We don't want to see that in America!

At A Glance Author Creeper Contact [email protected]

"What the hell did you do to your ears? You look like one of those Africans or something!"

"Actually, the majority of body modifications are of cultural origin."

"Are you from Africa?"

"No."

"Have you ever been there?"

"No."

"Well, we don't want to see that in America!"

One word comes to mind when I recall the day this conversation took place at my work: ignorance. What bothered me most about this encounter was that the woman I spoke with was of African descent. She had completely forgotten her roots and immersed herself in the status quo and society's standards. I could have argued the merits of body modification and its cultural significance but it would have done me no good whatsoever. Besides, there was another idiot in line with another ignorant comment.

"Jesus! How did you do that? That must have taken some eggs."

"Actually, if done correctly you only experience mild discomfort when inserting larger jewelry."

"Damn. Makes my nuts hurt just lookin' at 'em."

Meanwhile, his wife just stared at me like I had just hopped off the mothership. I had begun to lose my faith in the human race at this point and with good hope. What I had done to my ears was neither extreme nor alien to this planet. For thousands of years there have been others that have done things far more extreme than a 00ga and a 2ga in the same ear. Hell, I can log on to BME and show a hundred other people with larger holes in their ears. But, there wasn't time for that. Now it was time for his wife to open her mouth. I guess it just takes someone that ignorant that long to think of something intelligent to say.

"What do your parents think?"

Did I say something intelligent to say? I must have meant stupid. So, I tried to pull a Jon Cobb.

"You don't ask the Indian women what their parents think of their nose piercings and bindis, do you?"

"That's part of their culture though."

I guess somehow our culture doesn't include stretched piercings. Maybe having a grandfather that was a full-blooded Yaqui doesn't mean that I feel a connection to my ancestors when I follow in the tradition of body modifications. Maybe the general public is just a group of idiots. I'm opting for the latter. People obviously have no idea what culture really means. Culture is the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought as reported by Dictionary.com.

Keyword: Totality. Every single one of us comprise the culture of America (or Canada or whatever the case may be). That means from the nullos to the nazis, we all share the same culture. We are all one. So why is it that we fight amongst each other? And I don't mean just the unmodified versus the modified or vice versa.

I've heard idiotic statements such as these: "My ears are way cooler than yours." It's not a fucking contest! Modifications were never a contest and they never will be. It will always be an expression of self. To me, my modifications are how I am supposed to look. Everytime I get one step closer to the mental image I have of myself, my smile widens. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that we need to educate and unite.

If there are always people that think we're just a bunch of freaks, we will never achieve acceptance. In order to achieve that we need to educate the ignorant. Once they have been enlightened we will be closer to acceptance. But, we can never get close if we can't stop struggling amongst each other. Unite!

Why am I wasting my time writing this? It's important to me that people are culturally aware. After all, ignorance equals hate. Hate equals destruction. People hate what they can't understand. That includes all of you homophobes. Yeah, it's tough to admit when you were wrong or ignorant, but the pain that that brings is equal to the pain your mods brought, in that it brings about a new level of beauty. Even I at one time sported a "No GLASS" sticker on my backpack. (GLASS is Gays, Lesbians, And Straight Supporters). But now, I've realized that I was just a closet bisexual the whole time.

By now, I have gone completely off on a seperate tangent, but I can't stress enough how important it is that we work together to educate the masses and quit fighting amongst each other. So, the next time someone asks you a dumb question about your mods, don't flip 'em off (even if that is easier). Instead, explain the cultural, mental, and spiritual significance of allowing your innerself to match your outerself.