why exactly is this in the D&D? what's so controversial about it? are we afraid it is going to spill in to race or something?
I needed to rant, and I figured that every person with a tattoo was gonna bash me. Or every person who wears undershirts, has bling bling, etc. Strangely, that has not happened. And yeah, RMT and ima_drummer2k, it is absolutely NOT cool to be a musician. To be cool, you guys need to just program a drum machine, get a sequencer to replace your guitar and start doing some lip-sync crap. Only then would you be cool. Or you could sample a classic rock song, loop it, and put some tough-guy rap lyrics over it. That would make you cool too. (note - you have to throw your hands and arms aroung a whole bunch with strange finger gestures while you do this. That's cool, too). But this "playing my own instruments in a live band" thing.. no.. no way is that cool. -- droxford
Of course, its more than likely you were lumped into some sort of group by everyone else. That's just how those things (particularly high school) work. Now what that group might have been, who knows. It's also possible that you aren't getting the kind of reaction you were expecting because not everyone falls under the umbrella you're trying to place them in. I have a couple of friends with tattoos....and they're on their upper arm or shoulder. In regular day-to-day life, full-time job and such, you wouldn't even know they have one because they wear things that don't show you. I also know people who have piercings...and they only really tend to wear them during weekends and such. See them on a weekday and you'd never really know it...and they likely aren't going to talk to you about it. (It's my experience that many people with piercings or tats don't like talking about them or get tired of the same questions 'does it hurt?', etc.) It's not always because people are 'trying to be cool'. A lot of the folks I mentioned got them for their own reasons. Like you, they were just doing something for themselves. And why exactly is a stable, responsibility-driven family man so worked up about this anyway?
Ah , now that's the kind of reaction I was expecting My post wasn't meant to bash people with tatoos or piercings. It was meant to express my feelings about a certain 'look' that has become all too popular in today's media. I even went so far as to define the formula for the look. Why am I so worked up about it? 'Cause I'm friggin sick of seeing it. In the 90's I got friggin' sick of seeing the return of platform shoes and bell-bottoms, and I'm friggin' sick of seeing the punkd-out-thug-pimp-toughguy look. The Indian rapper thread is an excellent example of this image and I'm glad that there is so much reidicule in that thread. -- droxford
Did my reply come across as bashing you? I didn't write it with that intention. You have a strange definition of that if you took it that way.
Not at all. I was just expecting from someone to come along and say things like "I know lots of good people with tattoos/piercings." And you're not wrong - I know lots of good people with tattoos/piercings. It's that stupid punkd-out-thug-pimp-toughguy image that I was talking about. -- droxford
Some good friends of mine got tattoos on their 10th anniversary. They are probably 2 people I would have never suspected of getting them. With them they don't look like thugs or punks. In fact if you didn't tell you they had them you'd probably never know they had them.
Ah, understood. You're more fed up with a kind of personality/attitude rather than just a look. The whole dumbass 'thug' BS, that means you get to care about only yourself and spit on everyone else. Which I also hate. It's one thing to have a certain look...another to be a dumbass. But then again, I have a low tolerance for people who don't respect others so maybe I'm being too harsh on such folks...but probably not.
Damn straight. I smoked for 15 years to hide how not cool I am. I've dropped that and have finally accepted that there isn't a cool bone in my body. I thought about getting a butterfly tattoo on the small of my back but I was told that's not cool for a guy. Oh well....
Droxford: The safest way to be cool and never fear of being co-opted by the herding instinct of trends, is to be a biker. Biker attire, tattoos and culture have changed little since long before Altamont , and yet, the ladies love them.
