The Tattoo Taboo
A reasoned objection to the tattoo culture
Why can’t I watch one minute of television today, or even walk down the street, without being overwhelmed by an onslaught of tattoos?
Illustrated millennials have so much body art they have become walking, talking graphic novels.
Today’s tattoo loving generation can’t get enough of the scarring and pain, or of themselves.
This pain-inducing violation of their persons has become the primary way young people express vacuous thoughts such as, “peace”, “determined”, “breathe”, or “freedom”. Are these tattoos or are they words their owners can’t consistently spell without aid?
When did the tattoo go mainstream? How can an act engaged in by computer engineers and mixed-martial arts fighters alike be rebellious?
Before the late 1990s tattoos were the exclusive domain of sailors, both traditional and the spinach –loving sort, marines, bikers, and oddly enough barbers. Each of these people, all men of experience both legal and illegal, were expressing their affiliation with a sub-set group within our culture.
Tattoos were not glamorous, and they were disdained by the public with good reason. Tattoos were for beer-swilling, tough, men of action. The thought that frat boys, college girls, and young people of virtually no life experience would indulge in this ancient art is unfathomable and lacks any logic. The sole traumatic experiences of their lives are limited to violating their credit line.
Privileged young people whose life experiences are digital, should not have tattoos. The hardships these entitled children endure are restricted to a Wi-Fi or cell signal outages. The sum injury they suffer as a result is their inability to post what they had for breakfast.
A man of my advanced age is familiar with tattoos that center on common themes. An anchor is time-honored, as is “Mom”, and of course the name of one’s wife or girlfriend. The last one has too often been applied before the temporary nature of the relationship is revealed and the permanence of the tattoo is not properly considered.
I have no idea what the anchor means, perhaps that arm is heavier than the other. In any case the anchor along with the others mentioned above, are part of our American culture and easy to recognize.
Today, it seems nearly everyone has a tattoo. While at one time the tattoo was expressed membership in an exclusive fraternity (never a sorority), today’s tattoos assert the exact opposite. Rather than identifying the owner as the member of a larger group they intend to express individuality, except that they are so prevalent that the premise becomes absurd.
At one time no self-respecting man would have a tattoo of more than two-words in length now young people get tattoos after reviewing them with spell-check. Modern tattoos qualify as essays. Of what possible cache is it to have the entirety of ‘War and Peace’ tattooed across one’s upper torso? Do these people expect us to read them?
What is the fascination of tattoos to young people? Is it the thrill of risking death in the form of tetanus or hepatitis? Is it a way to aggravate their parents and families? You need not defile your body to horrify your parents. Tell them you are moving back home and watch their faces melt.
My guess is as with much of today’s fads it’s about self-absorption and narcissism. Nothing screams “look at me” more than a tattoo of giant anaconda winding its way from your neck to your pelvis. Now having an actual anaconda wrapped around your neck makes one truly tough, but it can lead to a shortness of breath and then the complete absence of breathing.
I know I’m out of touch and all this skin-based advertising has some deep meaning. I know I can’t understand why Joel, a twenty-six-year-old software engineer, needs to have that fire-breathing dragon festooned across his back beneath the words “Material Girl”.
I’m not meant to understand. Joel is far too complex, moody, and intense for an old feller like me to comprehend. Joel has issues and that dragon tattoo is the beginning of a lengthy list of grievances.
As for me, I am tattoo free. Not a single spider, scorpion, Chinese character, or bible verse is on my body. If I have a thought, opinion, or personal anecdote to convey I choose to speak. I am not playing some weird game of ‘Pictionary’ on my epidermis.
One’s body is not a canvas. While a tattoo might be an artistic rendering, it does not qualify you to live at Louvre.
Years from now when archeologists dig us up all they will find is our bones. No vestige of this illustrated society will remain in our remains.
Hopefully, some evidence of this tattoo culture will exist for those researchers to find, so they can see how some of us treated our bodies as the disposable containers they are by defiling them with images.
I don’t know about you, but this whole tattoo thing has gotten under my skin.
