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Does Tattooing and Piercing Reflect Turning Away From A Higher Diety?

rhinefire said:
What single item in your opinion has lead to the enormous popularity of tattooing? While piercing is not as popular it also has surged. Is there any connection whatsoever to religion here? Tattoos have gone from a symbol of rebellion or dissatisfaction to everyday, normal folks. We read of civilizations long before the time of Christ where tattooing was a ritual as well as some physical deformations for whatever reason the culture had. Tattooing is rising everywhere in the free world. Why? Why so many so quickly? Is it a fad or is it something much deeper?
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I don't think it is as much a fad as much as it is the negative attitude against it lessening. Because it's not frowned on as much, more people are willing to do it since the negative consequences are dwindling.

Also it's cool.
 
rhinefire said:
What single item in your opinion has lead to the enormous popularity of tattooing? While piercing is not as popular it also has surged. Is there any connection whatsoever to religion here? Tattoos have gone from a symbol of rebellion or dissatisfaction to everyday, normal folks. We read of civilizations long before the time of Christ where tattooing was a ritual as well as some physical deformations for whatever reason the culture had. Tattooing is rising everywhere in the free world. Why? Why so many so quickly? Is it a fad or is it something much deeper?
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Well - aside the other points made, the stereotype that "only anti-religious, law-breaking rebels / natives of some lowly, undeveloped countries get tattoos for any reason" has dissipated.

But for some people - those 'old-old' ideas that you brought up (disease and social stigma) are still behind their choice to get a tattoo: some people get it because they have scars/physical deformities they're trying to conceal or blend in. Some think that if you're going to look - it might as well be for the sake of viewing art and personal expression than to try to discern the source of the scars, etc.

Society as a whole no longer dictates the how or why, people do.
 
rhinefire said:
What single item in your opinion has lead to the enormous popularity of tattooing?
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On a sociological level, I see it at least in part as a reaction to modernity. As society becomes more complex and technological, people react by grabbing at something ancient -- modern primitivism.
 
rhinefire said:
What single item in your opinion has lead to the enormous popularity of tattooing? While piercing is not as popular it also has surged. Is there any connection whatsoever to religion here? Tattoos have gone from a symbol of rebellion or dissatisfaction to everyday, normal folks. We read of civilizations long before the time of Christ where tattooing was a ritual as well as some physical deformations for whatever reason the culture had. Tattooing is rising everywhere in the free world. Why? Why so many so quickly? Is it a fad or is it something much deeper?
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In my own observation, it seems to be a way of retaining a religious impulse, in a climate of declining formal religion. It's a practice that I have watched with curiosity, and among my friends and acquaintances who are into tattoos, they almost universally have emotional significance to the bearer of the tattoo(s). When I ask someone about their tattoos, they can almost always give me a story of how and why it came to be. It's more than just decoration, and seems to have a meaningful significance to the inner life of the individual.
 
rhinefire said:
What single item in your opinion has lead to the enormous popularity of tattooing? While piercing is not as popular it also has surged. Is there any connection whatsoever to religion here? Tattoos have gone from a symbol of rebellion or dissatisfaction to everyday, normal folks. We read of civilizations long before the time of Christ where tattooing was a ritual as well as some physical deformations for whatever reason the culture had.
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Leviticus 19:28
"Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord."

In the interest of full-disclosure I am a Chrisitian and I have a lot of tattoos. I simply like them (and was not always aware of this particular passage). As I understand it, this passage was dealing with practices that involved witchcraft and not the modern day tattoos that people get today (all of mine are primarily Christian).

However, we are made in the image of God and the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. As such, I suspect that God still considers it a sin.

rhinefire said:
Tattooing is rising everywhere in the free world. Why? Why so many so quickly? Is it a fad or is it something much deeper?
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Man has always rebelled against God and I think this is simply another area of our fallen-nature shining through, in my humble opinion.
 
Gardener said:
On a sociological level, I see it at least in part as a reaction to modernity. As society becomes more complex and technological, people react by grabbing at something ancient -- modern primitivism.
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Which is frankly kind of hilarious given just how far off of the mark those kinds of people really are.

Generally speaking, tattoos, piercings, and body modifications in primitive cultures are not done "just for fun" as they are in the modern Western World. They are ceremonial one time only affairs.

