HW #32

Tattoos have become embedded in our culture in the same way peircings have. People are willing to permenately mark their bodies with ink as a way of being cool and sometimes for other reasons. What is that has caused people to do such absurd things? What is it that has made such acts socially acceptable? Many people tell them selves they have their own personal reasons to get tattoos and that they get the tattoos for themselves and not for other people. The reality is that a tattoo signifies that you are filling or attempting to fill a certain role; This role being 'badass' or 'punk rocker' etc. Tattoos are a more extreme version of the way you dress yourself or the accessories you choose to wear simply because they are long lasting. Essentially the idea of getting a tattoo for someone who wants to fit into a group where people wear tattoos is the same as some one trying to fit a rap role and wearing a big flashy gold chain or having gold teeth. A tattoo may seem a bit extreme but it is simply just another way for people to say 'I belong to this group of people.'

I don't think it is a particularly good idea to get a tattoo but the idea of resisting this trend or act seems insignificant in the bigger picture. The idea of a getting a tattoo seems absurd and the act can be revolting to some yet the idea of getting a tattoo is an idea that applies to many other things and for this reason it is insignificant to focus on rebelling against tattoos. It is not the act that causes but the idea.

The tattoo simply represents the lengths we are willing to go to fit in to groups and have other people believe our performances. The tattoo shows that we are willing to potentially harm our selves and endure pain to feel important or liked by others. This is simply another addition to our repertoire of tools we use to make others believe our performances. The scariest thing about tattoos is that we have shown a pattern and our willingness to seem cool get more and more outrageous.