FACE TO FACE/SIMS: Tattoos are merely a form of expression
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FACE TO FACE: What’s the deal with everyone getting tattoos?
Recently, Sgt. Shinder Kirk of the BC Integrated Gang Task Force said that it will pay for tattoo removal when a gangster wants a way out of gang life. Gangsters tattoo their gang affiliation when they join and, once tagged, they are literally marked for life — and, in some cases, death. As a way to reduce gang violence, tattoo removal has now become a crime-fighting strategy at taxpayers’ expense.
My colleague and I both believe taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for tattoo removal or modification even if the goal is crime reduction. These folks can pay for their own de-inking.
My debating partner and I part company, however, on whether tattoos are a good idea at all.
He believes that it’s “dermatological destruction” and is aghast at the “absurd proliferation of tattoos generally in our society.”
I don’t see what the big deal is.
According to the Smithsonian Institute, the earliest known examples of tattoos were on several Egyptian female mummies dating back to 2000 BC until the “Iceman” was found along the Italian-Austrian border in 1991. The Iceman, a 5,200-year-old frozen mummy, also exhibited signs of tattoos.
It may be true that there is a proliferation of tattoos in our society. Indeed, body modification — including cosmetic plastic surgery, botox treatments and other efforts not to show one’s age — has been on the increase. While some might go to extremes of body modification from multiple surgeries, branding and piercings to extended ear lobes to tattoos all over their bodies, it is a form of self-expression.
TV shows such as Miami Ink or Inked reveal a variety of reasons people get tattoos.
Tattoos can serve as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs or simple adornments indicating a rite of passage and even a form of punishment.
I got my tattoo after my father died earlier this year and the reasons for getting it and the symbolism behind the four Chinese characters that mean loyalty and devotion (but to me mean “love is strength/strength through love”) are deeply personal.
There will be many, like my colleague opposite who just won’t understand why people get inked. That’s okay; you don’t have to understand because it’s personal.
