Some are taking this WAY too seriously. It’s not that there’s a misunderstanding (what’s to misunderstand?). I’m just saying that trends seem to reach a peak and then turn downward. I’m saying that it might be time for the downward turn concerning this black, blade/asian looking type tatoo. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just an observation of how many are getting in line and being ununique while attempting to be unique.
And, I too, wasn’t aware that having a tatoo was a statement of “Fuck you”. Next time I see one, I’ll have to respond accordingly.
Well, I personally have 2 tattoos ( a moon crescent on my shoulder blade, and the numbers 24601 on my lower lower back ), but I also dislike the girls who get the rose on their shoulder because EVERYONE else is.
A big part of tattooing is expressing yourself. Are THAT many girls into flowers and gardening???
“24601”? Most people just write their locker combinations down on a piece of paper.
Tattooing might be expressing yourself, but how many people stay themselves for very long? Tastes change, and then you’re left with some memento of your previous self.
Exactly Finagle. I was in the Navy for 4 years and circled the globe. Every time we pulled into some port (yes, even Australia) I thought of going to a tattoo place and branding myself. But, try as I may, I really couldn’t come up with something that meant THAT much to me to emblazen it on my skin. And even if I did, would it mean that much to me 30 years later. Unlikely.
I had a friend who actually had the typical Navy bouquet of flowers on his arm with a blank window in the middle of it where you’re supposed to put your girls name in there. He left it blank. He was engaged at the time and when I asked him about it, all he said was, “Ya never know”.
As far as I know, 20 years later he’s still walking around with that blank space. Doesn’t bother me but, makes me wonder about the persons resolve. If I’m interviewing a guy like that for a job, I don’t know that I’d take him seriously. Again, just my opinion.
I thought about some sort of biting sarcasm for a remark, but it’s just not worth the effort.
The internet is worldwide.
The message board is worldwide
The very person you are speaking to may very well be from Iraq.
There’s a fairly good chance he or she is not from “this country.”
And your God given right to free speech doesn’t always stretch where you want it to go. Specifically when dealing with private organizations.
So you may want to understand a bit more about world geography and grab a pamphlet or two that helps explain the 1st amendment’s scope.
I used to think I wanted a tattoo. I still kinda do (I’d like to have a tiny green snake around my ankle) but I have discovered that when I see other women with tattoos, I have this sort of mental lip-curl reaction. It’s completely involuntary, and I only recently became aware that I have this reaction. Intellectually, I don’t really see anything wrong with tattoos, but the visceral reaction I have makes me think I should probably work on my prejudices some.
I wanted a small pegasus tattoo when I first joined the Navy in 1981. I chose not to get it. I always figured I’d change my mind within 3 weeks of getting it.
I waited 17 years before getting my pegasus tattooed on my calf. Another year and I added a permanent anklet. A year later I added one of those “butterflies” someone mentioned. However it was drawn by me and very rarely seen. The butterfly has a meaning to me. It means the end of a stiffling relationship in which I felt like I had been shoved into a cocoon. The buttefly was the re-emergence of my spirit.
But I got them for me. I put them where I can see them. Why have them if I can’t enjoy them.
I also figure if someone doesn’t like them, don’t look.
This would be you excersizing that 1st amendment privilege huh? Hmmm, you seem to be able to use it freely.
Yes, I’ll admit that some tattoos are “cool”. I’m just pointing out that the fad of women getting these black spikey kind of things seems to be running the route of an outdated fashion trend.
Very few tatts are attractive to me; that’s just -me- though. Not saying that folks shouldn’t get them, and yes some are attractive (a lady at work has a “bracelet” tatt that looks very nice). But the other day I was on the bus, and here’s this guy with a tatt of a naked woman on his forearm–it just looked totally tasteless to me. Not to mention that any young child riding on the bus would be exposed to it.
-glances down her back to where she can just see her new dragon tattoo-
I think tattoo’s are rather neat actually. As long as they aren’t the same type everyone is getting and mean something to you. Mine is a sort of tribal dragon (not very big really) in black. It’s wings are very fae looking. Basically for me… well I am the Dragon Lady or Dragonling… dragons and the faeness of the wings remind me of my dreams… of fantasies that, though may change, will always be there and should be held onto. Even the old ones sometimes just for nostalgia.
I considered long and hard before getting it done (a number of years) and what it would mean to me. Besides I figure if I ever really regret it by that time laser surgery to remove it will be cheapo
Oh… and this is the only one I am planning on getting right now. There are a couple of other designs I was considering getting but not in the forseeable future. One of those designs is a rose but I have never ever seen anyone with it actually tattooed on them. It is a design I picked up elsewhere (roleplaying in fact, I’ve had it drawn on me several times for a character) but I have also modified it somewhat to my image of it.
tarragon 918 has nailed my personal dream tattoo. I wear a silver bracelet every day. It’s just something I do, I’ve got about 5 of them. I’ve dreamt of finding a very beautiful design, and having it tattooe’d ( tattood? tattooed? painted !) UNDER the area covered by the bracelets. That way, on days when I wish to doff the silver, I have something of my own chosing there on my wrist. I can see the point of the O.P.
It seems to me that our dear Omni is as much miffed about the lockstep mentality here as he/she is about the idea of tattoos themselves.
You can move with the crowd and color your hair fuscia and it’ll grow out. But if you impregnate your dermal layers with finely wrought permanent dyes that coalsece, dot by dot, to form the image of Pee Wee Herman at the movies- well bucko, be prepared to tell the grandkids who Paul Rubens was… :eek:
Though I have a bunch of big honkin’ tattoos, I agree that lots of tattoos that I see are stupid and ugly. (Yours, Leonora, are really nice.) (Mine can be seen, by those who are interested, at this website, graciously offered by Hamadryad.
