NEWS: Needled News by Marisa DiMattia

CULTURE: Needled News by Marisa DiMattia

The problem with being a visibly tattooed person is that society tends to lump you in the same category with other visibly tattooed people, which is quite disheartening when some brethren are idiots.

Like Neo-Nazis. Take hate monger Brian "Zero" Buckley who has the letters “ANFFAN” tattooed across his forehead and is on trial for smashing his tattooed fist through his neighbors front door, allegedly to attack her for having a black friend over. Whether the tattoo means "American Nazi Forever Forever American Nazi" or some variation of “Aryan Nation” the jury won't get to hear the meaning behind the tattoo because it's inadmissable in this burglary trial; Zero isn't on trial here for a hate crime and so you can't have the jury to be prejudiced against a white power freak -- add to the mix the African-American and Hispanic lawyers appointed to represent him and you got enough irony for an Alanis Morisette comeback. The greatest incongruity of all, of course, is having white supremacists tattooing their pure, milky skin with black markings.



And what is it with the quality of Nazi tattoos? I've just never seen a good one. I'm thinking hate just doesn't translate well artistically on the skin.

Then there are the rock stars, who just keep breaking my heart. Travis Barker, why do you hurt me so? For someone who has made some great tattoo choices, why are you inept at picking lovers? As I sit here writing for a site that features beautiful naked tattooed women, it pains to me to mention this week's rumors that you were dumped by Paris Hilton. So much so that I'll move on to another group of tattooed people that I just love being lumped with …

These guys. I don't have a problem with prison tattoos in general; really, the black-and-gray fine line tattoo style has moved from behind bars to art studios like that of Mister Cartoon (who will grace the November cover of Juxtapoz magazine with his partner, photographer Estevan Oriol). I do have a problem with "Fuck You" inmate facial ink, particularly if not well calligraphied. The face is prime visual space; tattooing it should involve time to reflect especially if you're serving 10 to 20.

One tattooed face that I'm proud to be associated with belongs to Bruce Potts – a retired school teacher who also lectures on public speaking at the University of New Mexico. Bruce has been getting a lot of attention lately because of a recent Modblog post on him, which not only attracted the attention of other blogs but Jay Leno and the National Enquirer.


Photo courtesy of Modblog.

While his appearance may shock at first, his kindness and intellect have changed the minds of many who initially may have been anti-tattoo. Bruce is also seen as a mentor to a great deal of people on BME's IAM community and advises the heavily tattooed "to walk the path of life with confidence and pride. Provide an image of a great person and not some uncaring individual. In the process we will be shifting the ideals of the repressed society pardigm to an open-minded, loving, and creative group of individuals." On IAM, he also has written about his motivations behind his decorated visage:

Bruce Potts is no dummy. His tattoo choices were made after years of life experience and self-reflection. I can't wait for him to appear in the mainstream media and engage in some stimulating discourse on the art form, dispel stereotypes, and make society think differently. Maybe then, I'll look smarter.

Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

i would love to see a television interview of bruce potts, he seems like a very intelligent and warm person.

thanks for showing that it is definately wrong to lump all us tattooed people in with the few rotten ones!!! ie Bruce Potts

Awesome tattoo and everything, but that quote makes him sound like someone I'd fucking hate to listen to.

Just proves again that the American media is focused on the hate and discontent of this world. I think it should be obvious to us by now that they are doing this on purpose. They want us to be hateful and scared so that they can continue the war effort in Iraq. Not to mention that hate breeds competition and competition is the prime ingredient for commerce. All of which the beurocrats that are running this country have their fingers in.

In the end I think Mr. Potts should be a role model for all of us. We all need to learn to be kinder and more accepting of people no matter what our differences. To be able to choose to be different is what we all want and the minute we even foster negative desires against others for what ever reason, we immediately separate ourselves from them and in turn make each other question our own abilities to choose and the desires that each of us has.

In the end hate needs to leave the equation because it leaves no room for acceptance and common ground. I know that it was not till I got past many of my own personal barriers about pre conceived ideas that I was finally able to form deep relationships with people. Many of these relationships have been with gays, blacks, and people from many other religious backgrounds.

We can accept people as they are and move on to realize that there are much greater problems on this planet like starvation and nuclear bombs or we can continue to hate for no reason other than it makes 2% of the population get 80-90% of the resources we have.

Just a thought.

snicker.

he looks delightful. kind of like a maori santa claus.

i'll bet he has a lovely singing voice.