"White guy tribal tattoos" are basically the surest sign of a clueless poser.
 
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Gathomas88 said:
Which is frankly kind of hilarious given how far off of the mark those kinds of people really are.

Generally speaking, tattoos, piercings, and body modifications in primitive cultures are not done "just for fun" as they are in the modern Western World. They are ceremonial.

"White guy tribal tattoos" are basically the surest sign of a clueless poser.
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Making assumptions about someone is the surest sign of a clueless person.
 
Gathomas88 said:
Which is frankly kind of hilarious given how far off of the mark those kinds of people really are.

Generally speaking, tattoos, piercings, and body modifications in primitive cultures are not done "just for fun" as they are in the modern Western World. They are ceremonial.

"White guy tribal tattoos" are basically the surest sign of a clueless poser.
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I think people are hardwired in varying degrees towards tribalism. Many use ideology as their tribe, choosing a fierce loyalty to a political orientation as their identity. Others find solace in tribes based upon common interests or certain looks. Where I live, there are countless individuals who are not just tatted up, but have large holes in their ear lobes, sport white rasta hair and probably think they are being quite individualistic for doing so. At the heart of their behavior, though, is the need to belong. They belong to a tribe, and even though this tribe has no formal associations nor is it based upon blood, it is a tribe nonetheless.

I think people run the gamut when it comes to tribalism, though. At one end of the spectrum you have people who join cults and at the other end are the loners and antisocial types who can hardly function in a group. Most of us are somewhere in between, of course, but do have some sort of need to form common bonds based upon group identity.
 
Gathomas88 said:
Culturally insensitive attention whoring doesn't exactly leave a whole lot to the imagination.

View attachment 67152669
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Owww, funny picture poster. You really told me. LOL
I have a small shark done in tribal style. And since its on the inside of my upper arm, it really dont get seen much.
So again, nice assumptions.
 
Goshin said:
I don't think it necessarily is; depends on the individual.

I've known very devout people to have passages of scripture tattoed on their person. Some places I go to church, you'll see tats on many of the younger folks (20-30s).

I'm not a tattoo fan; don't have any, don't plan on any. I have heard preachers speak against it, but their scriptural basis for their objection is thin... unless one got the tats for purposes of pagan ritual beliefs.


One of my big things is what are those who get covered in tatts in the 20s going to look like in their 60s...
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Half of my tattoos are religious in nature, ironically enough.

They'll start to fade after a about 20-30 years, but you can just get touch-ups every couple of decades and it'll stay looking pretty new. The newer inks that have been used in the past few decades don't fade quick like the ink of the past.

972GU.jpg
 
Thats kinda a goofy premise in the OP as many tattoos have (to the recipients) a direct correlation to their own faith and spirituality. Trying to put a stamp on individuals, their ink, and/or their rationale is an exercise in misguided judgment and futility.
 
ChrisL said:
I agree. I have seen many "religious" themed tattoos.
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One of the most impressive tat jobs I've seen was on a guy who rode with a club called, 'Holy Rollers'. Think intimidating evangelists.
 
I think the tattoo below pretty much sums up the whole "tattoo culture".

But rather than making up excuses about how each tattoo is "special" or "means something" or is an "expression" this young lady is at least being honest with herself.

Attention_whore_by_mmmfreak.jpg
 
soot said:
But rather than making up excuses about how each tattoo is "special" or "means something" or is an "expression" this young lady is at least being honest with herself.

View attachment 67152671
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In my experience they aren't making up excuses, but in fact do have personal significance and meaning to the bearer. Granted, it's subjective to the individual, but that doesn't mean it's made up, or fake.
 
Grand Mal said:
Only tattoo I've got could be called tribal- it's the crest of the Highland clan I was born to.
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I doubt I'll ever get a tattoo, but, if I did, it would probably be something like that. It'd have to be something discrete which carried significance to either my military service, heritage, or religion.

When I was training with the Army, I actually met a guy who was seriously considering getting the US Army Military Intelligence crest tattooed on his chest.

military_intelligence_plaque_n7113.gif military_intelligence_emb_n11077-c.gif

We tried to explain to him all the reasons why this would be an objectively terrible idea, but I'm not sure if it took or not. :lamo
 
lizzie said:
In my experience they aren't making up excuses...
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In my experience the "personal significance and meaning" is secondary to getting the tattoo in the first place.

