Just because lots of people have it, that doesn't mean it's lost it's meaning.
It's an individual thing. A person gets a tat, on their body, for their own reasons.
You all are looking at it in the context of a huge social trend. But it's really more of an individual thing.
All the same shit that you are saying about tats could be said about bodybuilding too. It's gotten totally widespread, everybody is doing it, some people do it for shallow reasons, etc. The same thing can be said about lots and lots and lots of different things. Get over yourselves.
Right now i'm living in a coutnry where almost nobody has tats and tats are considered for criminals only. But when you do meet the rare person who has tats, they are no different then an American really.
Individuals make up a society. And yrs ago, usually the ones who had tats were criminals and whores...Now almost every woman has a "tramp stamp" on their lower back, and guess what, many of American women are whores. Many of today's young men, get criminal charges---so it could be said that a lot of people who have tats are criminals and whores.
Also, American people who get "Strength and Honor" in Chinese, because "it's different" yet they don't know Chinese, and there are over a billion people in China, so in actuality, it's not different. Most people in American do things because they are followers, and having a tattoo is trendy.
Nobody is "on themselves", you need to look at the world for what it is. Bodybuilding is extreme, and everybody knows that to be in balance one must be in moderation.
*I am not undermining those who have tattoos, who choose to get one, or find bodyart beautiful.
