Is a tattoo ban a form of censorship

TownHall.com ^ | 7/25/02 | Steve Chapman

[RightWhale]

I thought you could't buy a bike unless you had a tattoo. My dictionary of stereotypes isn't the latest edition, though.

[Vidalia]

Scarification is real cute, especially when practiced by 10, 11, 12, and 13+ year old idiots who cannot even read stop/yield signs or count to 27.

Soon the Yakuza will be bitchin' about the American children cutting off their fingers just for fun, since it meant so much to the Underworld Japanese groups for so long...

Well, since the kissy-kissy brain dead parents don't give a damn, what's the harm, right?

Betcha neither the parents or the "Happy-Mealed" well-esteemed educationally retarded blobs they "are so proud of" know what LEMMINGS are.

[holly]

kattracks, I have mixed emotions regarding tatoos. Many years ago due to a boring weekend, a bottle of Jack Daniels, and some Columbian, I tattooed a deaths head on my wrist using drafting ink and a dissecting needle. No one knows its there since I always wear long sleeve shirts. However when my daughter went and got a tatoo on her leg I was ready to strangle her.

Everyone can pave their own path to hell.

[Willie Green]

I don't have a high regard for tatoos myself.
But I have no problems with allowing a tatoo artist to practice his trade legitimately, under two conditions:

1. The tatoo parlor is licensed and follows reasonable health safeguards.
2. NO tatoos for children. Only adults should be allowed to risk making this mistake.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Twenty years in the Airborne, and miraculously I don't have any stupid "DEATH FROM ABOVE" or green berets with daggers etched into my skin by some third-rate hack with an electric needle and cheap ink.

Probably just a character flaw on my part...

[RightWhale]

NO tatoos for children.

You're right about that. The only question is the age at which a child is considered a legal person, like for voting, driving a car, drinking, and all that stuff. 29 would be my suggestion.

[weegee]

Its funny that kids can't legally get pierced or tattooed until they are 18 (some places permit the piercing of ears with parental permission) and even medical procedures require a signed release from a parent or guardian. Yet there are members of Congress who actively oppose parental notification (let alone "permission") for minors seeking abortions.

[Willie Green]

The only question is the age at which a child is considered a legal person, like for voting, driving a car, drinking, and all that stuff. 29 would be my suggestion.

I have extremely low opinion of the teenage mush-heads that our society is currently cranking out. But as a matter of principle, I remain a staunch advocate of full adult rights and priveleges at age 18 so long as our nation maintains selective service registration requirements at that age.

[weegee]

Some members of the Yakuza later realized that there was a stigma to having a finger that was chopped. They took up the procedure of grafting a toe onto the finger stump when they sought other professions.

Those back covering tattoos must be lived with though...

[Husker24]

Okay, how about 29 as a minimum age for joining the armed services? If you cant drink, drive, or vote what the hell are you fighting for?

[Willie Green]

Okay, how about 29 as a minimum age for joining the armed services? If you cant drink, drive, or vote what the hell are you fighting for?

The point is irrelevant unless one is talking in terms of the selective service.
It is one thing to volunteer, quite another to be drafted.

[RightWhale]

That is a good point. Military service should count as extra life years. Many emerge from military service with an enhanced maturity. Perhaps each year in military service should count as 2 or 3 years of normal civilian living. Come out age 22, be considered a 29 year old adult. Full privileges.

[Vidalia]

ZZZZZZZZZTTT!

WRONG ANSWER!

The Yakuza tatoo was from ankle to neck, neck to forearm, just enough to cover the body but not to be seen if wearing full Japanese or Western attire.

You get one more chance at the fifty yen question.

Did Yakuza ever have any tatoo above the neckline?

[weegee]

It seems to me that the tattoo artist may not be the one to be making this case.

The person who will be wearing the tattoo almost always pays and the person who will be wearing the tattoo almost never says "do something" without seeing what the tattoo artist has in mind. Sometimes the person getting tattooed even says "I want this picture" or slogan. I think that the tattoo is more the "free speech" of the wearer, not the artist (hired hand/contracted artist).

Some areas prohibit tattooing above the neck (although strangely, the cosmeticians who offer "permenant makeup" don't have to abide by this). I can't conceive of any tattoo that you could be prosecuted for on your person (even for copyright violation). If your state bans tattoos, they do not ban tattooed individuals from living in that state. If your state bans facial/head tattoos, a person that received such a tattoo would not be prohibited from living in the state (and it is doubtful that there would ever be any investigation to see if someone did the work in violation of a state law).

The only reason I can see for regulating the tattoo/piercing industry is because of health codes (needles, blood, sterilization, infection,...). Some state legislatures may think that they are "bad" but I see it as a personal choice/mistake that each person can make for him or herself.

I have no tattoos, have only seen a few that I actually thought looked to be well done, prefer my women to not have tattoos, know several tattoo artists personally, and most of my acquaintences do have tattoos.

[goodnesswins]

Well, until girls have to sign up for selective service registration - I don't think they should have some of those rights until later - especially the ones who vote DEM....

[PRND21]

Is a tattoo ban a form of censorship

Yes.

[brat]

Yes, I believe it is a loss of freedom, whether free speech or not. I don't have one, nor does my husband or kids, but I support people's freedom of choice. If it makes them happy, who am I to say they can't have one.....so few freedoms left in this country. They have whittled down our rights until we have very little true freedom left.