Saturday, September 27, 2008

of tatttoos and responsibility














I've recently seen a spate of bar code tattoos
that contain a person's social
or dates that are specifically important
to them for whatever reason

and in some ways
I think that they are pretty cool...
very "Orwellian" if ya get my drift...
















but every time I see one
I can't help but wonder
what the survivors
of Germanic death camps think?
or their descendants?
how do Jewish people in general
see them?














and that makes me think of responsibility...

do we as human beings
not as specific personalities
but as humanity in general
not need to show respect
for what has gone on before us?










or is it just that time moves on?
and we don't need to feel responsible for
past atrocities decades later?











are we as human beings
so lost and desperate
to be "individuals"
that we shirk responsibility
to the past?

or am I over thinking again?

You tell me.....

5 comments:

Unknown said...

While some are doing this for shock value only, I believe that some are starting to realize that what the Nazi's did in a short time is being repeated at a much slower pace this time by the world powers. This is their way of protesting. Think of how difficult it is to achieve anonymity today. Travel is being made more difficult (under the guise of terrorism)to the point that many people just don't bother anymore. Economics is another huge area of control. The walls are there, you just can't see them as easily. It still seems easy to kill thousands of people with the stroke of a pen for selfish causes.

Anonymous said...

Your comments remind me of a quote by George Santayana:

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

We live in interesting times.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm, or maybe they are just mimicking a symbol that is part of our everyday lives without any tie to past events at all? If these tatts were done with the same style of tattoing, in the same place, and visibly an ignorant mockery of past injustices that would be one thing. But in this case I personally think it's nothing more than a passing fad with about as much forethought put into as any fad gets ... remember pet rocks? LOL

I wonder how many Playboy bunny tattoos there are out there, or barbed wire tribal armbands?

WyzWmn© said...

@ anonymous...

that's what I wonder...am I over thinking this?

but in my usual over thinking fashion I think...could it be that myself and the 2 other commenters are of "an age" and you (anon) may be younger?

are you younger much than 50? could it be beliefs left over from the era we grew up in?

Anonymous said...

I think this comes from the idea of the 'natural disaster' theory. During the hurricanes over the past few years, people were told to take permanent markers and write their names or social security numbers on their arms .."just in case." Meaning that if they died in the storms at least they could be identified by search and recovery agencies through the writings on their arms. Just a thought
LD