From chapter 27 of my newest book:
Free download. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/710151

Yesterday, I was doing some online job hunting. I clicked on a job profile to see that they insist
that their employee candidates be "clean cut". In parentheses after "clean cut" was something
along the lines of: No facial piercings, no visible tattoos, and no gauged ears.
Fuck! The body mod culture cannot be clean cut. We can't be presentable. We cannot look
professional. I hear all this talk of company dress codes but have you ever really thought about
what a clean cut modded person would look like? If I was going by this company's standards, a
clean cut modded person would look like they don't have mods at all.
We often hear of people that lack empathy. The lack of empathy is often linked to sociopathy,
schizophrenia, and autism. Yet, companies refuse to empathize with what it's like to be modded.
They treat modded people like they're insane...yet, it's illegal to discriminate because of a mental
handicap.
So, I sent this company a quick email that read:
Your views on body modification are prejudice. Eat poo.
Did this make me feel any better? No. As long as the US government doesn't consider
discrimination based upon body mods illegal, it's not discrimination. It's not prejudice or bigoted.
The company can look right at an employment candidate and say: "You can't work here because
of the minority you belong to." and that's legal. It's legal to treat people like me as if they are
probably criminals. We are treated like stupid fools. Eyesores. Sinners. All in a time when if you
treat any other minority that way, you'll get protested and publicly shamed. Seriously, a personcan go get their gender changed by surgeons and we have no choice but to respect their path in wedding dresses with long trains
life. We can't deny them jobs. Sure, the bathroom issue is kinda clusterfucked, but that's tricky
and trans people understand that. Yet, if John comes back to work Joanna, you have to respect
her. But, if Diane gets a lip piercing or hand tattoo, get ready to watch someone get fired. It's like
employers want Americans to be unemployed.
Sure, we hear all sorts of motherfuckers bitching about how the unemployment rate is too high.
It's lower than it's been in years, but any unemployment is too much unemployment...and to that,
I agree. Even if I had some menial job as a cashier at a grocery store, poverty isn't worth it. I
doubt these idealistic employers have any clue what it means to be poor and have employment
options as limited as African Americans had back in the mid 1900s.
I've heard people talking about how minority rights are all the rage right now...and how things
are changing for a better. By the time my nephews turn into legal adults, maybe there will be
laws in place protecting their rights to get modded. But for now, getting a lip ring is an
unemployment sentence. And, people tend to think that's fine. Don't you dare say faggot or
nigger, but laugh at the tv shows that always show modded people as crazy Metal freaks.
And if you are even slightly Goth, well you are fucked. Optimism is the paradigm these days. If
you find life even partially banal, you might as well cut your wrist enough to have permanent
scars so that you can be on anti-depressants all your life because it's not like you are going to be
able to go into a doctor's office and request a few painkillers for your chronic back pain.
I did this yesterday. I've had back pain for almost 10 years now. I sustained an injury at a job and
never got it looked at professionally because I didn't have insurance because it wasn't offered to
me. But, like most lower/middle class people know, you don't just "go to the doctor for
everything that you should". We live in sickness and pain. That's why it's in common wedding
vows to care for that person "in sickness" because we will live with sickness and pain because
the government and doctors don't really give a fuck.
And, if you look Goth or gangsta, don't you dare ask for anything that can be abused. Sure, an
old woman can go into your doctor's office and ask for something for her undiagnosed arthritis
and the doctor will hand out a script for 100 painkillers without question. But you, you tattooed
fuck, you are probably going to abuse them or sell them to recreational drug users.
So I began to tell the doctor about my back issues. How there is at least one day a week where
the back pain is so bad that I can't stand up or even sit up. I have to lay down for hours. When I
sit down, I have to slouch or lean over because I just can't fucking sit up straight anymore. The
doctor cut me off. He called me "dude". What doctor uses the word dude? Surely, I'm not
offended by people calling me dude...but usually it's someone that isn't a practicing physician.
We think of doctors as these trained professionals that are of some ideal social standard. People
of a decent simple genius that don't allow themselves to profile like crooked cops. But, they
aren't. Doctors can go fuck themselves. You wonder why medical insurance is so costly? It's
because of doctors. Doctors charge as much as they want for consultations. I've gone over this in
a past book, so I won't go too deeply on this but doctors are the real problem. We pay them to
know. That's all. Your family physician usually doesn't do much. Think back to ancient times when clans would have their one doctor-type person. The patient would go in and tell the doctor
what was up. The doctor would say a prayer, do some routine examinations, and give you some
potion to drink. Think of doctors now.
That thought should bother you.
You should be furious about how the body mod culture is neglected and treated like they deserve
unemployment.
I don't understand prejudice.
I don't understand bigotry.
I don't understand why the terms prejudice and bigotry don't apply when it comes to the body
mod culture.