People decide that they need a tattoo, because they're attention whores, and then contrive to get one.

Getting a tattoo is the "end", the personal significance and meaning, along with a couple hundred dollars, the car you drive to the tattoo parlor, the artist, and any number of other considerations are the "means".
 
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soot said:
In my experience the "personal significance and meaning" is secondary to getting the tattoo in the first place.

Getting a tattoo is the "end", the personal significance and meaning, along with a couple hundred dollars, the car you drive to the tattoo parlor, the artist, and any number of other considerations are the "means".
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The personal significance is the motivator in the first place.
 
lizzie said:
The personal significance is the motivator in the first place.
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As you said, in your experience.

In my experience that is not the case.

Look at it this way, people have always had things that were of "personal significance and meaning" to them.

I would be pretty comfortable arguing that every single person who has ever lived, and every single person who is currently alive today, has something that holds "personal significance and meaning" to them, even if it's only just one thing.

But there are all kinds of ways of acknowledging, honoring, commemorating, celebrating, memorializing, & etc... the things that hold "personal significance and meaning" to us.

You don't have to run out and get a tattoo on your forearm to establish that something is important to you.

You get a tattoo because you want other people to see what's important to you.

Because you want their attention.

Because you're an attention whore.
 
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What I've never understood is how people get offended when others "make assumptions about them based on their tattoos. Isn't conveying a certain image to the rest of society the whole point of getting a tattoo?

It's stupid to get pissy when people start doing exactly what you got the thing for. And don't sell me that bull**** about getting a tattoo for "you" and that's why it's in a place you can't even see, blah blah blah.

If you like a piece of art and want to enjoy that art, you put it on your wall, not your back or some other place where you'll never see it but others will. For example, I wouldn't hang my favorite painting in my neighbor's living room so he gets to see it, I'd hang it in my living room so I can ****ing see it.

Tattoos are the same thing as any other fashion decision: trying to tel people something. I'm wearing a NASA shirt right now because I am a ****ing dork and I like letting people know that I am a ****ing dork. I have some Star Wars socks, too, that I wear at formal occasions when **** like a NASA shirt isn't appropriate (weddings and such). If I got a tattoo, it'd be a picture of a towel (so that I would always bring my towel with me, duh).

Should I be offended if someone looked at me wearing my dorky ass clothes and came to the obvious conclusion that I am a ****ing dork of epic proportions? No. That's exactly the ****ing image I am trying to convey by dressing like a huge ****ing nerd. Should I become pissy over the fact that some people may think that my choices make me the kind of loser who couldn't get laid for $5,000 dollars at a crack whore convention? Of course not. That'd be stupid because I'm trying to convey a message for which that stereotype applies.
 
Tucker Case said:
What I've never understood is how people get offended when others "make assumptions about them based on their tattoos. Isn't conveying a certain image to the rest of society the whole point of getting a tattoo?

It's stupid to get pissy when people start doing exactly what you got the thing for. And don't sell me that bull**** about getting a tattoo for "you" and that's why it's in a place you can't even see, blah blah blah.

If you like a piece of art and want to enjoy that art, you put it on your wall, not your back or some other place where you'll never see it but others will. For example, I wouldn't hang my favorite painting in my neighbor's living room so he gets to see it, I'd hang it in my living room so I can ****ing see it.

Tattoos are the same thing as any other fashion decision: trying to tel people something. I'm wearing a NASA shirt right now because I am a ****ing dork and I like letting people know that I am a ****ing dork. I have some Star Wars socks, too, that I wear at formal occasions when **** like a NASA shirt isn't appropriate (weddings and such). If I got a tattoo, it'd be a picture of a towel (so that I would always bring my towel with me, duh).

Should I be offended if someone looked at me wearing my dorky ass clothes and came to the obvious conclusion that I am a ****ing dork of epic proportions? No. That's exactly the ****ing image I am trying to convey by dressing like a huge ****ing nerd. Should I become pissy over the fact that some people may think that my choices make me the kind of loser who couldn't get laid for $5,000 dollars at a crack whore convention? Of course not. That'd be stupid because I'm trying to convey a message for which that stereotype applies.
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When was the last time there was a thread about "jerks in geeky ass clothes"?
But there are plenty on here about tattoos with rants like yours.
 
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