More people are getting tattoos removed

Now lately I feel like the speed on which trends are born and die, the non-stop over sharing, and that constant itch for "what's next" is really pushing us all to become these kind of formless blobs, scared to show any real "edges." For example:

- Cars all kinda look the same now and are mostly some shade of grey. Same deal with phones and pretty much all tech.

- Buying clothes with bland colors with almost no originality with the expectation that it will probably be in the bin the next season.

- The whole clean girl aesthetic on putting in a ton of effort to look like you put in zero effort.

- And don't get me started on how sad beige parenting is not a joke

You only live once, there's no scoreboard at the end. Just do what you want with your life. More often than you'd probably like to admit, nobody really cares that much anyway.

They symbolize a past life to me basically, and that brings meaning and unique introspection to me in a way.

Obviously circumstances may change if the tattoo is offensive.

People who got inked in the 90s tattoo boom are now wearing blurry smudges unless they were careful to minimize the fine detail.

Once too many people do something, it's not cool anymore.

Tattooing got immensely popular and a lot of people who shouldn’t not have taken on apprentices took on apprentices. The quality of apprenticeships dropped and artists were getting put on skin way before they were ready. Many artists never learned proper technique or placement.

Styles changed so people were getting their first tattoos in visible places. When he started tattooing, artists wouldn’t do a first tattoo somewhere visible unless the client had a very very good reason. It always took dialogue. Now you can walk into a shop, point to flash and get it out on your neck or hand.

And finally, realism hit tattoos.

So in his opinion. You take a lot of artists who shouldn’t have been putting ink into grapefruits not skin. Put them to them to work on highly visible realistic looking art on people who don’t know enough about tattoo to know whether they’re making a mistake. And you end up with a lot of people staring at visible art that didn’t heal properly, with blown out lines and poor placement.

I didn’t get tattooed until after another good friend had finished his apprenticeship- I’m very glad I waited because I love my art and will slowly keep getting more. But I feel bad for people who fell into that trap of getting an unqualified artist to put bad art on their bodies.

I think I'd put "counter culture" rather than lower class.

Fashion goes in cycles and all that.

Tattoos say different things to different people in different times. Right now tattoos are fine in most white collar settings but this won't always be the case.

You just pick something really cool when you're 20, and then you resist turning into a boring person who hates what you used to like when you're 40

EDIT: I think I misinterpreted your statement, but I'll leave my response anyway just because. I thought you meant "get" in the sense of understanding them.

I appreciate you saying this offhand for some reason, even though I don't think you were trying to give credit to others.

Naturally, I am both liberal and perhaps libertarian in the sense that I think people have a right to get tattoos and I don't have a problem with people having them.

What has long bugged me though are the numerous people who clearly get body modifications in order to attract validation from others. If one isn't in their unspoken club, they become super defensive and accusatory.

For example, as much as I have no interest in getting tattoos, I will compliment people on their tattoos that I appreciate. When inevitably asked in response why I don't have any tattoos, I tell the other person that I simply have no desire for one. When that answer isn't accepted, I sometimes (mistkenly) admit that I don't like them in general. This triggers a lot of tattoo people, even though my choice of words doesn't actually suggest that I hate all tattoos or their tattoos.

On an even more intense level, it's verboten in my society, as a man, to openly state a preference for women without tattoos. I never bring it up unless prompted, yet I often get so much blowback for this. The word "judgmental" always gets slung my way. It's pretty clear that something else is going on here when people get this defensive over something that is fairly trivial.

Just say what you believe instead of trying to launder your opinion as generally accepted truth.