What Would Possess Anyone To Do This To Themselves?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-46046755
How damaged will his children be?

[Old_Geezer]

I think the same about any tattoo/piercing/scarring/branding (although I've grown up in a society that is ambivalent regarding earrings).

No accounting for others mental processes. Takes all sorts.

[woofgang]

I can't see why it would damage his children any more than having a parent with a scarred or otherwise marked face or body would....do we think that Alison Lapper's children will be damaged?....or the children of injured service personnel? Its not a choice that I would make but to suggest that it will damage his children is pretty far fetched.

[maggiebee]

Do you think Simon Weston's children are damaged in any way?

[B00]

Whilst I love tattoos (got 5 of my own) I personally think his facial ones are hideous- but hey! Each to their own.

I dont see how this would damage his children though? Care to explain that point 3T?

[kvalidir]

Of course his children won't be damaged, he's their Daddy and they'll love him whatever he looks like, and will probably grow up more accepting of diversity because of it if anything. It's his body and his choice.

[Sqad]

No I agree, his children will recognise the tattooed man in the house as "Daddy".....no big deal.
BUT.......what about other children, some that see him for the first time and may be scared and there are plenty of psychiatric or psychological disorders just waiting in the outside world to be named and blamed on emotive traumatic episodes in their past life.?

[andy-hughes]

I have to agree with previous posters - children are totally accepting of their parents' appearance, and are spared the need to be judgemental about others until they are older, which is a good thing.


If people judge a book by its cover, that is up to them - I have spent a lifetime having incorrect assumptions made about me.

They are nothing like as serious or intrusive as this man has to live with, but they do reflect human nature.

I have always looked especially 'straight' - I look like a cross between Bamber Gascoigne and a bank manager, and people assume that I am equally 'straight' by nature, when the exact opposite is true.

When I wrote for an extreme heavy metal magazine from New York, I went to gigs where not being tattooed and having a shaved head or long hair was almost a talking point, so I stuck out like a Rabbi at a christening! Happily, alternative lifestyle people are always far more accepting of people who look like I do mixing with them, than the other way around.

[Guilbert53]

People who have this done are mentally ill and there should be a law against tattoo parlours giving people tattoos like this.

It also makes him less able to get certain jobs, making him a burden on society if he cant get work.

Hopefully this idiotic fashion for getting covered in tattoos will fade soon and all those covered in tattoos will feel right idiots.

[naomi24]

I don't know what possesses people to do that to themselves but I don't think his children will be damaged. They'll be used to seeing it from birth so for them it will be the norm.

[andy-hughes]

Guilbert - // People who have this done are mentally ill and there should be a law against tattoo parlours giving people tattoos like this. //

Clearly the government does not agree - and tattooists are licenced to carry out their trade. It is a sweeping and unfounded statement to assume that people who wish to decorate themselves in a way that you find unacceptable must be mentally ill.

// It also makes him less able to get certain jobs, making him a burden on society if he cant get work. //

Another unfounded assumption - there are plenty of jobs where physical appearance is not an issue.

// Hopefully this idiotic fashion for getting covered in tattoos will fade soon and all those covered in tattoos will feel right idiots. //

Doubtful in both instances - the popularity of tattoos is on the rise - you will just have to learn to accept that how people adorn themselves is a matter of personal choice, that's one of the joys of living in a free society.

[andy-hughes]

// I don't know what possesses people to do that to themselves … //

An interesting phrase, used a couple of time now on this thread.

The notion of 'possession' infers that the individual must be affected by demonic interference, how else could one explain such behaviour?

Simple actually - people like tattoos, and like the way they look with them, it's really not hard to understand.

I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would take up jogging, but I don't assume they are 'possessed' because they like it and I don't.

And yes I know that tattooing means an unavoidable alteration to physical appearance, but the thinking behind doing something is individual - not understanding it does not mean it is unnatural.

[naomi24]

//The notion of 'possession' infers that the individual must be affected by demonic interference//

Of course it doesn't. What nonsense!

[anotheoldgit]

andy-hughes

/// and people assume that I am equally 'straight' by nature, when the exact opposite is true. ///

Not wishing to be rude in anyway, but I found your post rather strange, are you taking the opportunity to come out of the closet?

[andy-hughes]

Naomi - // /The notion of 'possession' infers that the individual must be affected by demonic interference//

Of course it doesn't. What nonsense! //

Put the words 'being possessed' into your search engine of choice, and have a look at the results that come up ...

[andy-hughes]

AOG - // andy-hughes

/// and people assume that I am equally 'straight' by nature, when the exact opposite is true. ///

Not wishing to be rude in anyway, but I found your post rather strange, are you taking the opportunity to come out of the closet? //

Of course not AOG - I am using the term 'straight' in terms of physical appearance, being standard, normal, as expected, and so on … and I think you know that, you little tease you!!!!

[naomi24]

Andy-hughes, //Put the words 'being possessed' into your search engine of choice, and have a look at the results that come up ...//

Good grief! What would you expect to come up on such a search? More appropriately put the words “What possessed you?” into your search engine of your choice and you’ll get something rather more accurate … like this:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/what-possessed-you

It’s simply a figure of speech.

[anneasquith]

He sounds a nice young man, articulate and caring towards his child, she will totally accept him. But other children/adults will understandably have opinions about his appearance ,and I believe this will affect the child ( not.in a positive way ).

[Mamyalynne]

Chris says in the article linked why he does it.

[naomi24]

It does - but it doesn't explain the reasoning behind it.

[andy-hughes]

Naomi - // It does - but it doesn't explain the reasoning behind it. //

Why should it?

People do things all day everyday 'because ...' - there is no actual thinking behind some actions, or at least not one that an individual can articulate.

It's his skin - why should he have to justify his decoration of it to judgemental strangers?