TLC SUCKS!

As if I didn't have enough issues with all the shitty tattoo TV shows that TLC likes to shove down our throats, now they're gonna air a show called 'Tattoo School'.  OK, I know of the existence of various so called tattoo schools, and all the shit shops that run apprentice mills just to line their pockets with no regard for what it is doing to the tattoo industry, but this shit really pisses me off.  And, looking at my FaceBook page, it has apparently pissed off a lot of other people.  I don't know that I've ever seen the tattoo community as a whole quite so irritated by anything before.  Lemme tell ya how I see things, specifically the negative influence of tattoo TV on the industry.  In the early part of the new century, tattooing saw a rise in popularity primarily due to the fact that more celebrities and sports figures started visibly sporting tattoos- generally pretty shitty tattoos (don't ask me why the people with the money to get the best tattoos get absolute fucking garbage, I'm still trying to figure that one out myself).  Next thing ya know, we started seeing tattoo imagery in ads, on clothing, and just about every-fucking-where else.  The media geniuses see this and fast forward to 2005, were treated to 2 different TV shows- 'Inked' and 'Miami Ink'.  Now tattooers are on TV.  All of a sudden, they're fucking rockstars (and who doesn't want to be a rockstar).  These shows don't show what it's actually like to work day in day out in a tattoo studio- they show people doing some tattoos here and there, but also show them doing things like going to Vegas, riding 4-wheelers, buying cars, and opening trendy bars.  THAT AIN'T FUCKIN' TATTOOING!  That's a fantasy created by the media to sell to the ignorant masses.  They're billed as reality shows, why bother to show anything close to reality?  Reality doesn't sell, fantasy and flashing lights, that's what sells.  A very good friend of mine was a guest on one of those shows and told me that on his first day of shooting, they had him walk through the front door of the shop 9 times before they got the shot just right.  NINE FUCKING TIMES!  How's that for reality?  Well, the ignorant masses bought it.  Next thing ya know, everyone wants to be a fucking tattooer so they can be cool and buy fancy cars too.  Once upon a time, there were only a handful of tattoo supply companies, and the majority of them were reputable and would only sell to people that could prove that they worked in a legitimate tattoo studio.  With more and more people wanting to become tattooers (remember- so they can be cool), even the respectable suppliers started to sell to the home tattooers.  OK, it's business- they saw the scumbag suppliers making money hand over fist selling to these fucks and figured they should get some of that money too.  More and more suppliers started popping up, and selling to hacks that were scarring people up and had no training in the prevention of spreading blood borne pathogens.  More tattooers?  The greedy media fucks see tattooing continuing to get bigger and what do they do?  They decide that they need more fucking TV shows about tattooing, so we're given LA Ink and some stupid show about a guy tattooing on a fucking bus.  More TV shows = more rockstar tattooers = more idiots wanting to be rockstar tattooers = more shitty suppliers (are you starting to see how this goes?).  It just keeps going, and now it's to the point that for a number of years now, the tattoo industry has been totally and completely over-saturated with tattooers (although I hesitate to refer to most of them as 'tattooers').   Now, TLC is going to treat us to 'Tattoo School' (and, no, I didn't forgot about NY Ink that they gave us just a few weeks ago- Fuck Me).  Tattoo School is of course filmed at a fucking tattoo school, namely the Tattoo Learning Center in Albany NY, where you can learn to tattoo in just 2 weeks.  The instructor is Lisa Fasulo, who claims to be an 'award winning artist', except nobody's ever fucking heard of her (at least nobody that I know, and I know a good number of folks).  Lemme tell ya something- there are so many conventions these days that they're handing out awards like they're fucking lollipops.  Now, I'm pretty sure that at some point while surfing the net, I came across her tattoo school in the past, and sure, I was probably pissed when I saw it, but it wasn't on fucking TV!  Once this shit airs, we're gonna see tattoo schools opening all over the place.  Just like the tattoo supply business blew up, the tattoo school business is gonna blow up.  Why?  Because some dick-hole saw it on TV and decided that He/She wants some of that 'tattoo teachin' money'.  More Schools = More Shitty Tattooers = More...(I've already told ya how that one goes).  The people at TLC are greedy scumbag fucks who will continue to rape the tattoo industry until they can't squeeze another fucking penny out of it, then throw it away like a shit covered rag.  Lisa Fasulo and anyone else that owns and operates a tattoo school or an apprentice mill is a greedy fuckin' scumbag that doesn't deserve to be part of an industry with as rich a tradition as tattooing.  These are people that if I heard that they got run over by a bus, I would throw a party.  I honestly hope that tattooing becomes totally fuckin' un-cool, then I can get back to tattooing for a living and loving what I do.  FUCK YOU TLC.  FUCK YOU LISA FASULO.  

If you would like to read more of my ranting on a similar topic, you can read my post from July of last year:  YOU PEOPLE RUINED TATTOOING