But people who open threads, or respond to threads (genie?) just to say that no one cares about tattoos, are amusing–they clearly care about them enough to go out of their way to express negative opinions.
Omnipresent, there is a lot more to understand or misunderstand than you realize. But as seawitch pointed out, no one with tattoos had you in mind when they got inked. And as INSANE1 mentioned, it’s interesting that people with tattoos never piss and moan about those without them. And Finagle, having a memento of a previous self, or an important passage, is not necessarily a bad thing.
For my part, I wouldn’t say that my tattoos are a way of saying “fuck you” to society, but certainly I wouldn’t mind addressing that message to certain elements of society. Those who are offended by my tattoos would probably do well to stay away from me anyway, since we probably wouldn’t get along. Not all of my friends like tattoos, but they are all open-minded enough not to condemn those who have them.
Men with earrings has been done. Women with earrings too. Still, lots of people like earrings. What’s it to you? Shirts have been done, too–does that mean we should all stop wearing shirts? Why do you care what I wear?
VERY, VERY GOOD Cartoon. You got it!!!
And, I might say, very well put. “Lockstep mentality”, you don’t mind if I use that in the future do you?
That IS it really. I just happen to be hightlighting the tatoo community. But, the route of eyebrowe raise is really due to this universal dumbing down thinking of “Hey, someone’s got that, I’ll get that too”.
I mean, I can see if it truly IS a personal thing that you want to say in the way of a tatoo, but I’m suspect that a lot of 13 year old girls are getting these things and using them as if it were jewerly. Even the most pro-tatoo people would have concern over that I would think.
And by the by, Tatoo’s don’t disturb me. I’m not offended. And this droning on response about “why do you care?”, is certainly an insecure response. People have opinions on observations. People voice these opinions. You don’t have to agree.
One last thing - about “shirts”. Ya know what’s getting old for me, this t-shirt wearing with a suit thing.
My favorite tattoo story was in the Radio Shack when I was getting some batteries and I had the kids along. I saw this bar code tattoo on a young, slightly scruffy guy’s forearm at the counter. Hmm… “How interesting” I thought “this must be some statement about alienation or objectification in modern society”, and being the shy, retiring type that I am asked - “That’s a neat bar code tattoo what does it represent?” eager for the fascinating story, and he replied - "Oh…uh… it’s just off a pack of cigarettes I liked ". - “Wow that’s interesting!” I replied.
The kids (11 and 14 at the time) looked at me after we got back in the car and my daughter said “Well, well!” She is soon to be 16 and any time we talk about this modern life and I tease her about getting a tattoo when she turns 18, she harkens back to cigarette package tattoo boy and tells me she’s not sure she wants to join that exclusive club just yet.
I could easily make a case for your position being indicative of insecurity. (What others do, what others have, even though it doesn’t affect you in any way, bothers you. One explanation might be that you secretly wish you had the guts, freedom, or whatever to do what they do–a kind of “sour grapes” response.)
At the risk of changing the course of a thread that possibly should have been in the Pit and redirecting it from IMHO to GD, can you give any explanation at all for your statement that tattooed people wondering why you care is certain evidence of insecurity? To me it seems evidence of curiosity. I’m genuinely curious: why do you care? I don’t see where you’ve answered that question.
I also don’t like “lockstep mentality,” and I designed my tattoos myself. I also understand that the way a person dresses or decorates his or her body doesn’t tell the whole story about that person’s mentality.
I don’t like all the music I hear, or all the hairstyles or all the shoes I see. Is it worth my time to start a thread criticizing them? No, because I don’t care that much, and I’ve known a lot of people who listen to stupid music and wear stupid hairstyles, whom I nevertheless respect. If I don’t like a shoe style, I don’t buy it. If it bothered me enough to make me complain about it, I would feel distinctly insecure.
So again, I ask: Why do you care? And again: How is this question indicative of insecurity?
I guess because you’re obviously offended by someone’s opinion that differs from your own. That certainly seems to be a main sign of insecurity.
I don’t think it’s as deep as you’re making it. You ask "Why do I care?’ about a certain subject? I guess, simply because I see and hear and I have opinions on what I see and hear. Nothing more than that.
Not jumping on you specifically right now but, you touched on something that I always found curious myself. When someone posts a thread, almost always there is someone who says, “why is this thread in THIS forum”. What’s the difference? Why do YOU care? If it is doesn’t fit into the forum which the Administrators intended, I’d assume that they’d move it without the input of others. Just curious.
The 1st amendment tells Congress they cannot abridge your freedom of speech. The 14th amendment moves that restriction onto the state level as well.
So the government can’t force me to stop typing and cannot erase my words, this is true. But the real power in this case, in this forum, comes from the Chicago Reader. They do not have to adhere to the 1st amendment AT ALL. If they wished to erase this post for any reason, or for no reason, that is their right. And there isn’t a darn thing I can do about it.
So I guess maybe I’m lucky. This post of mine is less permanent than a tattoo.
I am a little defensive about tattoo-phobia, but not offended. If I had been offended, I guess I might have started a thread. Since you started the thread, Omni, I guess you must have been offended. And who was it that equated taking offense with feelings of insecurity? Right, that was you.
Anyway, back to my still unanswered questions. Do you have an answer? I didn’t think so.
Not to mention that any young child riding on the bus would be exposed to it.