I mean my contention isn’t that he didn’t know what it was, it’s that you gotta be kidding me that he didn’t learn what it was in the 20 years since. I don’t give a shit about his reddit history; if anything its just kinda affable to me. Hell, I’d be willing to even take the tattoo at “I learned what it was at a really dark time in my life, and I just haven’t confronted the tattoo itself, even if I conquered the ideologies that led to both its creation and its application to my body.” Like obviously military service is its own alt-right pipeline. But like, bro, you got the super non-pirate skull and crossbones across your tit, bro, what are you doing?
Like I’m not even saying don’t vote for him, deadass I’d still take his dumb ass over some Zionist shill 8 days a week. But, can nobody just call a spade a spade?
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
I mean my contention isn’t that he didn’t know what it was, it’s that you gotta be kidding me that he didn’t learn what it was in the 20 years since. I don’t give a shit about his reddit history; if anything its just kinda affable to me. Hell, I’d be willing to even take the tattoo at “I learned what it was at a really dark time in my life, and I just haven’t confronted the tattoo itself, even if I conquered the ideologies that led to both its creation and its application to my body.” Like obviously military service is its own alt-right pipeline. But like, bro, you got the super non-pirate skull and crossbones across your tit, bro, what are you doing?
Like I’m not even saying don’t vote for him, deadass I’d still take his dumb ass over some Zionist shill 8 days a week. But, can nobody just call a spade a spade?
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.