03 June 2007

Tattoo Removal Pt. 1

Once the symbol of nonconformity in a hopelessly conservative political landscape, the tattoo has now become the exact opposite – total conformity posing as nonconformity - the complete antithesis of what its supposed to stand for.

Back in the day the only people that had tattoos were bikers, metal heads, punx (done with hot pens), convicts (done with hot pens), old grandfathers who were in the Navy and Japanese gangsters............

If you had tattoo it meant you were somehow affiliated with a left of the dial lifestyle; it meant you were somehow an outcast or an outlaw.

But nowadays?! Fuggedaboutit. Who doesn't have a goddamn tattoo!? I wish I knew the real percentages because I'd swear people who don't have any tattoos have to be the minority at this point; at least in the 18-30something "set".

Like when the cat lady glasses girls and waif emo boys pretend they’re all total individuals that nobody understands, but they all somehow manage to look, sound, and act the same. Tattoos have taken on many different meanings in modern society: men with any sort of oriental symbol tattooed on their arms or torso are generally pretentious, pseudo-political douchebags. Girls with the ubiquitous tramp stamp above their ass just suck. Guys with barbed wire circling their arms (never connecting because they say its "bad luck" actually it just hurts more on the soft side) tend to be insecure assholes who probably work out a lot, refer to themselves as “badasses,” and secretly hate everything about who they are.

Those of us who got tattoos back when they actually meant something are a dying breed in the face of this new wave of tattooed douchebaggery – people who were getting inked back in the day are forced to watch, horrified, as an entire generation of neo-yuppies singlehandedly steals one of their generational symbols and perverts it beyond all recognition.

1 comment:

Analise Graziani said...

I don't think it's fair to necessarily say that every person today who gets tattooed is following the crowd.

It's safe to say that there are definitely those people, without a doubt. However, the fact of the matter is is that regardless of whether or not you are aware of the social history of tattoos or you just wanna get one like your friend's...they still paid the money and went through the pain. Everyone who has a tattoo has to earn it, so to speak. And although I do not personally agree with people who use anything to justify a new tattoo, I still respect that they wanted it bad enough to sit through it.

I have tattoos and I am 19. I got them because I have always had a love of tattoos and a general interest in body modification, and I got my first one when I was 16. My tattoos are beautiful, and I will continue to get them despite the fact that "Everyone else is doing it" because I genuinely love and respect the time and work put into them.