the site i found this on claims it was found to be “racist and offensive”…
…which i guess COULD be true. with only about a week left on most school calendars, i figured this might be a fitting note to close on.
but as i’ve said at the shop a hundred times, we live in an EXTREMELY litigious society these days. as a result, for example, we won’t touch anybody for a piercing under the guide line age of our insurance policy. never mind the fact that it is perfectly LEGAL to pierce the lip of, say, a thirteen year old girl, it’s not covered by our insurance policy…so while if we pierce (with parental consent, of course) we can’t be sued for endangering a minor…
…until the kid chips a tooth on the lip ring and the parent sees dollar signs after being in a nice shop with nice cars out front that obviously belong to employees – THAN we can get sued…and if they’re under the age of the insurance policy, law be damned, we have to pay out of pocket if we’re found libel.
fuck all that.
and it’s not just the body modification industry – in this age of the internet and the rampant pederasses out there (which i argue have always existed, it’s just that internet tracking and “to catch a predator” have put them more in the spotlight) all kids are protected twelve ways to sunday against…well…everything. sports teams don’t always get trophies or keep score any more so no kids feel like losers, especially the ones that ARE losers. and you can’t even be in a class picture without your parents signing off that it’s cool…
…really?
okay, for all my breeder readers out there (i just came up with that one, and feel it needs to be used more often!) is it REALLY a big deal if your kid’s pictured with your class and you didn’t give “expressed written consent” – who the fuck are you? the nfl commissioner? it’s because of that lunacy we got this…
now the article says there were TWO kids without signed forms, but as it was on a website aimed at the black community they focused on the face over the black kid – no mention of what race the other kid was OR the method used to conceal his or her face – but this is how they covered the black kid’s face since his parent’s hadn’t signed off on him being in the pic…and again, i don’t know if this was done to protect the kid’s privacy (i.e. his parents are nut jobs who don’t want their kids in pictures, which most of my friends who are parents facebook profiles would indicate is not a widespread issue) or they just don’t want the kids in the pic that didn’t pay for it? i don’t know…but either way the fact the photographer felt the need to do this is funny – in both senses of the word – to me…