Lady Gaga, who affectionately calls her fans "little monsters," used this guy in a rock video.
You know Lady Gaga. One of her most famous songs is "BORN THIS WAY."
So far, in the obits on this guy, nobody's shown a baby picture of him. I'd like to see it. He was BORN THIS WAY?
He either fell or jumped off a balcony on the third floor. His girlfriend suggested he went out to smoke a cigarette, and there was no sign that he was depressed or stressed.
That most jumped to the conclusion of suicide (at 32) might suggest that people had the idea that a pat, musical phrase "BORN THIS WAY" doesn't solve everyone's problems.
It may be impossible to determine whether this was a suicide or accident, but there's no question that some people who think tattoos are the answer, or joining some cult, do take their own lives. It's a dangerous thing to suggest they were BORN that way, and beyond help.
We seem to be in a New Age of pop psychology that dictates NOTHING is acquired. At least, NOTHING from very vocal minority groups, which includes not only gays, but skinheads, Nazis, and even serial killer fans. The latter will boisterously scream that their idols should be freed. They'll even marry their favorite killer if they can.
The excuse? They were, altogether, BORN THIS WAY. Natural born killers, in the case of John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson or the handsome and delightful Ted Bundy, etc. etc. The pop psychology of the day is that they aren't to blame for their behavior. BORN THIS WAY.
It used to be that a guy like Zombie Boy would be considered "Society's Child." If we don't blame the parents for him walking around like an extra in a shitty D-level horror film, we can blame society. Then what? Then we get the person some help. But today, when the excuse is BORN THIS WAY, then there's no help and no hope. Just be proud.
Despite appearing in a Lady Gaga video, BORN THIS WAY little Zombie Boy still had his problems. Would it have been so wrong to have said, "Take a look at you: you need some psychiatric help"? To have done that before he tattooed himself into oblivion? Is it wrong to say to people who tattoo Britney Spears' name and face all over, "You have an identity problem"?
Zombie Boy began making his tattoos pay when he became a freak. Yes, there are still "freak shows" that travel around, with odd looking people, sword swallowing, "extreme" stunts, etc. 90% of his body had tattoos which turned him partly into a human skeleton, partly into an exhibition of innards, partly a collection of gruesome stuff, and it partly turned peoples' stomachs. But it was a living and he was proud. Then Lady Gaga discovered him. After that? The Fashionistas decided he was a perfect model, and he showed up on runways wearing expensive designer crapola. His real "biggie" was being chosen by a make-up company to advertise...concealer. Got a blemish? Take a look at what we could do with THIS guy!
But he wasn't born with some skin deformity. He grew up and eventually decided to create his own skin deformity. Because he wasn't BORN THIS WAY; he began to think that way.
The backlash of BORN THIS WAY thinking, probably came from the misguided people who thought homosexuality could be "cured." The response was NO, we can't be CURED because...we were...(all together now) BORN THIS WAY.
Actually, nobody's done the research and produced the proof that all homosexuals were BORN THIS WAY. We're dealing with psychology more than physiology. Is there a gay gene? No. There are gays named Gene, but, no, you can't prick a homosexual and find that his DNA is different from a straight man. (A straight man is defined as somebody who can ignore making a joke about pricking a homosexual).
All seriousness aside, the answer should be, "Look, I'm gay, and I like men. YOU like to read pudgy E.L. James and do "Shades of Grey" crazy crap wearing leather. YOU like to cosplay as a "Game of Thrones" character. YOU like a wide variety of things in the Kraft-Ebing catalog. Do you want to go to therapy or spank the wife while she calls you 'Daddy?'"
In other words, most people would prefer to do what they want and not be "cured." Many also know that their adulthood, shaped by their childhood more than being BORN THIS WAY, makes it very difficult not to fall back on what comforts or drives them.
People lock up pedophiles because they are sex offenders and they will do it again and again and again. It's hard to "cure" them except perhaps via chemical castration or heavy medication. Do these pedophiles say BORN THIS WAY? Is that the excuse?
So this guy was a role model. Kids who weren't BORN THIS WAY, took a look at him, and how he became famous for making every day Halloween, and SOME of them shaved their heads or got tattoos or wore goth make-up and costumes that may or may not ultimately alienate them further, and fail them when their few "little monster" friends aren't enough to get them through the day. With or without drugs.
Lady Gaga has brought relief to a lot of "little monsters," but it's like a cough drop. Temporary relief of a sore throat. Lady Gaga is upset now? Suicide has often been called a permanent answer to a temporary problem. Permanent tattoos can't always solve a temporary problem either.
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