Tattoos

[Beavah 205]

Rooster7?? Rooster7!! Where have yeh been, mate? And yeh emerge from Gigabytes gone by to comment on a tattoo thread?

 

Good to see yeh.

 

I don't mind folks with ink. Much like a scout uniform, sometimes it makes for an introduction to the person and a conversation starter. Mostly I see the whole thing as just one more version of da constant changes in fashion and practice. Growin' up, tats were young man's military thing. Later a biker thing. Of course over the years I've watched shorts and hem lines go up, shorts and hem lines go down, short hair be the sign of white supremacists, short hair be the sign of businessmen, earings come and go and move to other parts of the body, loud colors be "in", black be "in".

 

I confess I'd rather see young people who are tryin' to define themselves define themselves by what they have done, or by what they are able to do, by what they care about, rather than by their clothing, hair color, ink, or appearance. I think da young who spend lots of time on fashion of any sort are really just questin' and tryin' things out to figure out who they want to be, and da fashion stuff is just a dead end. So I encourage 'em to wait on the ink and the more aggressive piercings and go out and do stuff.

 

For the rest, it's just amusin'. I'm always amazed at how da folks who want to be "individual" are so easily manipulated by group trends. And I'm always interested in how folks choose to portray themselves and what they're tryin' to say through that.

 

No tats on the Beavah, but a Scout Salute to Scoutfish for winning his bout with cancer. I reckon that merits a tattoo or somethin' else memorable.

 

Beavah

 

[SeattlePioneer 144]

Hello Bear Dad,

 

 

Oh, tattoos certainly predate American prisons. But I think a significant part of their popularity these days comes from their being popularized by criminal gangs and their widespread use in prisons.

 

And yes, I think that prisons are among the wellsprings of some significant part of American culture these days, tattoos included.

 

And in my opinion, tattoos are trashy behavior.

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

The reality is that some people, myself included, will make pre-judgements about someone with a tattoo. When I was hiring folks and a person has a gang or prison looking tattoo I would question their judgement. That said I one of my best guys has an awful self-made tattoo.

[Rooster7 11]

In everything...moderation. That's a good rule for most things in life, including tattoos.

[packsaddle 753]

SeattlePioneer, I hate to tell you (no I don't actually;)) that you're lagging a bit regarding branding. Check out the Omega Psi Phi fraternity branding rituals. And they're not alone. I discovered this when I noticed some nasty burns on a few students. I asked how they acquired their injuries and they laughed and replied that they had done it intentionally as part of their fraternity ritual.

Have a great day! (This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[SeattlePioneer 144]

Hello Packsaddle,

 

 

I'm not surprised.

 

I suppose the amputation of penises as part of fraternity rituals is just around the corner.

 

I suppose I would be a hopeless old bigot for opposing fashionable NEW cultural trends, though.

 

 

 

[packsaddle 753]

Heh, heh, based on my informal observations THAT would be the LAST thing I would expect to be amputated.

But....you seem to be preoccupied with this particular option. You're not thinking of setting a trend are you?

[acco40 95]

I enjoy watching basketball on television and am always amused so many of the black players have tattoos with black ink. If they really wanted to show off their "artwork" they would use white ink.