Other than getting rip-roaring drunk with a bunch of pals and waking up the next morning with a tattoo ... Permanent marking of the body to commemmorate something ... deeper reasons underlie it, and I know my tatted loved ones well enough to see it for what it is. They do it for someone else, not for themselves, and they do it because they lacked the self-confidence NOT to do it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but there's something wrong about seeing a spade and calling it a diamond.
As for your "real biker," if he's laughing, then it sounds to me like he's ridden in a limited circle. Does he take his bike to a mechanic when it busts down, or fix it himself? Did he build it himself? If so ... great, but I KNOW that the real, hands-on guys who bike because they love BIKING and could give a sh*t about the bad-boy image, don't have or need tattoos, earings, ponytails, and other gimmicks. The irony is that the specific guys I have in mind who I know ranging from really, really well to moderately well, HARDLY fall into the category of "good boys"!!!! I admit there are also a few who have tattoos who I consider real bikers, but I know them well and know why they have the tattoos ... basically, to make a specific impression on other people because they don't have the self-confidence to realize that they don't NEED the tatts. It's their way of broadcasting that they're rebels, as if anybody cares.
Maybe you can explain to me why tribes allover the world have been getting them for centuries. Hmmm I guess they don't share your reasoning either....
I think the tattooed judge out to be replaced too by the way & I believe in the death penalty.