Theodore Dalrymple at Taki Mag wrote a whole article on the fundamental contradiction in the lives of people like this (including not just those with elaborate tattoos, but also transexuals and others): they go way out-of-their way to make themselves noticeable, then they get all honked off when they do get noticed and aren’t regarded in conventional fashion.
http://takimag.com/article/everyday_snowflakes_theodore_dalrymple#axzz4mrd6BX3V
A pertinent quote from the Dalrymple article referenced above:
“The demand for recognition and nonrecognition at the same time is surely one of the reasons for the outbreak of mass self-mutilation in the Western world in an age of celebrity. A person who treats his face and body like an ironmongery store can hardly desire or expect that you fail to notice it, but at the same time demands that you make no comment about it, draw no conclusions from it, express no aversion toward it, and treat him no differently because of it. You must accept him as he is, however he is, because he has an inalienable right to such acceptance.”
http://takimag.com/article/everyday_snowflakes_theodore_dalrymple/print#ixzz4n02fo4YO