My hometown

[cormac]

The following appeared on the Colbert Report, in response to a KGET story about a doctor refusing to serve patients if they (or, if they're minors, their parents) have piercings or tattoos.

For those not from Bakersfield, this is an exception, but only in its intensity. The town is very Christian, and offers up a huge selection of churches and denominations (like gas stations and Mexican restaurants, there's a church on every corner in Bakersfield). It's good to see that KGET is reporting on some of the more rampant cases of bigotry, but there will be plenty of people in Bakersfield, even people who disagree with the doctor's decision, who will support him because it is a private practice.

There are times when I miss Bakersfield. This is not one of those times.

Oh, and "Jim Scott is the best anchorman in greater Bakersfield." *snerk*

Comments

[patgund.livejournal.com]

"But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." - Matthew 18:6

I'd say refusal to treat a child is an offense alright

[cormac.livejournal.com]

I suspect the doctor is using religious beliefs as an excuse, and that he hasn't really gone to Leviticus for guidance. Instead, he's enforcing a conservative 1950s attitude about image. If he were really trying to keep to the Bible, he'd either be walking among the lepers as a faith healer, or turning away most of Bakersfield.

[magenta513.livejournal.com]

You mean this doesn't make you homesick?

[cormac.livejournal.com]

Let's see: fundamentalist doctor, obese tattoo'd woman without the sense to go to Urgent Care, and kid with an ear infection. No, really the only thing causing homesickness is seeing the 17 logo, and even then not so much.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Oh so he's observing the charges in Leviticus is he? How was that ham sandwich for lunch, doc?

EAT A PIG, GO TO HELL!

[cormac.livejournal.com]

I didn't see the original story, but I doubt he quoted Leviticus in it. As I mentioned to patgund, it's more likely that the "Christian faith" he's citing is the faith instilled into him at an early age by his elders that people with tattoos and piercings were involved in drugs and motorcycle gangs. It's bigotry, not religion.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Well, Steven [or Jimmy the titler] did. Here is an interesting article on Christians and Tattoos: http://www.inplainsite.org/html/christian_tattoos.html

Leviticus 19:28 states, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord."

However... Galatians 6:17 states, "Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." Hmm, sounds like either tattoo or the saintly attribute of stigmata, which are much rarer in these wicked days.

[jillaw.livejournal.com]

*sigh* It's this stuff that give all the rest of us practicing Christians a bad name. (By the way, as you know, I am devout, and yet I have three tattoos, have had a few piercings, and am deciding what I want for another tattoo...and I'm a leader at my church) This is the kind of thing that makes people not like Christianity as a whole, because the idiots who profess it can't even live by the true message of the Bible.

By the way, I'm with ya on the mother. Urgent Care, woman, Urgent Care!

[jillaw.livejournal.com]

Oh, and for the record...I count myself among the "idiots" who can't seem to live by the Bible.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

This guy is a judgemental jerk. Nobody compares him with YOU for goodness sakes!

While I have never been a Christian, I dearly love the slogan "WWJD," What Would Jesus Do? He hung out with lepers and prostitutes and cured people. This doc has a lot of catching up The Example.

[cormac.livejournal.com]

It really is sad, and I admit that at one point I judged the whole of Christianity for the actions of people like this (far too many of 'em in Bakersfield). It wasn't until I got to college that I realized that there were Christians like you who actually read Jesus's words and did their best to live by them.

As for tattoos, I'd never get one (I don't think I'd care enough about anything long or strong enough to enjoy having it on me for the rest of my life, and being raised Jewish has made tattoos taboo for a completely different reason) but I enjoy seeing other people's tattoos. Your peacock, for example, or Kolfinna's cat, are beautiful works of art, and if I ever did get a tattoo I would hope that it would be just as impressive.

[andrastelovesu.livejournal.com]

i saw this on somebody's myspace. i laughed my ass off, but it was a pained laugh.