quote:

---

Originally posted by A Drum On A Stick

This thread is pretty mean-spirited, but IMO posting videos of a fellow banjo player in order to mock their appearance is stepping over the line.

Ya'll should worry more about treating people kindly, and less about sharing your opinions about how others look with the world.

---

When a person has gone to great lengths, discomfort and expense to modify their appearance is it so wrong to notice? 

This line we supposedly stepped over, where does it go?  Am I expected to appreciate absolutely any form of body modification in order to be "kind"?

For what it's worth, I think Mossy Bones is a great banjo player but he looks outlandish and he looks outlandish because he wants to look outlandish.

Fwiw, I doubt that one is expected to appreciate body modification/art/??/* any more than one is expected to denounce it.   

I realize "no man is an island" but I find that, generally speaking,  "It's his/her business, not mine." meets the kindness requirement.

* ... make-up?  [I.e. Just where is the line, let alone where does it go??]

quote:

---

Originally posted by A Drum On A Stick

This thread is pretty mean-spirited, but IMO posting videos of a fellow banjo player in order to mock their appearance is stepping over the line.

Ya'll should worry more about treating people kindly, and less about sharing your opinions about how others look with the world.

---

I think, as per Bill-e's post, many, if not most, of these heavily tatooed people are getting just the reaction that they are asking for.  It is not a condition that they were born with or some malady that they can't help.  It is one of their choosing, so I think they are inviting and in many cases pleased to get a reaction from others.

Many yeras ago, maybe thirty, I was having dinner in the Palmer House, a very fine restaurant in Chicago.  Tis was well before the tatoo craze that we see now.  A gentleman several tables over was bald (or shaved head) and was tatooed over every square inch of his head and face.  I had never seen anything like that beofre, and not sure since.  If he was trying to shock people, he sure succeeded.

He dose get credit for good playing..

Not every banjo player gets that... :0)

His best milue might be...Radio...... ;0)

Ok, maybe glass half full ,,,, he might be attracting others of his ink,,, err, ilk, you know, young rebellious types (not that I ever was one, in other ways) to our beloved instrument. Remember when the hippie-type longhairs (Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, John Hartford, Butch Robins, etal) “invaded”.

quote:

---

Originally posted by chuckv97

Ok, maybe glass half full ,,,, he might be attracting others of his ink,,, err, ilk, you know, young rebellious types (not that I ever was one, in other ways) to our beloved instrument. Remember when the hippie-type longhairs (Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, John Hartford, Butch Robins, etal) “invaded”.

---

Poor kids nowadays gotta go alot farther than growing a little hair in order "let their freak flag fly".

I mean... it's gottta be tough being a rebellious teen and you can't get a reaction out of your grandparents without undergoing permanent body modification.

"What's the difference being different, when it's difference now that looks the same--"
John Hartford from long ago yet right on target.

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjo bill-e

Paul, the vibe I get is a blend of narcissism and a deliberate desire to offend the people (like most of us) who find it unattractive. Also, ugly women are being celebrated like never before in history, and that's a very easy in-group to join.

---

I would be rightly surprised if adults across America were making permanent alterations to their body to get a reaction from you or me. Seems unlikely that folks are hinging their decisions on some banjo-picking Joe Shmoe's perception of them. Unless they're trying to court one of us, which seems even less likely!

quote:

---

Originally posted by SatCotM

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjo bill-e

Paul, the vibe I get is a blend of narcissism and a deliberate desire to offend the people (like most of us) who find it unattractive. Also, ugly women are being celebrated like never before in history, and that's a very easy in-group to join.

---

I would be rightly surprised if adults across America were making permanent alterations to their body to get a reaction from you or me. Seems unlikely that folks are hinging their decisions on some banjo-picking Joe Shmoe's perception of them. Unless they're trying to court one of us, which seems even less likely!

---

I'll buy that.  Let's just go with Narcissism!

I only know a few people well enough to even attempt to link their having tattoos with their personalities.  However not one of them exhibits any of the  common signs of narcissistic personality disorder [at least the ones that popped up on a cursory Google search].  Go figure!!

P.S. I'm no psychologist.  

Edit: But, but, but I did get either 50 or 51% in Psych. 120 ................ it was a  l-o-n-g  time ago.

----"I would be rightly surprised if adults across America were making permanent alterations to their body to get a reaction from you or me"

No, reactions from us are just a bonus. The purpose is identify as part of an in-group, and one of the characteristics of that group is to show disdain to the "straight world" at every opportunity. And I would bet big money that I could guess this person's take on politics, gender issues, climate change, etc., as it's all part of the same package. They are saying "NOT", as in, not your religion, not your patriotism, not your Freedom of Speech, not your standards of beauty, not your anything!"

The difference between these folks and the Bluegrass hippies is that the hippies liked the music and just wanted to take part and join the scene. That is very much not the case here.

"They are saying "NOT""

To be frank, that all sounds like some wide-eyed crazy talk to me. I've known a few people with the tattoos all up and down, or a face full of piercings. Not too uncommon where I'm at. Those that I've met are pretty bog-standard human beings. Far as I know, they got em because they liked em. Definitely some cultural differences as well.

It does sound terribly conceited to me, imagining that someone's expression or beliefs must be a reaction to your own, or those of your cultural bubble. Our own experiences are not the "normal" baseline from which everything else is a deviation. People have been tattooing each other and piercing all manner of frightening places on the body since the year dot. I don't see the appeal of having big spike stuck through my septum, but clearly more than a couple do if they've been doing it across the world all this time.

On the plus side, if your teen looks like the fella in the video.... it is easier to get them out of bed in the morning...

I’m not so sure the “Bluegrass hippies” just wanted to join the scene ,, methinks they wanted to kick over some of the music’s sacred cows, never mind the traditional conservative mindset of some of the music’s culture.