Screwed, Blued And Tattoed

Kennesaw's Blogasaw

As with everything I write, I stand a chance of offending with this, be warned. For some reason, the average adult during the sixties believed that all things were new and designed specifically to offend them. In fact, most things that offended the first generation of the offended nation were very old and had been around since the dawn of time.

Long hair offended those with too much starch in their drawers. After all, it’s Ok if I do it and not Ok if I don’t, is not truly a Christian concept, but a better than thou concept. Christians and better than thou’s are not one and the same, but many better than thous hide out in churches.

This is funny for several reasons. Long hair has always signified health, wealth, prosperity and fertility. It was also a way of identifying one’s self as an artist, free man or dedicated follower of God. Also, it is widely accepted that Jesus had long hair, but apparently someone forgot to mention that to the BTT’s.

Short hair has throughout history signified those controlled by society or worse. Slaves and defeated armies were forced to shave their heads. Long hair predates the bible, but was good enough for God when the bible was published. When American Indians were eventually beaten into submission, the first order of business of the army, oh yeah short hair in the army, control again, their first order of business was to cut the Indians hair. It was not uncommon for American Indians to have hair that reached the ground. Cutting their hair was the ultimate act of humiliation and a sign of submission.

“Long hair beard and sandals and a funky bunch of friends; reckon they’d just nail him up if he came down again.” From, Jesus was a Capricorn, by Kris Kristofferson.

I have one tattoo, I got it in Seattle in 1979, I have no idea why I got it and it has no symbolic meaning, in fact, it’s a woman, and originally she was naked. Believe me, I’m not bragging. In fact, on a trip home my grandmother saw it while at the lake.

“Don’t come home until that poor creature is decent.” She said. Being a grandson who loved his grandmother I listened. She was clothed by a tattooist in Melbourne, Australia in 1981. The poor young woman herself looks like she was drawn by a drunk twelve year old and the clothing appear to have been drawn by the twelve year olds older crack head brother.

There have been mummies found dating from four millennium BC wearing tattoos. Although the bible seems to condemn tattoos, the Catholic Church does not. Tattoos are generally believed to have originated in Asia. They were introduced to the modern era by European sailors coming home from Polynesian islands. The negative connotations associated with tattoos stem from a pandemic of the pox or syphilis. When a sailor contracted syphilis, he was immediately placed on blue colored pills; these pills did not save him, but only prolonged his long life of misery, pain and eventual insanity. He was then tattooed to identify him as a disease carrier. The tattooists were often infected too, and so it was that many people who were tattooed contracted the disease from the tattooist.

Hong Kong is one of the most popular places to receive tattoos in the world. When I was there in the early eighties, tattoo shops were off limits, and if you were caught getting one; you were charged with destruction of government property and thrown out of the navy. This made hundreds of Sailors flock to tattoo parlors.

This explains blued and tattooed and screwed is pretty much self-explanatory. This also explains why people with tattoos were considered dirty and dangerous. Now, getting a tattoo is like buying chewing gum. Why do so many people want them? Because to tattoo is taboo and many want to appear dangerous. Also, as Americans, if a thing ain’t to be done, we will do it or die trying.

Body piercing and more specifically ear piercings have been around since the dawn of man. Piercing the left ear signifies, he man, the right, she man and both means you are thoroughly happy or gay. Of course, these distinctions were created by the, he men of the species.

In reality, the ancient Greeks believed that a man had to pay Charon, in gold, to cross the river Styx. Sailors, therefore, adopted the custom of ear piercing. If they died on a voyage, they were buried at sea. If they were later washed up on a faraway shore, whoever found them would give them a proper Christian burial and take their gold earring as payment for the service.

As to the ideas of the self-righteous, the self-important and the better than thous, long hair, piercings and the tattoo were never about you, get over yourself.