So I got this tattoo. I find it humorous, it makes me giggle every time I look at it so I took a picture and posted it to share with my friends on DA. Not the best photo, mind you. It was still swollen and fresh and I took the pic myself, though not with my cell phone as someone inferred but with the same digital camera I take ALL MY PICTURES WITH. (Once the tattoo is healed I'll post a better photo of it to abate the "cell phone picture quality" haters. You can't please everyone but I can at least do that.)

So it's posted, I get a few nice comments from friends and a few random people. No big deal. I don't check my DA for a few days due to other obligations. I log on Sunday night and BAM I got a DD on the tattoo. I'm confused as hell. I have over 850 messages in my inbox and a note from the Moderator who awarded the DD apologizing for the rudeness of some Deviants. Now thoroughly confused I start digging through my messages and find an entire string of verbal garbage from someone who considers himself a national treasure as an artist. I mark it all as SPAM and go on. I find a rape threat, a "hope you get HIV" threat, more verbal diarrhea and more than a few "you'll regret that" messages. No, I won't regret it. I'm 27 years old. My entire back is tattooed, both shoulders are tattooed, my chest is tattooed. I'm married, gainfully employed, I own a house and I will be graduating with my 2nd college degree this December. I'm pretty sure I'm not a decrepit social failure just because I have 10 tattoos and stretched ears. as for the other threats, the 15-year-old kid who sent them has been reported to DA for harassment. That should cover the personal end of the debate. Personal attacks will not be tolerated. I'd like to think we can all act mature enough not to go there.

Now as to whether or not tattoos are "art" well...I call bullshit on the naysayers. "ART", as one jackass kept typing it, is subjective. It has different meaning to different individuals. Simple enough, non? Wrong, evidently. Just like religion people seem hellbent on impressing their ideas of what is or isn't "ART" on everyone else. Open minds should have open mouths but closed minds should not. I personally believe that tattoos are "ART". As a collector I can appreciate the execution of the "ART" as much as the end product. If you've never been tattooed or watched a good artist at work, I highly recommend doing so. Yes, there is blood and needles and yes, it does hurt BUT the process is worth seeing and understanding. I have researched methods of tattooing from all over the world, both historical and modern. it is something I LOVE and to have it torn down by my fellow "artists" is painful and uncalled for. You're not hurting my feelings, you're bringing down my belief in the "ART" community even lower than it already was. Stop being pretentious fucks for gods sake. Don't take yourselves so damn seriously. We all have to shit and it stinks so don't think you're any better than the rest of us. (As my Grandmother would say.)