Richard Cohen wrote a ridiculous, no good, very bad column about tattoos for today's Washington Post. I've excerpted the most polemical parts of the piece to give you an idea of his thesis:
Tattoos are the emblems of our age....The tattoo is the battle flag of today in its war with tomorrow. It is carried by sure losers.
About 40 percent of younger Americans (26 to 40) have tattoos. About 100 percent of these have clothes they once loved but now hate. How can anyone who knows how fickle fashion is, how times change, how their own tastes have "improved," decorate their body in a way that's nearly permanent? I don't get it....
The permanence of the moment—the conviction tha[...]