Published on 12, July, 2020
I realise I am middle aged and I that grew up in a world in which only a minority of men had tattoos, and they were either sailors, builders or thugs. Then, around about 15 years ago, David Beckham, famous footballer, gets a tattoo—followed by a string of other footballers, so-called celebrities and media non-entities, all proclaiming they are expressing their 'individuality' or 'rebelling'. Soon afterwards every young man and woman has covered his or her body in them, all believing they too are expressing their individuality or rebelling. And yet, like lemmings advancing towards a cliff-edge, or sheep flocking with the herd across fields, they all look almost the same, that is apart from having different amounts of these vulgar eyesores, or slightly different colourings to them, they all still look virtually the same (at least to me). I see no individuality in these people. Or any spirit of rebellion. I can't understand this herd-mentality. What is it that makes people all try so desperately hard to copy one another in a bizarre attempt to appear different from one another. It doesn't make sense. You would think to be different or rebel, you'd do the opposite to what everyone else is doing. And what is this craving to emulate celebrities or media personalities? Do they imagine they are better than they are—smarter, nicer, more charismatic? The unfathomable sheep-like behaviour aside, I can't understand what, apart from mental illness, what would drive a person to inflict such damage on their largest and most vital organ. The very idea of deliberate mutilation horrifies me.
the irony of symbols the way they are used can change their meaning. Tattoos did indeed used to be a sign of rebellion. People got them to mark memories of dead friends or a dramatic life event or signal they were members of a gang or organisation. But doing so was a statement because they knew others would notice, that it would make them stand out and raise eyebrows. Now people also get them as fashion statements to show that they are edgy which is in itself not very edgy. It's like Burberry. Was intended to be a luxury brand but to show that they had cash to splash the modern 'chav' started wearing it and suddenly it became associated with poverty.
The only real solution is to stop caring what other people think about your symbols and what they mean and just hold onto the meaning you ascribe to them, that and go with what you find aesthetically pleasing.
In the grand scheme of life whether someone has a tattoo or not is pretty meaningless. See also, haircuts, clothes. It's ideas that matter.
Agree 100%
Ah, ok.
I did see some posts but I chose not to get involved. I much prefer to have serious discussions in person, so that subtleties and nuance can more easily be observed.
I generally tend not to take sides (apart from my own). My interests are more the why of things, not the what.
I feel if we spent more time asking why, maybe we'd all get along better.
Right wing. Very in some cases. Also i am one of the youngest posters who is very active. And i'm 39. No spring chicken. People here think only nts hold views like mine. Of course there is wide variety of views on life among ASD folk. Just as there is NT's