetic decision.
Depends on the job, I guess: Eastern Promises - Wikipedia
My perspective on tatoos.
I’ll start by explaining why they are a permanent reminder of a temporary fancy and go from there.
Nobody I know plans on wearing the same shirt for the rest of their lives. As we get older our tastes change. What we thought was cool the year before is now in the goodwill store.
It’s an act of maturity to acknowledge that your future self will have different tastes. Because of this it’s an act of common sense not to make changes to one’s body that can’t be readily removed. Most women don’t wear their makeup the same every day for the rest of their lives or plan on wearing the same hair style forever. The same applies to men. Mustaches come and go as time and styles change.
Putting this aside there should be the realization that tattoos are not particularly artful. Skin is a poor canvas made worse by line-art drawings of limited color contrast. The best tattoo artist can be compared to those who make black velvet Elvis’s or blown glass wizards and dragons. People usually move on from this level of art as they grow older.
Whether a person thinks a tattoo is really trendy or not has no bearing on a person who DOESN’T have a tattoo. On one hand it’s a potential negative visual cue for some people. On the other it’s a permanent reminder of something the owner thought was trendy or artful at some point in their life.
And yet, you’re devoting a Turkey Dinner’s worth of calories to a pop-tart’s worth of trouble.
I have a tat. It’s the original Corvette logo. It’s hidden by a long pair of pants. I’ve had a Corvette for 16 years and if there comes a point where my sagging liverspotted body doesn’t look sexay with that ink, it will STILL be something that meant a LOT to me.
I’ve given a lot of thought to getting a second, and I might, but the burning desire to do so hasn’t occurred yet. But HAVING the Tat is a much smaller deal that the angst in GETTING it.
If it’s not your thing, that’s cool too. Diffrent Strokes and all that.
I have no doubt the car means something to you. And that’s a good thing. Everybody has people, places and things that mean something to them.
Immortalizing it on one’s body cannot elevate it visually to the standard of say, a well designed T-shirt. Nor does every venue warrants a salute to the car. It’s like wearing a sports jersey, 24/7, 365 days a year.
I’m glad we have the freedom to disagree.
I know that people who don’t get it probably never will, but I’ll go ahead and put this out there anyway. Why not?
Around six years ago, I lost my twin daughter and son. They were born very premature. My daughter died at birth, my son at 10 weeks old. A few months after my son passed away, I got a small tattoo on the inside of my left ankle of a pink butterfly and a blue butterfly joined by an ivy vine.
I want to see that tattoo every single day. A t-shirt would not do justice to Colin and Emily.
Not all of my tattoos are as deeply meaningful, but they are all meaningful. I often dress so that they’re visible when I’m not working.
I currently make somewhere in the vicinity of $85k a year. I have not yet reached my maximum earning potential in my career. Nor am I finished tattooing.
Tattoos don’t really make much noise even on a windy day, so no, I don’t think they are as damaging as they sound.
First, for every touching/meaningful story about why someone has a tattoo you IMO probably have dozens that don’t mean didly to most folks.
But lets go with this (a tattoo thats significantly visible). At one extreme its just some trivial thing that basically says something like “I just love panda bears”. At the other end of the spectrum it says something like “I deeply loved my XYZ who is now departed”.
Nothing wrong with either of those sentiments.
But, WHY do you (the generic show off the tattoos you’s) feel the need to tell every stranger you meet this information. Either its trivial and telling everyone about it is rather silly. Or it rather personal and to be honest some people would rather not know this kind of information.
IMO of course.
I get that it has meaning to both of you. Keeping the memory of a lost child close and personal is a concept that easily translates on any level.
However, as displayed to the public, there is a loss of translation. Somewhere between the concept of wearing your heart on your sleeve and artistic license spans the different reasons people get tattoos. Of course it doesn’t matter what other people think about your desire to keep the memory of your children close. That doesn’t change the idea of people’s perceptions and appreciation (or lack of) for the artwork.
All the public sees is a line-art representation of something that has specific meaning to the individual. It is Just like any other personal manifestation such as a hat.
I submit that tattoos are, because of their color and line-art qualities, visually limited in nature just as an article of clothing is. They have the same quality as a sports logo on a hat which IMO, limits their functionality as a 24/7 item.
For purposes of professional appearance and all around flexibility it is (IMO) best that they be done in a way as to allow people to transition from one function to another and maintain the overall flavor of the venue.
I understand that you were being generic, not directing this specifically at me, but I’ll address it with my answer, anyway, if you please.
I only discuss the meanings behind my art with people that inquire. For that one in particular, I’ll generally even give a warning. In this forum, a discussion about tattoos, addressing a comment similar to (obviously not a quote) “why don’t you just get a t-shirt”, the story seemed appropriate.
As for whether or not my tattoos are appropriate from one situation to another, I’ve no reason to believe they aren’t. They do not affect my job in the least. I make great money. I’ve never been kicked out of an establishment because of them, and I would probably enjoy the scandalized looks on the faces of those in places that would prefer that people like me not grace their property with my presence. Childish, perhaps, but if they want to judge me, I’ll take a bit of pleasure in their discomfort. Especially knowing, as I do, that they have no idea that I’m one of the “good guys”.
I’ve experienced more hostility and discrimination because of what I do for a living than because I’m tattooed. I hide that from people I meet rather than hiding a little ink. I don’t care if everyone I meet on the street sees my butterflies, but it’s nobody’s damned business where I spend my work hours.
Missed the edit window… I just wanted to add:
99.9% of my “clients” have no idea that I have any tattoos. As I’ve mentioned before in this thread (a while back), in my work uniform, my tattoos are, all but one, completely hidden. The one is tiny and has to be pointed out to be seen.
I do not want people that I know from work (but who are not co-workers) to recognize me outside of work. My tattoos aid me in achieving a certain level of anonymity. It isn’t foolproof, but it helps. I also wear my hair differently outside of work, wear different or no make-up… It may seem a bit backwards that distinctive marks like tattoos create anonymity, but it works in my world. It would actually shock many people to find out that I have tattoos.