Snap judgements happen in this society. It might not be good or right, it may even be downright unfair to the individual concerned - but if you pierce or tattoo your face, or if you dye your hair green, or if you don't change your clothes for a fortnight, then you are actively inviting a certain set of preconcieved ideas and you know you are doing it. The other side of the coin is that if/when Lee goes for a job interview, I reckon he'll take out some of the piercings and wear a suit in order to influence the interviewer's first impressions in the other direction. Lee is choosing to make the impression he does. It's not like being a different colour/gender/sexuality, these are things with no element of choice. I bet if you asked him Lee would say he was "making a statement" - he *wants* people to see him as part of the drug-abusing Kurt Cobain idolising group and has gone out of his way to cause this impression.