It’s gone too far. A few years ago young people crowded into tattoo parlors to declare their individuality by becoming a work of art. Somehow people, who fear the dentist and his tools, were standing in line and spending hundreds of dollars to get someone with NO MEDICAL TRAINING to use a needle to scratch under their skin and inject ink. Reality shows such as LA Ink feature beautiful people transforming their skin into canvases, but no one will be doing a “Where are they now: LA INK Reunion” in 25 years as millions of toothless middle-agers sit in front of their 72” 3-D plasma television watching vintage episodes that inspired their own homemade art.
Of course, tattooing and body piercing are nothing new. Don’t skip this part. A primary reason for today’s dysfunction involves people overlooking the history lessons. Although the appearance of tattoos and body piercings varied geographically, they always possessed a very specific meaning for each particular culture. Early civilizations used piercings in various initiation rites, and as indications of social status. Tattoos, on the other hand, signaled religious affiliations. Piercings and tattoos were often used as methods of identifying slaves. In Europe, the practice of tattooing was predominant among sailors and other working-class members (slaves of the aristocracy) from the beginning of the 20th century onward. Later on, tattoos assigned affiliations to certain groups, such as bikers or inmates (slaves of criminal activity). In the 1980s the punk and the gay movements picked up invasive body modification, piercing the formerly inconceivable. Remember the “Prince Albert”? For those of you born in the ‘90s that’s where men attach a chain between piercings in the urethra and scrotum and it made a little jingle bell sound when they walked. They claimed this was a protest against conservative middle class norms, but it still centered on a slave mentality, since no one with jingle bell balls held a job in the ‘80s or ‘90s.
But the music industry took piercings and tattoos from art to a sign of being tough (slaves of stupidity). During the decade of 1990s, tattoos and piercings have increased dramatically in popularity. 5′ 3” rappers can show off how tough they are and act like they have real legitimate prison tats. “Thug Life” became the anthem and had the most beautiful women swooning and declaring them the height of sexiness. Female entertainers sang and rapped “where my thugs at, I need a thug in my life.” Many immature, dysfunctional punks wanted to endure some dirty needles.
Until the 1990s, body modifications remained a provocative part of various subcultures. In the last decade tattoos and piercings have increased tremendously in popularity, rising not only in numbers but also involving a range of social classes. At some point, the tattoos crossed the boarders of a wide range of social and religious class distinctions. Oh I get that there might be a lady out there who wants a nice cute tattoo. My sister often teases that she is going to get a tattoo of the sun on her lower back so everyone knows that the sun rises and sets on her ass. There may also be that body builder who wants people to notice that his calf muscle is big enough display a scale model of a panther. But when wanna-be thugs from the inner city start getting them, you know it’s for one of two reasons: He thinks it makes him look tough, and his friends have them. It’s not tough. Okay, so years ago it signified you were strong enough to fight the establishment. Since the establishment is now designing the tats and manages the parlors, all you are doing is making sure you will never have a job that makes enough money to do anything about the establishment. Moreover, you are not voluntarily joining a minority. You are following the crowd, disfiguring your skin just to fit in with people who don’t even know your name. They think it makes them tough. It makes them stupid. Case in point: Mr. Wayne Carter. I only refer to him as mister to acknowledge his age. His shoe size is a better indicator of his maturity. I digress. He does have a line that my sister (the same one with the sun on her ass) likes “Okay, you’re a good, but what’s a goon to a goblin?” I had to quote those words when I showed her his latest mug shot and even she had to say “Okay he’s a buffoon, and he looks like a goblin.” I’m thinking more like a gremlin. His tattoos bring up a lot of things…laughter, tears, my lunch…but fear and respect ain’t on the list. He is a Millionaire Thug. What part of the game is this?
I see men with tattoos of their babies on their chest and arms who have not spent $20 to care for the kid who is now 13 years old. I see pregnant women in the club breathing smoke and drinking while pregnant with their 4th baby, who have three other birthdays tattooed on their breasts, talking about “My babies is da most important thing to me. I’ll hurt somebody ‘bout my babies.” I wanna say, “Bitch please. You tattooed your kid’s birthdays so you can remember the dates when you are filling out their paperwork at the clinic.”
There was a time when heavily tattooed bodies were only seen in prison. Prison is a place where men don’t have anything to do all day. So they sit around and stare at each other’s bodies for entertainment. But entertainers who’s closest brush to prison life is A and E reality shows like “Locked up Abroad: the MTV years” are not showing that they are tough. They are showing that they need a hug. Show me a rapper or NBA player with full-body or other outrageous tattoos and I’ll show you a man with a lot of daddy issues and money to waste.
Studies show that children who grow up with an absentee father are 11 times more likely to have tattoos and display a “gangster mentality”. A prime example is former NBA player Allen Iverson. Yeah, he’s asking for a second chance now, but what did he do with the first chance? He entered the NBA looking like a choirboy. After he got famous, he started hanging with some homies for protection. People said he was “keeping it real”. He was keeping it stupid. Thinking he would never have to apply for a regular job. Now those homies are nowhere to be found and he’s trying to cover his tats while he begs ANY TEAM for another chance to make things happen. And this guy was arguably among the best in the NBA.
The truth of the matter is if you’re ugly before you get all those tattoos, you’re still going to be ugly after. Those tattoos won’t do a damn thing to hide all those emotional scars. Like most fads, the media has transported that this is cool, or the thing to do. Keep letting the media think for you and see where it gets you.
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