Too much ink

If there's one thing my gym membership has taught me, it's that a LOT of people have tattoos.  Skinny people.  Fat people.  Buff people.  Round people.  Old and young, gay and straight, men and women.  All kinds of people have tattoos.  Too many people, in fact. 

It's not that I'm against tattoos.  I can find a tattoo sexy, intriguing or downright scary, depending on the person and the decorated body part in question.  I don't have any tattoos myself, and I can't foresee any circumstance that would lead me get one.  (I can't commit to buying a new dress belt for crying out loud--how can I pick a permanent design for my skin?)  I have friends and family who have tattoos, though, and I know that they put a lot of thought into their choice of design.  (Well, some gave it less thought than they should have, but we'll come back to that later.)

It seems to me the current ubiquity of inked flesh has greatly diminished the impact tattoos are meant to have.  Historically, at least in this country, tattoos were transgressive and dangerous; they were visual markers of otherness and the rejection of social norms.  People with tattoos were scary.  Your mom knew that.  That's why she warned you to stay away from those shady people.  (Well my mom warned me anyway.  But then again, she also forbade me from watching Three's Company, because she didn't want me to see a man pretending to be gay.  Thanks to her I escaped the dead end of faux-mosexuality and went directly to the real thing.)

Far from being a symbol of non-conformity, tattoos now seem to be little more than simple, though painfully acquired, fashion statements.  I grant you that many people still choose tattoos to express deeply held convictions.  Somehow, though, I can't help feeling that it's just kind of, well, lame when a hunky twenty year old (like the one I worked out near today) has his entire arm from shoulder to elbow adorned with an elaborately drawn, full color depiction of Christ's crucifixion, complete with mourning apostles at the base of the cross.  Without meaning to offend anyone's spiritual leanings, I just think that's a waste of a buff arm.

One imagines a day may come when this sculpted young Christian may find his religious fervor waning.  Will he come to wish he had thought a little more carefully before committing his arm to the Lord?  Perhaps.  Then what?

And that's where I come in!  Can I entice you to consider my brilliant new business idea? I think the time is ripe to open a vast chain of tattoo removal parlors.  They will be the melting pot of the modern age.  Ex-gang members wanting teardrops removed from their cheeks, soccer moms tired of Winnie the Pooh on their butts, retired Maori warriors hoping to blend in better at the country club, everyone will be welcome.  We'll wipe the slate clean and form bonds that last a lifetime.  Who's with me?

WG

PS--Damn, that was sure a long-winded way of saying that I don't have much knitting progress to report.

Comments

[MarQ1]

Choice of tattoo is one thing; placement is another issue. Who's love handles at forty are where they were at twenty?

[Dave]

Gee, I thought you were heading towards knitting yourself a tattoo. Or getting a knitting tattoo. Or someething like that. Just no progress, eh? Darn. ;-)

[Paul]

Count me in! I totally agree that tatoos can be great, but sometimes you do have to wonder "What the hell were they thinking?"

We MUST take action!!! It's a terific idea!