Let me see if I understand, and please, be assured, this is not out of any animosity, I wish to understand. I bought into the costume? Isn’t that the idea? They want to be thought of as mildly scary and someone took them at face value. I see it with these kids imitating gangster rappers; they dress and act like real bad guys and are upset that they are judged by their appearance.
The other thing I notice is that if you dress nice, act like a gentleman the odds are that you will be treated better than a fat guy in tats, leathers and riding a Harley. Sure, people should be judged by their character but lacking a character o-meter while on patrol officers tend to go by appearance.
May I also opine that wanting to dress like a bad guy, sport tattoos or piercings and dressing in leather does say something about your character.
Have you seen the recent photo exhibit of the Maori gang in New Zealand. They tattoo their bodies and faces, many of them white supremacist in nature, many sport Nazi paraphernalia and tattoos, surely these are not people you would invite to thanksgiving dinner in your home, going to extremes to avoid judging a book by its cover? Don’t you think these guys want to be judged by their cover?
I may not like the way they dress, but it's not my business and certainly is well beyond my ability to control. In this entire world, there's only ONE thing that I control: my actions. In this entire world, there's only ONE thing that you control: your actions.
Disapproving of looks, choices, behaviors, is good for entertainment, but when it comes right down to it, it is all vanity. The ONLY thing that matters is how a person treats other people. If you think that well-dressed people are more intelligent, or more inclined to treat people in a Christian manner than rough-looking ones, then you have had limited experiences, that's all I can say.
I think tattoos are dumb, and my excellent lectures (!!) echoing your own, of paying a price for the appearance you project, has been wasted on more than one young loved one! {^) You should see me on tattoo threads -- IMO, most tattoos are conventional ways of jumping up and down and yelling, "Hey, look at me, I'm unconventional!" Tatoos on most people (exceptions include soldiers/warriors and tattoos done during one's stupid youth) represent lack of originality, lack of independence, and vulnerability to peer pressure, not to mention short-sightedness. I do however love and respect tattoos on warriors because they signify an honor-based bond among men.
But rey, I have fraternized with, lived with, been related to, worked with, and loved MANY people whose "costume" and appearance includes tattoos you would hardly believe, not to mention crazy hair, wild clothes, gnarly outlaw Harleys made "from scratch," etc., would evidently scare you to death.
I know for certain fact that appearances, especially in the past 20 years, are EXTREMELY misleading on all counts, more and more so as pop culture bastardizes and popularizes "thug" fashion. I don't like it, I can't change it, and I know for a certain sure fact that I know a lot of very scary-looking people who are princes and kings.
I KNOW it. It isn't an opinion, it is an experience. It is why I know that only a very small percentage of bikers with tattoos and black leather and club jackets, are what you apparently think they are.