My boy didn't have any tats until he left my care and protection.
As an adult man, he has his wife's name, a dragon, and some chinese characters tatted where they don't show if he's wearing a long sleeved shirt.
I don't view adult men with tats as goonish, provided they aren't tear drops, or their names, or gang symbols or names.My son was in the service, and is into martial arts. His wife was also in the service and grew up in Hawaii. She has the Hawaiian islands tattooed on her leg, a gecko on her side, and my son's name on her arm.
But 17 year old boys, sporting grills and tats, flipping the bird, getting expelled..yeah, I think that's thug, or at least someone enamored of the culture.
And I think his parents probably are too.
It's all about appearances. They affect those things to intimidate and to be associated with a certain group of anti socials. Then they piss and moan when they are type cast as criminal. Oh well.
And if you had seen me at 17 you would have judged me pretty much the same way. As worthy of being shot in the chest.
Instead, I entered the military at 18, served six years and used what little brains I have to make something of myself after.
But if I had met George Zimmerman when I was 17, I'd be dead now, and you would be damning me for my appearance.
What is the ******* disconnect with you racist pigs?
I never said he was worthy of being shot in the chest. I said that people who take on the trappings, mannerisms and anti social behavior of criminals often get confused with criminals.
Yes, if you looked like a little thug, I would probably have assumed you were a little thug. I wouldn't have shot you or defended anyone who shot you based on your piercings, tats, or clothes.
But I could certainly understand people feeling threatened by a large guy with a gold grill, a nasty nick name, tats and prone to flipping the bird.
And you know, **** you and your stupid lying assumptions...I've worked with gang members, sex offenders, and big bad boys who have put major hurts on other people. I don't do it for the money, I do it because I like to work with that population. If I had seen your dumb ass as a kid, I wouldn't have crossed the street or been afraid of you, I know where kids like that come from and what they're like. But if you immerse yourself in the criminal culture, you can expect to be treated as a criminal...up to and including getting killed. If not by someone who mistakes you for a real criminal, then by one of those criminals you're emulating. That's the way it works.