Posted on 01/05/2012 4:57:07 AM PST by Kaslin
Last semester, I was giving a lecture on the history of the Supreme Court from 1953 to present. Toward the end of the lecture, I asked my students if they could name the current Chief Justice. None were able to do so. There were thirty students in the class. This was in a college classroom, mind you.
I was annoyed by the failure of a single student to know the name of one of the three most powerful men in America. But, whenever annoyed, I have a tendency to make jokes to lighten the atmosphere. So I told my students to go to the SCOTUS website next time they were in the tattoo parlor and had a couple of spare hours to surf the internet on their iPhone. They laughed and then I casually asked “How many of you have tattoos?” About twenty students raised their hands, which was far more than I expected.
Asking that question was a big mistake. The next time I walked into class, a young man was asking a sorority girl where her tattoo was located. She lifted up the back of her shirt and showed him a giant tramp stamp across her lower back. It was as sad as it was surprising. Apparently blond hair, blue eyes, and natural beauty aren’t enough to attract college boys these days. She needs a tattoo to let him know that his chances of getting sex on the first date are close to 100%.
Over the last few years, tattoo parlors have been popping up like weeds here in Wilmington. I have always assumed that their popularity was easily explained: Young people just want to draw attention and tattoos give them something to show off. They are just another way of helping young people feel different. Even if most kids have them, theirs can be unique. They can even tell a story.
But the narcissistic and short-sighted component of tattoo accumulation is just half the story. I had an epiphany about the other half of the story as I was talking to a woman we will call Brooke. We’re going to call her Brooke because that really is her name. Brooke was complaining to two of her friends (who are also my friends). She was complaining about the thing single women complain about most often: the boyfriend who won’t respect her even though (maybe because?) she is sleeping with him regularly.
Brooke’s complaint with her boyfriend was that he desired to stay in her bed after they were finished having “fun.” This TMI moment was topped off by a deep philosophical argument: “My bed is an intimate place. Until we’re married, he’s not welcomed there overnight. That’s just too presumptuous. It’s too intrusive.”
Translation: You can have my body but not my bed. The former is of less value to me. Some will say it’s just one anecdote. Of course, it is. But it is part of a larger pattern I am seeing among younger adults. Like virtually all other unhealthy aspects of our culture, it is being nurtured in the university setting. Thinking about these three campus cultural trends will add some perspective:
*Sexual experimentation is encouraged by the administration. Free condoms are available, free birth control is often available. Students are taught to give themselves away and that the only concern is that they remain physically healthy enough to continue to do so.
*Abortion is strongly encouraged on campuses - often to the unconstitutional exclusion of competing ideas. Use of RU 486, which is a dangerous toxin causing the death (and then expulsion) of the unborn, is encouraged. Rarely is there an intelligent discussion of the drug’s harmful side effects.
*Genital mutilation is promoted as a means of increasing diversity. College students – even as young as 18 - are encouraged to resolve sexual confusion with the blade of a knife. This permanent disfigurement of their genitalia is simply another form of sexual expression. It’s no longer stigmatized. It’s celebrated!
There is a dangerous undercurrent here. It is obvious that immediate gratification appeals to young people. But it is compounded by something that is lacking. And what is lacking here is any sense that we as humans are made in the image of God – and that our bodies, therefore, have some intrinsic value. If we were still willing to nurture that idea in our culture – and allowed to do so by the Supreme Court - these trends would not be engulfing us and destroying our children.
Tattoos are a lot like guns. Soon after you get one, you want another. But unlike guns the tattoo always leaves a permanent mark. Whenever the desire to cover one’s body with ink sets in, one thing is clear: there is a void in one’s soul that desperately needs filling. Like all such voids it is of a spiritual nature and cannot be filled by physical things. At its core, every desire we experience is really a longing for God.
I should not be surprised that so many of our children are covering themselves with ink. They have been separated from transcendent meaning. Now they must create meaning for themselves in order to fill that void. Too often, they try to recreate themselves altogether. And they mask their God-given beauty in the process.
He’s talking about transgender surgery.
Tattoos and piercings are forms of self-mutilation, nothing more. I’ll leave it to you to decide what kind of person values the practices of stabbing himself with needles and poking holes in his flesh.
How big a ship is she on?
I had dinner last night at the home of some friends. The lady of the house is from Canada, and she had some young relatives visiting as well. One is a high-school history teacher in eastern Canada (son-in-law) and then her son and his girlfriend turned up. The son is a Canadian soldier with a tour in Afghanistan under his belt. His arms ands hands are covered in tats, all meaningless swirls and designs. His girlfriend, also a soldier, has a couple of discreet tats as well. I don’t have any tats, although there are times when I wish I’d got one 50 years ago or so with my squadron’s logo, a fierce-looking coiled cobra, but I didn’t and now it’s way too late. Or maybe a shamrock or a harp (my mother would’ve approved).
I stand by my original comment.
Are you aware that a wound to a tattooed area could cause blood poisoning or other complications? Did you know that if a woman has a tattoo in the small of her back, she may be refused an epidural for pain during child birth? The same holds true for anyone where their tattoos prevent certain medical treatments?
In our busy lives, we must make instant decisions every day that could deeply affect our lives. Most times, we don’t have the time or inclination to properly evaluate people with which we have brief business or encounters.
Our eyes are our best & most immediate tool to make these decisions. If something or someone is visually offensive, we reject it, pure & simple. Human nature. Also, a right as an individual.
I believe in free speech, but I also believe others can reject that speech as wrong or offensive - rejection is also free speech. Ultimately, if you want an audience, you must play to that audience.
I used to be a very non athletic person, three years ago I began to run sprint Triathalons, I am working my way up to a Half Ironman, When I do that I will be getting a Tat on my right shoulder signifying my accomplishment.
Re my first post: I was kidding!!
Obviously, I have to work on my delivery.
Who is that in the photo?
Thanks for this. In terms of insight, Mike Adams goes from stgrength to strength. And you can see he cares for his students, and suffers in the spiritual decomposition he the cultural and intellectual Slough of Despond known as the American college campus.
Pardon my stupidity in posting to myself. Duh!
My post # 18 was a reply to your post. Please accept it as such.
She recently got off the Coast Guard’s largest ship, and is now in a shore post. She has a car, so the motorcycle will be a future purchase.
No he’s not, he’s talking about genital piercings. If you want to know more including illustrations, do a search on ‘Elayne Angel and The Piercing Bible’....I’m not going to post the link here.
I wonder how many Freepers know that God has something to say about piercings and tattoos.... Leviticus 19:28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
I’ve noticed that a lot of inmates in prison have them. Role models for our youth.
I’d prefer my daughter didn’t have them, but when a girl is 18, independent, and in Hawai’i, what can you do but say, “Nice ship ... the fog effects are cool!”? She designed it herself, after doing designs for others on her ship.
Thanks! It’s a loud and confused life ...
The girl was really sick, even vomiting. Four of the adults present started getting sick the next day, myself included. I haven't even had a cold in 10 years, dammit!
That makes sense (well, it explains things anyway). Since transgender surgery is so rare, I did wonder. Thanks.
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