Get The Hell Outta Here

Gimme a break.  I mean it.  Hell, I don’t have kids and I don’t plan on being a dad any time soon, but in a way I think that makes me even more qualified to speak on this topic, for the simple reason that I don’t have any bias.  I mean, I’m sure I’m not the only one who is sick and tired of other people trying to tell other people how to raise their kids.  Basically, it all breaks down like this: if you have a kid, then you have a responsibility to raise him or her so that he/she grows up to be a decent, moral human being.  If you don’t do that, then you’re an asshole.  Simples.

But this is just going too far: psychologists in Melbourne, Australia are criticising an upcoming tattoo expo because it will permit children to enter and even allow kids to get airbrushed tattoos!  Gasp!  Oh no!  Won’t somebody please think of the children?  Well I’ll tell you what – I’m thinking of the children and I don’t see anything at all wrong with them coming to an event like this.  Some of the people that are complaining about this whole thing take issue with the fact that the Australian Tattoo and Body Art Expo will have burlesque dancers. Okay, burlesque dancers are sexual, but not in a disgusting or utterly offensive manner.  Oh no, don’t let your kid stand and watch a woman dance.  Your kid should be at home playing Grand Theft Auto V, murdering drug lords and prostitutes.  THAT’S much healthier for the little tyke.

In fact, the only reason why this is causing a controversy with anyone is because it’s a tattoo related event.  Well I’m sorry, but exposing kids to tattoos from an early age is one of the most responsible things a parent can do.  It doesn’t mean that every single kid whose parents took them to the expo and who got an airbrushed tattoo will be rushing out as soon as they are of legal age and getting tattooed.  And even if it did, who the hell cares?  Well, some Australian psychologists and an assortment of uptight, prudish do-gooders really care, I guess.

‘”It’s a great idea, and I’ll tell you why it’s a great idea; it’s those simple things that will change the stereotypical view of what we do,” Mr Swaneveld said.
Mr Swaneveld described some of the entertainment at last year’s expo as “trashy” and said he was pleased pole dancers and seductive strippers no longer featured.
Organiser Matt Johnson said it was “entirely appropriate” to have children at the expo as there was “nothing illegal going on”.
“Lots of people have tattoos and a lot of them have young kids, so that’s the reason (they’re allowed),” Mr Johnson said.
He said parents needed to stay with their kids at the children’s corner and the tattoo artists were approved to work with children.’

All I know is that my parents never took me to a tattoo expo.  I think it would have been pretty cool if they had.  They did however, put me in Catholic school, basically guaranteeing that I would become an atheist.  So there.  The moral high ground can also be total rubbish and in this particular case, it definitely is.  For what it’s worth, I salute every parent who takes their child/children to this event.