Posted on 03/28/2002 8:02:29 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
There's a matter of degree of course, which you are quite aware of or you wouldn't be carrying your example to the ridiculous. Obviously 500 piercings in a single ear (or lip, nose, what have you) is much more extreme than a single hole.
While reading a Razz post, I can almost catch a fleeting glimps of a giant PETP banner (as in "People for the Ethical Treatment of the Pierced") hanging on the back wall of the all night tatoo/naval-piercing/internet-cafe from which the posts undoubtedly hail.
True or not we'll never hear the end of it.
You prove my point. Nowhere in this thread have I judged the appearance, either pro or con. Frankly, I myself find lip/tongue/nose piercings to be rather nauseating, especially if taken to the extreme that they often are.
However, that's my personal taste. Just like the fact that I like to see women in dresses, dislike baggy pants and sweats (the hip-hop look), etc.
That's a hell of a lot different than implying that anyone who has a [insert appearance that you find distasteful here] is a lying psychopath ready to slice themselves up at any moment.
My Tawana Brawley BS meter is registering on this one, though .
Actually, I think he was making the observation that someone willing to poke holes in their flesh (self inflicted wounds) for social gains would have fewer qualms about repeating the ritual with other implements (a knife or razor ?) if the possibility of social gains was strong enough (which in this case it clearly is). I think it's an accurate observation as well as an honest assesment of human nature.
Just because the location of the piercings changed from ears to nose to lips to wherever and he doesn't approve of the new location, doesn't mean one is a piercing (or self-mutilation) and the other isn't.
The amount of nerves concentrated in the lips, the tongue and the nose (a very dangerous nerve cluster there, by the by) compared to the nerves in that floppy part of the ear ( I'm sure there's a real word for it :) make the decision to poke a hole in that area and stick a piece of metal through it a bit more significant. It is a greater sacrifice with a greater amount of pain and it requires a distinctly different type of personality. It's far from a seasonal migration of body holes.
I really love the ironic juxtaposition of Razz' relativistic comments right under your photo.
It was a jealous landlord. He hired two thugs to do it. Gov. Pataki actually stiffened the penalties for assault in her honor. Apparently the three people involved got off lightly because she wasn't murdered --only disfigured. Pataki commented that a wallet thief could have served more time.
I just did some research on this as my curiosity was piqued and she actually doesn't look to bad now considering what was done to her. Last year she was a technical advisor to a made-for-TV movie about the ordeal.
Reduccio ad absurdam is a standard and accepted tool in the debate armentarium. It's an exercise in logic and consistancy.
But you knew that. Please stick around, relativists make such fun opponents.
If you were a fencer, Razz would be naked with a pile of shredded clothing in a circle around him.
Funny you mention that because, for some reason, that picture brings Chelsea to my mind. I think it's the lower lip.
Seriously. I can't explain it. It's how I see the thing.
BTW, anyone care to guess the gender? I haven't a clue.
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