More Thoughts on the Tattoo

Yesterday, my post on the educated man's tattoo brought over 20,000 people over to this blog. That breaks the visitation record. In truth, I've yet to reach 100,000 page views. I hope the best is yet to come.

With that said, the tattoo is not without some controversy. For every person who thought the tattoo was cool, there seemed to be another person who thought it was pretentious, contrived, and smug. Let me address those naysayers.

As one of the comments said, So much hate, what's up with that?

I think there's a few reasons. Tattoos, as a source of self-expression, still cause a lot of fuss. Many folks assume a person who desires a tattoo is an attention seeker; that he is misguided in his attempt to express his individuality. Because a tattoo is permanent, one must consider that self-perception can change with time.

The fellow who got the tattoo believes himself to be intelligent. Many may call this arrogant. However, as the phrase goes, "you shall know them by their fruits" — the tattoo is an intelligent tattoo because it provokes an opinion. In the end, an intelligent person isn't someone with an opinion, an intelligent person is someone who causes others to have a thoughtful opinion.

Indeed, if he was merely branding himself with nonsensical words, as others have done, I would agree that this is an unintelligent tattoo. This is not what he is doing. His tattoo creates the impression of his skin peeling back, that there is an attempt for repair — for if it doesn't repair, words will burst forth from his flesh. There is wide range of interpretation here as there is a wide range of opinion. This is a good thing.

What I was trying to express in my former post was that tattoos are not about butterflies and kenji and barbed wire. Tattoos can express deep thought. Tattoos can provoke ideas. They are not just for attention-seeking individuals who are unsure of their self-identities.

Tattoos can be a provocative form of art.

A Tattoo for the Educated Man

I have profiled tattoos here before, mostly examples of a dubious nature. However, this tattoo is one of my favourites. The straightforward reason for loving this tattoo is that it's just damn cool. It speaks to me as someone who has often wanted a tattoo but doesn't want to scar up his body with something he might regret.

There are many ways to approach this tattoo. One can say it is a post-modern interpretation of physicality. It could speak about thoughts in relation to flesh. Or perhaps it's just there for mere decoration.

In any sense, this is one of the few tattoos that have truly made me think. Tattoos are not just the domain for bikers and brutes. They are for the thinking man as well.

The Worst Tattoos Ever

My girlfriend loves tattoos, and she's tried talking me into getting one. Sometimes, that is a tempting proposition, but then I look at these guys. This then reminds me how most every tattoo, eventually, turns out to be a rather nasty enterprise.

For instance, Patrick Havens sums up everything I feel about the fellow above in the following words:

This dickless wonder paid someone to tattoo this on him… Shit, I know a ton of people in Brooklyn that would have done the real thing for free.

Living in the Whine Country » I love Tattoos but…

Now these tattoos (NSFW) take an especial dose of stupidity. Can it get any more stupid than tattooing the word "STUPID" on your forehead? Actually, it does. It really does.

Best Tattoo Ever

It took me a second to see that this is a tattoo of a hot dog dressed as the Fonz, holding a bottle of mustard, with the slogan "Guilty of Being Delicious" emblazened across. There's lots of inconsistencies with this tattoo. For instance, why is holding a bottle of mustard when he already had mustard draped all over him? That just adds to the charm of the whole thing, though.

A tattoo is something I am resolute against getting. My girlfriend has tried to talk me into getting one, but there's absolutely no way I'm going to scar my body for the rest of my life for something that is suspect in the first place. The world is littered with regretable tattoos.

With that said, if I had to have a tattoo, it would probably be something like this. In it's own way, it is a stiff middle finger against the "tough guy" nature of tattoos.