Althouse: "He was going to get the tattoo whether he liked it or not."

May 21, 2010

"He was going to get the tattoo whether he liked it or not."

"He would not be picked on anymore if he got it done."

32 comments:

Bob_R said...: Special place in Hell.; 5/21/10, 10:40 AM
chuck b. said...: The perps are all 18-20 years old and the victim is 9th grader.; 5/21/10, 10:41 AM
Fen said...: Death; 5/21/10, 10:47 AM
Unknown said...: Fen and Bob_R are right, but these idiots would get there soon enough, regardless.

OTOH, I get the impression this explains the current administration's foreign policy.; 5/21/10, 10:50 AM
The Drill SGT said...: I wonder what the definiton of maiming is in the state?

in some, disfiguring counts; 5/21/10, 10:54 AM
john said...: edutcher -

Than you must agree that it's Bush's fault.; 5/21/10, 10:56 AM
traditionalguy said...: The original purpose of tattoos was to voluntarily permanently mark someone as the property of some tribe or some god. So offering a tattoo as an initiation may have seemed sort of rational. Their false pretenses in doing it to a child as a cruel joke makes it criminal. What would we say if the victim was 18 and drunk?; 5/21/10, 11:09 AM
AllenS said...: Four young men might be getting prison tattoos.; 5/21/10, 11:10 AM
Kirby Olson said...: I agree with Fen.; 5/21/10, 11:14 AM
Joan said...: tradguy, it would really, really help if you would click through and read the link before commenting.

This is a case of criminal assault. The tattoo was not "offered".; 5/21/10, 11:24 AM
AllenS said...: The 14 year old victim, and Donald Wyman, 20; Ryan Fisk, 19; Travis Johnston, 18; and Blake VanNest, 18, and a fifth attacker, who is 15, were probably all in the same grade.; 5/21/10, 11:28 AM
Fen said...: No, the affidavit states the victim is a 9th-grader and that at least one of the perps (Blake) is an "upper-classman"; 5/21/10, 11:33 AM
Franklin said...: Typical gang of thuggish rednecks from the Northeast.

(Sorry! But you know somebody would've said something about it if they were from the South or Midwest.); 5/21/10, 11:46 AM
traditionalguy said...: Joan...I read the story several hours before Althouse ran it. I recall that the younger kid was told that acquiesence would stop their bulling of him. Did they hold him down and do it to him? If so, then I agree that it is a major crime whether he was over or under 18.; 5/21/10, 11:48 AM
prairie wind said...: This story makes me sick.

AllenS makes me laugh. I might be able to finish my lunch after all.; 5/21/10, 11:50 AM
AllenS said...: Fen,

I was trying to ridicule the obviously older boys, to make it look like they were still in the 9th grade.

I'll draw a picture next time.; 5/21/10, 11:53 AM
ricpic said...: How does anyone survive their youth?; 5/21/10, 11:54 AM
ricpic said...: That's pretty bad, grammatically. How does anyone survive his youth?; 5/21/10, 11:57 AM
TMink said...: 20 years should do.

This is akin to a rape.

Trey; 5/21/10, 11:57 AM
Kirby Olson said...: Even if they didn't hold him down the fact that he was a person who would have been called "retarded" before they started calling people like this "gifted," or "otherwise gifted," should make this an extraordinary hate crime calling for capital punishment not only of the four individuals in question, but also their parents.; 5/21/10, 12:23 PM
bagoh20 said...: The perfect penalty would be to get the same tattoo "Poop Dick" on each of their foreheads. They would each then truly regret and empathize the extent of their crime.; 5/21/10, 12:28 PM
Unknown said...: For several unpleasant years when I was a kid my father had a job in New England. My mother loved the place, the historical sites, the antiques, the leaves changing in the fall, the many colleges and universities. I hated it because of the people who live there, at least the kids. There is just something wrong with that place.

Fortunately, I survived without an ass tattoo and my dad got another job so that we moved away to someplace normal.; 5/21/10, 12:32 PM
bagoh20 said...: "Poop Dick" would be great tramp stamp, especially if it had a question mark at the end.; 5/21/10, 12:54 PM
prairie wind said...: Kirby, here's a possibilty: The hoodlums didn't hate their victim or feel much of anything about him except that he would be an easy mark.

If that is true, should their punishment be lighter than if they truly hated the kid? He has the tattoo, the pain, and the humiliation no matter what those bullies thought about him.; 5/21/10, 12:58 PM
Joan said...: Did they hold him down and do it to him? If so, then I agree that it is a major crime whether he was over or under 18.

They threatened to beat him up, repeatedly. The victim expressed his lack of consent and the pain he was in throughout the procedure. Nice of you to concede that it would be a crime if they actually had to hold him down while they did it. If these goons had raped your daughter, would you hold her to the same standard of resistance? Four against one and you want the 14-year-old kid to put up a fight to make it a crime? So he could end up bruised and bloodied as well as tattooed? Remember, they told him he was getting that tattoo whether he wanted it or not. The whole situation is sick, and the perpetrators deserve jail time.

(The one I really wonder about is the 15-year-old that just stood there and watched the whole thing -- didn't say anything against it, didn't leave. Could've been worse, I know, but it's still sick.); 5/21/10, 1:04 PM
Unknown said...: ricpic said...

How does anyone survive their youth?

A great many don't, according to the actuaries.; 5/21/10, 1:04 PM
Anonymous said...: One thing doesn't make sense. According to the arrest warrant application shown on The Smoking Gun, the victim was told that if he got the poop dick tattoo he'd also get a tattoo that he wanted - one with his girlfriend's name. If the victim is anything like the way he's described, there's no way in creation that he'd have a girlfriend. He'd be the sort of young man whom girls laugh at and call a psycho.

Peter; 5/21/10, 1:55 PM
kimsch said...: The story mentioned that the 19-year-old was a former student and the rest were students. 18-year-old seniors are common because of cut-off dates for grades, but a 20-year-old senior (or junior) is definitely uncommon. Seems as if he should be the one who is ridiculed. After all, he must have been held back several times...

wv: irdistat; 5/21/10, 4:20 PM
Fen said...: Allen: I was trying to ridicule the obviously older boys, to make it look like they were still in the 9th grade. I'll draw a picture next time.

Oh. Sorry. That one went over my head. I wondered what you were trying to say.; 5/21/10, 4:52 PM
knox said...: Nauseating.; 5/21/10, 6:21 PM
Beth said...: Seems as if he should be the one who is ridiculed. After all, he must have been held back several times...

You're onto something. This guy is just raining hell downward on some poor kid who can't call him out for being such a loser himself.; 5/21/10, 7:16 PM
Synova said...: School should not be compulsory. Period.

If education was based on voluntary associations (yes, of course, your parents can make you go) everyone involved would have a way to resolve bullying... the school, the teachers, the victims *and* the bullies... no matter who the victims or the bullies are; students *or* teachers.; 5/21/10, 7:34 PM