On Hebrew Tattoos
Now that Britney and Christina are all smitten with their Hebrew and Kabbalistic tattoos and everyone’s all intrigued with their stupidity, I thought I’d just give a nod to my friend Genesis P-Orridge [NSFF] who, for the past couple of decades, has been rocking the name of his band Psychic TV in a crude Hebrew transliteration on his arm. It just goes to show that, once again, these pop stars are doing nothing new nor innovative. Someone else did it first, and likely, did it better.
Chritsians > jews.
What do you make of Throbbing Gristle using concentration camp imagery early on? What does he say about that and why did he get a Hebrew tattoo? Just curious.
Excuse me for my lack of eloquence, but tatoos are for sissies.
michelle — i actually had a long talk with him/her one night about that. his/her general explaination was that he/she felt the image of auschwitz was an incredibly profound reminder of the evil of which humanity is capable and one which forces our own introspection. hence why he/she chose it for the logo for industrial records.
i don’t know if i came away from our talk with a reasonable understanding … i think it was just a youthful attempt to be shocking and controversial, and of course he/she was successful in that.
but as far as being antisemitic or anything of that nature, i don’t think he/she has a hateful bone in his/her body. he/she’s one of the kindest, most caring, compassionate people i’ve ever met. he/she’s actually quite saintly, despite his/her shocking public image.
Thanks, Mobius. Growing up in the punk scene, I knew that some people used swastikas for shock value (Sid Vicious, Siouxsie Sioux), but I always wondered about Throbbing Gristle’s motives. I didn’t think that they would use that imagery out of hate – I guessed that it was more theater than anything, but it’s good to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Genesis is an interesting person, most definitely.
do u kno its actually against hebrew culture to get a tattoo? so basically madonna cant be a tru kabbalist, because true kabbalists recognised inking their bodies is against the religion
For the past couple of years I wanted to get a tattoo, but being Jewish I know it is forbidden. For the last year or so, I’ve REALLY wanted to get one, and have considered it seriously, when I turn 18 in 2 months. I do understand the reason why jews are not allowed to have tattoos b/c of purity, however, we are allowed to have piercings. Putting a hole in your body is just as unpure as putting ink on it. Why are we allowed to have holes and not ink?
I’d looove to meet Genesis Breyer… he/she seems like such a wonderful person.