How come you don't hear from these same "outraged" lawmakers about making the murder of unborn children illegal?
Posted on 05/19/2003 5:15:14 PM PDT by Cathryn Crawford
Latest Piercing Rage: Tongue Splitting It's called tongue splitting and involves slicing the tongue right down the middle to create a forked look. Those who do it, call it body modification. Many others call it body mutilation.
Either way, it's not for the squeamish.
Why would anyone split his or her tongue? The Associated Press interviewed several people who did it, and there were three reasons typically cited:
The shock value is enormous. Some actually find the experience spiritual. They just like the way it looks and feels. While tongue splitting is edging up in popularity, it's still relatively uncommon. By some counts, about 2,000 people worldwide have done it, but curiosity is growing fast.
AP interviewed 19-year-old James Keen, pictured above, and asked him why he did this. "When I first saw it, I thought tongue-splitting was the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life," he said. When he couldn't find a surgeon to do the deed, he enlisted a body piercer from his hometown, Scottsville, Kentucky. The cost? $500 with no anesthetic. "People are very curious about how it feels." Keen says he can move both sides of his tongue independently of the other.
What are the side effects? Infection from bacteria in the mouth is quite possible. In addition, tongue splitting almost always forces people to learn to speak all over again and typically causes a lisp that may not ever go away.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers are so outraged by the procedure they are using the power of their office to make it illegal. One such person is Illinois state Rep. David Miller from Chicago's south suburbs who has authored a bill that requires tongue-splitting to be performed only for medical reasons and only by a doctor or dentist. AP reports that the bill passed nearly unanimously in the Illinois House and is awaiting a vote in the Senate. Miller is fully aware of individual rights and personal freedom, but he told AP, "But I'm not sure the people getting this done understand the risks. We're choosing safety over cosmetics." Those who oppose the bill say it will only force people who want the procedure to go underground and that could mean unsafe conditions.
In addition to lawmakers' efforts to stop the trend before it really takes off, several branches of the armed services have banned the practice. The Air Force gave one young airman a choice: Get his tongue sewn back together or be kicked out the Air Force.
OK, don't get me wrong. I think the procedure is silly, stupid, disgusting, probably dangerous and likely to lead to a lifetime of regret in the majority of people who get it done.
But do we need a law against it??? I am so sick of this mindset that says we need to make laws to protect people from their own foolish choices.
Anyone dumb enough to undergo "Tongue splitting" can damn well face the consequences of their actions ten years down the road when they look at themselves in the mirror and wonder "Why the hell did I do that?"
Bastard! I just spit gin and tonic all over my keyboard!
Seriously, don't give the kids any ideas. Your suggestion probably makes perfect sense to many public school educated kids. If a see a plexiglass skull, I'll get back to you.
Still laughing!
How come you don't hear from these same "outraged" lawmakers about making the murder of unborn children illegal?
Stop it! Now YOU made me spit gin and tonic on to my keyboard, but only because I thought that guy was serpent-head Carville. Looking at it again, I can see he's the father from "That Seventies Show!"
Any rings, regardless of where they are, are a total turnoff to me. Women, take note.......
No. it's not. These people are generous enough to make it easy to identify a moron. We should be thankful for that. It saves time.
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