December 22, 2024
After a multitude of tattoos, amputations and surgeries to turn himself into something resembling a "black alien," a French man says he's run into a bit of a problem: Not...

After a multitude of tattoos, amputations and surgeries to turn himself into something resembling a “black alien,” a French man says he’s run into a bit of a problem: Not a whole lot of people in his part of the galaxy want to give him work.

According to Indy100, a publication associated with the U.K. Independent, Anthony Loffredo has what we’d consider to be the modern version of fame and self-realization.

Instagram followers: 1.2 million. The 34-year-old has manufactured a total body transformation into his ideal self — in this case, a being that doesn’t look like it’s from this planet. He’s living his truth, as we’d say.

And yet, Loffredo is upset because prospective employers “judge him.”

That quite obvious statement came during a recent episode of the Spanish-language podcast Club 113.

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“I can’t find a job, there’s lots of negative stuff,” he told them. “It could be positive because you feel better, but you have to know there’s also a dark side.”

You would think anyone with a functioning brain would know.

Would you offer this man a job?

Yes: 2% (4 Votes)

No: 98% (261 Votes)

(Here at The Western Journal, we believe people should be free to make their own decisions — but also shouldn’t be free from the consequences of those decisions. Mr. Loffredo seems to think otherwise. If you agree with us, please consider subscribing.)

Loffredo didn’t just become the “black alien” after a few tattoos. Oh, there were plenty of those, to be sure — including on his eyeballs.

However, he also has body modifications like a split tongue and other implants to make him look more like an otherworldly creature. He’s also undergone two amputations so that his left hand more accurately resembles a claw, as well as amputations on his ears and his nose.

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Strangers, he said, can react poorly when they first meet him.

“It’s a fight every day, because every day you find new people who don’t understand, who want to judge,” he said.

“It’s life, not everyone understands everything. Like me, I don’t understand lots of things about lots of people.

“You can’t judge someone, no one knows what’s inside someone’s head, why they’re doing that, you need to talk with this person.”

I concede I don’t know everything that’s going on inside the head of Mr. Loffredo, but I — and others — are making informed judgments based on a series of inward choices he’s made that are reflected outwardly on his body.

This isn’t just a tattoo or four. Loffredo has undergone a conscious effort to turn himself into what, to a human, is an archetypal alien.

He wants people to believe he’s otherworldly, to identify him as if he really were an alien. Yet, he’s somewhat mystified when — confronted with an individual that appears otherworldly by deliberate effort — they’re taken aback.

By changing his outward appearance to resemble a life form that didn’t originate from this planet, he has purposely (and purposefully) set himself apart from it. Yet, he still wants prospective employers to treat him as if he were any other job applicant,  as if his appearance — and the worldview that compelled him to achieve it — has no bearing on how functional he may be in the workforce.

“I’m a normal guy, I work, I have a family,” Loffredo said. “I like being looked at like a normal guy with a job, with a family, who has a friend, girlfriend, all of that. That’s what makes me normal.”

I feel for Mr. Loffredo; his case is illustrative of how dramatically our age believes our perceived identities ought to trump God-given bedrock realities of biology. It also demonstrates how viral fame often encourages those who should be seeking help to seek social media clout, instead.

However, when one feels the need to imitate a nonexistent alien species through numerous body modifications and surgeries, one ought to realize that people will assume that outward change is meant to provoke a judgment from the rest of humanity — and even if one doesn’t realize it, it won’t stop that judgment from being provoked.

Tattoos do not wash off, amputations do not reappear and body modifications aren’t so easy to un-modify. Identity is not universally fungible and actions still have consequences. Loffredo may look like a being from another planet — but for the foreseeable future, he’s stuck on Earth, where those facts remain immutable, no matter how hard people may try to get around them.

C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.

C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).

Birthplace

Morristown, New Jersey

Education

Catholic University of America

Languages Spoken

English, Spanish

Topics of Expertise

American Politics, World Politics, Culture