Tattooing “666″ on a Baby

An incredibly disturbing video — probably the most offensive tattoo video to date — is currently doing the viral rounds. In it, the tattoo artist (whose face we never see), tattoos what appears to be a small “666″ on a toddler that screams in pain and terror while he’s doing it. A woman that I assume is the mother is holding the child down the whole time. Since there is parental consent in the process, it is 100% legal. Arguably this isn’t any worse than the doctors that have have cut off the ends of millions if not billions of baby boys’ penises to satisfy their parents religious or cultural leanings, and of course there are indigenous cultures (many of them idolized by the “modern primitive” movement) all around the world that do a wide variety of heavy mods on babies and children… But wow… I don’t think I could bring myself to be involved in something like this, either as the artist or the parent. But I wonder — how many of you who are willing to denounce this video are also willing to denounce the tribal cultures who do similar things in much larger quantities and to a more horrific extent, or even denounce circumcision which is still commonplace in America (although not many other Western nations at this point as the cruelty and needlessness is recognized)?

YouTube pulled the video — click here to download our backup or play it here:

baby666

Update: If I had to guess [edit #2: this is now confirmed, and if you listen in the video you can hear them say that the child is now “blessed by Jesus”], I would say these people are followers of Jose Luis de Jesus of Growing in Grace. Followers of this fringe religion often get 666 tattooed one them as a part of their faith. The question is, do you believe in freedom of religion? Where is that line drawn for you? This group even has billboards around Toronto where I live — this isn’t just some isolated event. Below are some other similar tattoos done by their followers:

666tat-1t 666tat-2t

Update #2: Trying to find examples of tattooed children in Western culture, I was hoping to dig up an old story in BME’s old newspaper archive of historical mod stories because I remembered one about a father taking his identical twin sons to a tattoo artist in order to get a beauty mark tattooed on one of them as a way of telling them apart more easily. Anyway, I couldn’t find the actual article I was searching for, but I did find another from the October 19, 1899 Twin City News which mentions how an increasing number of parents are tattooing their children with a hidden ID mark (I believe this was in the midst of abduction paranoia).

Also, I mentioned above that the parents were “100%” legally in the right (although not ethically in my opinion), but I should point out that there have been cases — for example, this North Carolina mother arrested after allowing her 11-year-old to get a tattoo of a small heart on her shoulder — that suggest the opposite. However, courts in America are very unlikely to call the actions of an established religion “child abuse”, so don’t expect to see Jews being jailed over circumcision any time soon.

They grow up so fast

About six years ago Shannon shared with you the story of Nadia, IAM: Spirytus’ daughter who, at the time, was six years old.  What was special at the time was that Nadia had just tattooed her dad.

Well, Nadia is 12 now, and she’s still at it.  She even has a small group of clients who are lined up for more work from her.  Her most recent piece was also on her father, which you can see below.

Now six years ago, when the story was first posted.  It was reblogged on a Christian parenting blog, which led to a pretty heated argument between members of their community and ours.  Keep in mind that her father is a tattoo artist, oversees all of her work, and it is all done in a studio.  Specifically Never Say Die in London, England.

It looks like she’s finally grown into those gloves.

Help out the youngest member of the BME family. Get a limited edition 2012 BME Classic Logo t-shirt. Read all the details here.

No Pain for Zain

It seems like every week lately something terrible is happening.  Sean Ozz’s son Zain recently broke his forearm in two places.  Tonight Sean has put together a charity concert, so if you happen to be in the Houston area and want to check out a concert/auction to help out the little guy, you can check out all the event information on facebook, or yelp.

Come out and enjoy live music and partake in a silent auction to help raise money to help with a small part of Zain’s medical bills he endured when recently had a mid-shaft both bone forearm fracture otherwise known as fracture of the radius and ulna (the 2 bones in the forearm).

Zain needed an open reduction and fixation with flexible intramedullary nails. He pulled through like a champ through all this but acquired some hefty bills in the process.

Bands are…

5pm The Hates ( http://www.reverbnation.com/thehates )
10pm The Abyss ( http://www.reverbnation.com/theabyss )
9pm Harem festival ( http://www.reverbnation.com/haremfestival )
6pm Sheila Swift ( http://www.reverbnation.com/sheilaswift )
7pm Provision ( http://www.reverbnation.com/provisionmusik )
8pm Black Kennedy ( http://www.reverbnation.com/blackkennedy )
11pm The Zeros ( http://www.reverbnation.com/thezeroslive )

These bands have come together to offer live music for your entertainment. There is no cover but a suggested donation at the door of $5.00. Inside there will be a silent art auction as well as other great items. below is a small list of some of these items and artist. doors open at 4pm.

