{"id":1705,"date":"2004-09-24T13:35:43","date_gmt":"2004-09-24T17:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=1705"},"modified":"2022-11-07T18:44:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T23:44:32","slug":"message-to-theodore-dalrymple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=1705","title":{"rendered":"Message to Theodore Dalrymple:"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your article discussing why tattooes are no longer exclusive to the “proletariat” class<\/a>, and the trend of middle-class folks getting tattooes now – even WOMEN are getting them now – strikes me as way over-blown. There is a trend, of course there is, but … so what? Why are you so worried about it? So often you come off as a Victorian woman reaching for the smelling salts. It’s embarrassing for you.<\/p>\n

You sound, frankly, disturbed<\/i> by the tattoo trend. You have a lot of worries about what it means<\/i>. You have a lot of opinions<\/i>. You say that one man’s stated reason for getting a tattoo (it makes him feel “special”) is “infinitely sad”.<\/p>\n

Time for the Redhead to take the gloves off, Ted. Who the hell are you to say what is or is not infinitely sad? Get off your high horse.<\/p>\n

People have their own reasons for doing things, and you <\/i>may think they are half-crocked, but I beg your pardon: who the hell cares what you<\/i> think? Who appointed you the arbiter of what is or is not “infinitely sad”?<\/p>\n

Full disclosure: In case you haven’t guessed, I have a tattoo. Dalrymple seems especially disturbed by the fact that “even” women are getting tattooes now … and not just on body-parts hidden by clothes<\/i>. He can’t get over THAT one. I got my tattoo for my own reasons, I knew exactly what I was doing and why … and all of this I am sure Dalyrymple would find “infinitely sad”.<\/p>\n

He only finds it “infinitely sad” because HE would never get a tattoo for those stated reasons. HE would never behave in such a way.<\/p>\n

I hate that kind of moral judgment from on high, based on nothing objective, only “I would never do such a thing”.<\/p>\n

So here’s my message to Ted:<\/p>\n

Sometimes you just have to suck it up and say: “You know what? I am old <\/i>, and I do not understand the younger generation. I have to admit that I am completely un-hip. I don’t get it. But … oh well. Guess I’m just out of tune with the times.”<\/p>\n

Don’t make it mean some big thing<\/i>, like society’s going down the toilet, oh my God, stop the clock, stop the clock, why can’t we go back to a time when the younger generation didn’t do such incomprehensible things<\/i>???<\/p>\n

Er – what time would that<\/i> be, I wonder?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your article discussing why tattooes are no longer exclusive to the “proletariat” class, and the trend of middle-class folks getting tattooes now – even WOMEN are getting them now – strikes me as way over-blown. There is a trend, of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1705"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183045,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705\/revisions\/183045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}