To which I sent a response:
"I assume that you and Posh are friends and that you're coming to her aid."

We are mild acquaintances. (I've met her a total of three or four times at various functions.) However, like I said, source aside. I don't care who's arm or what article you took the tattoo from, I said the ACT of taking another person's tattoo and putting it in the exact location is considered a faux pas in the tattoo community. And, I stand by that statement regardless of wether or not you copied a tattoo from Posh, Jeremy Garrett, or some random person off the street.

Just FYI (as an aside):

"I would be willing to bet the farm that if I looked hard enough, I could find a person that has a tat very similar to yours or an artist who had created a work of art that you copied from"

I hand-drew the outline for my sleeve...and my artist also added hand drawn pieces to create it. So, I'd highly doubt that assumption. Of course, you're gong to find SIMILAR work. You obviously pick an artist that has a particular style to fit your desired look and feel. So yea, Freddy Corbin does A LOT of neo-traditional style tattoos. Moreover, I'm sure you could find Grecco-Roman or neo-Renaissance etchings that are similar because my sleeves is based on scenes from Virgil's Aeneid. But, I didn't download an image from the internet and ask someone to put it on my arm and--more to the point--I don't have the same EXACT sleeve as anyone else. At the very least, it's modified to fit my personal specifications.

"This is an image that I downloaded from the internet, images.google.com in particular, of a piece of bacon"

I'd be interested to know the url for that image, because "googling" several combinations of "bacon" with various other words does not yield THAT image with THAT marbling and THAT exact oil design.

"but life goes on."

It does, but I'm allowed to comment on occurrences and actions within it. Wether it be the day after the occurrence, or years later in a historical retrospect. I don't have to "move on." I'm entitled to make social commentary whenever and wherever thanks to a degree as a historian from UC Berkeley, the 1st amendment, and open social networking platforms.

"It happens every day. It sucks..."
So does murder, rape, theft, genocide, ect. The FREQUENCY of an occurrence does not solidify the VERACITY of it. While this infraction or slight is not the same as the aforementioned actions (it's obviously a gross exaggeration) the comparison still stands.


"And I still can't look at the picture of Posh's tat and tell what body part it's on. Seriously. That could be anything..."

All I can say to this is, "wow"...your inability to decipher basic human anatomy is both astounding and baffling.

"If you had read what I said in the comments instead of jumping to conclusions"

Trust me, I read the entire string of comments in order to create an informed and thoughtful response to the situation. Of course, the string is now "conveniently" deleted so I cannot site my source. But, if memory serves, your response was to the effect of, "me and my friend were drunk...and when I woke up I remembered I wanted a bacon tattoo."

It did not say, "then weeks later, with a clear head and much research, I went to a shop and had it done."

So, if I misinterpreted what I read, I apologize. (And, personally, I am happy. I'd rather not imagine that there are irresponsible artists out there tattooing on inebriated clients.)

However, there is a difference between "jumping to" and "coming to" a conclusion based on the evidence given. I did the latter; based on the evidence available.

How is me saying "I stole this, not Jason." me blaming my friends?

Well, I'm again making an assumption based on the evidence given: I'm assuming that Jason is a friend of yours (I may be incorrect and you could be blaming a random stranger named Jason, but I'm going to assume that isn't the case). Saying, "I stole this, not Jason," Is removing the blame from yourself and placing it onto this "Jason." Rather than saying, "Yes, I took the image and I chose to get it tattooed on my arm." You implied that this Jason chose the image for you and told you to get it tattooed.

There's a difference between accepting ones actions and claiming you're a vicim of circumstance. An apology that comes out of the latter is half-hearted at best (and diluted even more by your obviously callous viewpoint of, "this happens all the time."

"it's really none of your business."

It wouldn't be my business if you didn't post it to SEVRAL public webpages that allow unmoderated comments.

If you don't want other people commenting on your personal choices, don't put them on display for people to adjudicate and comment upon.

For example: I'm an internet model. My tits are posted in A LOT of places and a lot of people write that there are NUMEROUS things wrong with them (specifically) and the act of taking and posting these pictures as a whole. However, I have to accept these bad comments with the good because it's MY CHOICE to post them. I cannot run around after every negative comment to tell them that their opinion about MY tits is none of their business.

True, my choices about my personal body are none of their business, but MY choice to publicize images of that body to a public forum makes that picture of that body public business.

You made your arm public business when you posted it on public forums (such as Flickr)...

You obviously don't want your body being part of a public forum and have since removed it from areas under your purview, but saying that a public picture posted on a public website where people can surf, search, and comment is none of my business? That is inaccurate.

I don't need to comment any further on this issue. The picture has been taken down and is no longer up for discussion. We have stated our opinions clearly and concisely; have engaged in a healthy debate and both have lives to get back to.

I appreciate the full and detailed response to my comment and wish you the best of luck in future endeavors.