Tattoo gift certificates (ranging from $50-$150 value)
canvas art from award winning artist ($100-$500+ value)
Wooden cut out art
certificates for custom portraits from artist
certificate for custom painted shoes.
Gift card to FreeBirds World burrito ($25 value)
SATYR – String Through, 6-string guitar (Halo)
Condo in Galveston
Professional Massage certificate
AMC Movie package (tickets, popcorn and sodas included)
Silver skull ring from SilverLust ($125. value)
Collectible albums including
•Metallica picture disk
•Johnny Cash
•The Cars
•grease soundtrack
and much more to be added…

There will also be burgers and dogs being served for donation and cupcakes made by http://www.kakesbyklassic.blogspot.com/

There will not only certificates from award winning tattoo artist up for Auction but Houston’s own Aaron Dale will be set up in an area doing tattoos on the spot for those with the itch to get some new ink. http://www.aarondaletattoos.com/

as things get closer and more bands are confirmed as well as donation items we will update and send out an email to everyone.

club info @
http://www.bferockclub.com/about.html

For those wanting to help but who are to far to come out to the event a paypal page has been set up.
http://bit.ly/fWPumy

Award winning artist and singer of the band The Abyss (Sean Oliver) is asking for all his friends and associates to pull together on this one! If you only make it out once in March then this is the event to help support. If you have an item or some of your own art you can donate for the cause please email [email protected].

Thank you!

Don’t Mean a Thing


Well here is some grisly torture footage courtesy of Kay, huh? This little red-shirted emperor was just walkin’ around Marshallfest like he owned the place when he stumbled upon some nice gentleman mid-suspension and decided people were having just a little too much fun. Look at the cold, indifferent stare on his face. You may not be able to read it from here, but the young master’s T-shirt actually reads, “If He Dies, He Dies.” Chilling. A shot of one of his accomplices taking a free ride of his own, after the jump.

Tattoo Hollywood, BME’s first tattoo convention, is coming to Los Angeles from August 21-23, featuring contests, prizes and some of the best artists from around the world! Click here for more information.

ModBlog Late Night Presents: Nightmare Fuel!


Technical tomfoolery, sadly, kept us offline for a few hours this evening, but we’re back up and running and could think of no better way to send you fine people off into dreamland than with this horrific demon child, having just feasted on the tender flesh of an innocent. But hey, look how happy she is! That’s what counts, right? (So help us God she will eat your damn face if you disagree.)

Sleep tight, folks!

(Tattoo by the great Kyle Cotterman (more) at Ink Revolution Studios in Kingsport, Tennessee.)

BME Shop is holding a 20-percent-off sale on most items this week until midnight on Thursday, July 16! Click here for details.

See more in Sci-Fi Tattoos (Tattoos)

Full Coverage: Links From All Over (June 9, 2009)

[Goldcoast] As we’ve discussed in the past, henna is, above most other things, an insidious plot by any number of shadowy poison syndicates to horrifically mangle and mutilate your young children. Don’t believe it? Well listen, then, to the tale of young Cannon Cribb:

The five-year-old recently returned from Bali where locals painted a dragon on his arm with what his parents now realise was a substance containing para-phenylenediamine (PPD).

All was fine until the tattoo wore off completely and the entire area welted into the shape of the original image, some two weeks after it was first put on.

The family now fear Cannon will be left with a life-long scar.

First of all, this kid’s name is Cannon. How awesome is that? Even money that he’s already the most popular in his class just because of that, and now he’s got a dragon on his arm? Look, it’s terrible in a lot of ways and something clearly has to be done about the shitbags who keep using this low-grade junk (it’s actually the additive PPD and not henna itself that causes this reaction, and the boy’s mother makes a very valid point: “‘What if a little girl got a butterfly on her face?”), but holy crap this kid is going to get so much ass. I mean, not as a five-year-old. Oh, God, no. We don’t support that. Plus, it’s not really physiologically possible. Hopefully. Who knows what kinda mutant hormones they’re draining into milk these days.

[Showbiz Spy] So hey, here is a very important article about popular sex actress Megan Fox, who, as it turns out, is just like everyone else out there who was mildly overbearing parents! Megan was all, “Hey I want to get tattooed,” and her mom was all, “But you’re so pretty already,” and Megan was all, “But I really really want a sleeve,” and her mom was all, “There’ll be none of that under my roof, young lady,” and Megan was all, “I’M A GROWN WOMAN I CAN DO WHAT I WANT,” and her mom was all, “RAAAAAAR NO YOU WON’T, NOW EAT YOUR BRUSSELS SPROUTS,” and so Megan ran to her room and slammed the door and cried herself to sleep, the end.

