Sunday, September 8, 2013

Let Your Freak Flag Fly


With football season well underway I have been giving quite a bit of thought to the Aaron Hernandez case (anyone as tired hearing about it as I am?). Whether he killed a man or not is not what I have been giving any thought to, though the thought of such a crime for a star athlete to commit is heinous. However I have been questioning the implications Hernandez’s crime has placed on the NFL.

For my readers who have paid no mind to the case here is the twenty-second spiel. New England Patriots’ tight end, Aaron Hernandez was arrested and convicted for first-degree murder of Odin Lloyd in late June. This came as a shock to fans nation wide considering Hernandez had just signed a $40-million contract with the Patriots only months before his arrest.
Since Hernandez’s arrest rumors have been flying that the NFL is talking about hiring police experts to analyze players’ tattoos to determine whether or not they are affiliated with gangs, murderous cults or the like.

Apparently it is not illegal to discriminate against someone for certain tattoos and piercings in the NFL, however it maybe an overreach. The ridiculousness of these rumors is that they are not rumors at all. Whether or not the NFL will actually implement this plan is another story.
Imagine being discriminated against for your tattoos, piercings, manner of dress or even unnatural hair color. That is what I think when I hear the NFL’s plan. Sounds like the days of parochial grade schools.
Suppose the NFL implements this plan and things coincidentally shape up in the athletic world. What would stop other institutions from implementing the same strategy? What if students were suddenly discriminated against for the same reasons keeping them from attending institutions of higher education?

This thought of legally being able to be discriminated on for tattoos and piercings disturbs me greatly because I have several piercings and tattoos that could be seen as questionable especially for an emerging scientist and woman non the less.

What if someone had the right to suddenly deny me my marine biology degree because I have a tattoo on the inside of my lip that could be construed as anti-establishment?

For someone to suddenly decide that something seen externally is enough grounds to revoke someone’s dreams and hard work is the most frightening thought. Have we not learned that discrimination on the physical level never turns out well for either party? If we allow this sort of thing to occur in the media and in our entertainment we may very well find it creeping into our actual lives. Creeping into our schools and our work places.

The point is, don’t let anyone in a perceived place of power make you feel inferior or embarrassed for the way you choose to look. So you look like a Shadowhunter from the Mortal Instruments series, so what. As long as you are proving people wrong that tattoos and piercings do not affiliate you with a gang, low intelligence or drug use there will be no room for discrimination. 

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