Let me respond with a couple of clichés. How about “Live and let live”. Another would be “Judge not, lest yea be judged”.

We may also consider the words of Martin Luther King when he spoke of his dream that someday people “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”.

Finally, consider a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt – “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events and small minds discuss people.”

“Marc Sonnen has too many tattoos for being white.”
Whoever made that statement has taken bigotry to an entirely new, and more horrible, level- one which fuses racial hatred with hatred of personal choice.

Numerous tattoos nearly always depict life events, people known and/or related to on some intimate level, a personal loss/tragedy/triumph,or ones reaction to or feeling about some great event on the world stage. These persons places or things are unique to each individual but utterly common in that everyone has them. So, it would seem, blatant tattoos are no more than billboards to promote the self. So like any other egoist display I personaly tend to ignore them as best possible. They can, of course be benign and banal or highly offensive and reactions usually reflect their intent.

I stood in line at a store behind a young fellow who had the twin lightning bolt symbol of the Nazi SS tattooed on the back of his upper arms. My repulsion was immediate and negative view of the guy profound.

Too each his own. When I see a lot of tatoos on some one I only wonder who will dread them more, as the years go by. But if I see a tatooed face, I have to wonder what drugs they were on at the time and how do they like washing dishes the rest of their lives. That is of course, if they ever have a job.

People should mind their own business. It is not their place to condemn anyone for choosing to express themselves differently from the way others might.

How should society react to heavily-tattooed people? How about treating them like people?

My cousin Rog (as in Roger) spent the Korean War in the Navy and got the requisite tattoos—big ugly blue Chinese dragons on both forearms. My cousin Tom spent WW II in the Merchant Marines (North Atlantic) and not only had a couple of tattoos but also a pierced earring. He survived two cargo ships torpedoed and sunk.
Neither spent the rest of their lives washing dishes. Both were law abiding hardworking tax paying citizens with steady jobs and families thank you very much
It would be nice if a culture such as ours which celebrates individualism would every once in a while actually respect it

I don’t have any tats. Never really saw the need for any on me. No piercings, either.
I don’t have a problem with other folks having ‘em. I’ve seen some absolutely beautiful work on my friends and other folks. While I have seen some tats that I personally object to (neoNazi, etc), I don’t judge the person for having a tat, in and of itself.I’d be as equally offended were they wearing a button or tshirt with the same message.

How should one react to someone who has intentionally and extensively branded and disfigured themselves?

Well I suppose with some compassion, and a certain amount of caution. In all cases that I’ve encountered, people with extensive tattoos have encountered a significantly damaging event in their lives. In most of the cases, they consider themselves as survivors. And for that, I congratulate them. But some only like to call attention to themselves for the good or bad that comes from it. And its those types of people who use this ‘art form’ as a way to call attention to themselves, that society has to watch out for.

I usually have to wonder about people who get “Hey, look me!” body-mods, and then get shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, when people look at them. How should they be reacted to? It’s all about the context: what, when, and where.

I feel to each their own. 99.9% of the tattoos out there have deep meaning behind them. I do not have any tats at this point in life but not because I don’t want them, it’s for when I have “fun money” to get them. My son and daughter both have them. To others they may just look like a tat but to them each and everyone of them have a meaning behind it. For me there is no higher honor to a lost loved one or friend then to have them memorialized on the skin. A tat is not something I feel someone should just get on an impulse. It should be something that you put thought into and has meaning. If it has meaning, you will have no regrets later in life. I just feel we need not be judgemental of others unless we walk the shoes they have and do walk.

I’ll never forget the time I ran into a big burly guy who had his whole face tatooed out. I was looking at it, and he gruffly asked me what I was looking at. I said “Your tats.” He said he didn’t like people staring at him, so I asked why he got them in the first place. He said “To express myself.” I followed that with “Well, if people don’t look, then how can you express yourself?” I had him and he knew it. As I told him – if you’re doing to do this, then don’t get upset when people look. Some of us want to see the art. If you get all inked out, be prepared for people to look. If we don’t, the tats aren’t that great!