Megan Fox’s mother, Darlene, hates it when her superstar daughter gets a new tattoo.

Darlene is apparently furious at the Transformers star’s plans to cover her entire right arm in a tattoo “sleeve.”

“Her mom has never understood why her daughter would want to cover her gorgeous body with tattoos,” said an insider. “After each new tattoo, Darlene pleaded with Megan not to get more.

“Darlene believes that when Megan is a 40-year-old woman wanting to play more mature roles, people won’t want to hire her because it will be too hard to cover her tattoos.”

God it must really suck to be Megan Fox these days.

[NBA FanHouse] And finally, in celebration of tonight’s game three of everyone’s favorite NBA Finals between the Lakers and Magic, here is another heartbreaking tale of authoritarian power trying to limit the expression of tattooed people, except instead of parents it’s a multi-billion dollar clothing company, and instead of Megan Fox it’s a seven-foot-tall Polish man. Practically the same thing. Anyway, Marcin Gortat, back-up center for Orlando, has been a pleasant surprise for anybody betting on the Magic these playoffs, but apparently his sponsor, Reebok, is none too pleased with the way he’s chosen to adorn himself with terrible inky idolatry:

[Gortat] received an uncomfortable phone call last weekend from Reebok, with whom he has a shoe contract. Representatives of the company were not happy to see a picture of him from Game 1 in a Polish newspaper that prominently displayed his Michael Jordan/Nike logo tattoo on his lower right leg.

Reebok asked him either to wear higher socks tonight to cover up the tattoo, or to apply makeup so it will not be noticed through the rest of the NBA Finals.

“They called and said I had to do something about it, but that ain’t going to happen,” Gortat said after Tuesday morning’s workout.

“I’ve been wearing it 4-5 years now, and it helped me get to the NBA,” said Gortat. “They didn’t say anything about it when I signed the contract, so it’s not going anywhere. I don’t think they are paying me enough to take it off.”

This is hardly a first for Reebok. A few years back, San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Nolan decided to forgo the usual NFL coach’s warm-up jacket and track-pants ensemble and wear a suit on the sidelines. Which would have been fine, had Reebok not been the official provider of sideline clothing for the league’s coaches, and so the NFL denied him his suits. Finally, because this was such a stupid story, everyone lightened up and Reebok just designed some suits for him to wear. All of which is to say, we’re all praying for Gortat when he is inevitably captured by Reebok’s thugs and has his little Air Jordan logo covered with a Reebok-approved pump.

How Young is Too Young For Tattoos?


We at BME publish a lot of content that people don’t always agree with—we’re fine with that. Body modification, constantly increasing acceptance notwithstanding, can still be a bit of a touchy subject. Now, BME sometimes finds itself in a predicament, being that we want to promote body modification and see it flourish (and therefore showcase the best the community has to offer), but we are also an archive, and that role sees us documenting content that can cast body modification in an unfavorable light in the public sphere. Such is the duality of a Web site that seeks, simultaneously, to be the voice of a community as well a news outlet covering it.

So, when we got this picture, it gave us the cold sweats. What was more important? Should we keep a lid on it because of the negative light in which it could surely cast tattooing, or should we publish it because that’s what we’ve made a commitment to do? In the end, we decided to run it, albeit with any distinguishing features obscured, as you can see above. Hopefully, if nothing else, it’ll spark some intelligent discussion and we won’t be proven foolish for posting it.

Says the artist:

Okay okay we know people will probably FREAK about this but you have to accept you don’t know all the details!.. The boy grows up around tattoos, he loves them, always loved them, always wants his own – hey I know what that’s like! I did a small one his leg and he took it pretty good, strong kid, so what the hell? Made sure he got a good long sleep and had a big breakfast, and had a big bottle of warm milk to relax him before laying down for the tattoo (and some during too). He’s a champ!!! It’s something to grow up with and remember, and if dont “approve” then that’s your problem I guess.

… discuss.

It Might Go Off


Sure, I like Lucas‘s beard, and you like it, but his goddaughter there? She seems like she’s had just about enough of it. I know the look of a person who’s ready to snap the shit out of something, and … well, I don’t think I have to tell you what she’s planning.

See more in Ear Stretching (past 1/2″) (Ear Piercing)

Eh, Maybe Texas


Burgh heard the screams, the cries, and before he ever saw it, he knew exactly what had happened. He ran out into the backyard and there it was: His daughter, Sophie, on her first birthday, had killed and eaten a Smurf. Look at that face, that uninhibited bloodlust. Why? Who knows why. Sophie’s not talking. And not a jury in the world is going to convict a baby.

See more in BME/Culture/People (Culture)