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I think for many people getting a tattoo is a huge deal and we would never allow our skin to be marked without out a lot of forethought.
But I think there is a good chunk of the population that doesn’t think about it and don’t see it as a big deal. I think a lot of these people are concentrated in the military, the lack of forethought is increased when you are in a job that may well see you killed soon.
I’d like to see him reaching out to new and old military members to educate them on the meaning he apparently didn’t know about and pushing them to remove it.
Someone with some art skills should come up with a suitably cool modification tattoo that neutralises the nazi aspect and but still lets these guys support and identify with battle mates.
It’s not their fault the nazis happens co opt heaps of cool symbols and I don’t blame some 22 year old jar head for not knowing history (they should but the US education system has a lot to answer for).
If you give people an easy way out that lets them save face you’ll only be left with the actual racists.
To be fair, just look at all the people who have Chinese words written on them that say something that they weren't trying to say. How many of those people have had those tattoos for many years without ever learning that they were incorrect or fixing them?
I wouldn't go this route personally, but I know enough about tattoos to say with a high degree of confidence that many people just pick something out of the books on the day of the walk-in because they think it looks cool. I could totally believe this guy and his marine buddies said "that's a cool skull, let's get that".
It's like, how many people have Punisher stickers or t-shirts but have never read a comic book in their lives? Probably most of them...
If I had Chinese symbols saying I was a nazi tattooed on me, I'd be at the nearest open parlor to get it covered up the same day I learned about it.
If he really did somehow just learn about it during the campaign, it should be gone by now.
Edit: which apparently it is, so good on him for that.
Yeah, that is generally referred to as "flash". The catalogue of stencils that an artist has on hand for walk ins and the like. And considering this was apparently some hole in the wall in Croatia (unclear if it was when he was in the military or at Blackwater), there is a good chance that entire catalogue was full of nazi shit and this had the least amount of swastikas.
But you, and many others, are fixated on him getting it. Which... it raises questions on his judgment, but people do stupid shit all the time. The issue is more the having kept it for 20 years while being terminally online (almost impossible to have not seen the Mitchell and Webb "are we the baddies" meme that is literally about totenkapfs) and being a self proclaimed military history buff. And then 5 years ago having talked about "punisher skulls" in association with, gasp, SS totenkapfs.
No true Scotsman faults the guy for making a mistake 20 years ago. We very much fault him for not having rectified it at all in the two decades since.
It's wild of you to say I'm "fixated" on anything, considering this is the first time I've even commented on this story.
To be perfectly honest, I would never vote for a politician with an un-researched Chinese tattoo, either. It means they're very stupid or, at best, simply don't think about consequences.
The "consequences" of a tattoo, on your own skin? No one gets a tattoo for someone else. Unless you are just anti-tattoo, I don't think anyone should give a fuck about the "consequences" of a tattoo.
If you're walking around with the word "STIR-FRY NOODLES" on your arm you are not someone who I trust to make laws.
What about a cartoon character? What about a "deep" quote like "to thyself be true." Is that ok? "Live, Laugh Love?" Can you provide a list of "acceptable" tattoos for others?
Getting a tattoo in a language you don't speak that says something you don't even understand shows a lack of forethought that's worrying in an average person, let alone a politician. I genuinely don't get what's confusing about this.
Fair enough. Drunk 20-somethings military dudes getting a walk-in tattoo in some random country probably aren't going to be making many smart decisions. It was clearly not a well thought-out tattoo.
Nevertheless, I don't think the debate is about whether this guy got a bad tattoo or not, it's about whether he is a nazi or knowingly got a nazi tattoo.
Even if you know history, this is a fairly obscure symbol. I would bet there's a lot of people who know a lot about WWII and still wouldn't recognize it. For one, I don't think I would. I may have an "I've seen this symbol before..." moment, but I don't think I'd place it correctly on the spot.