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So, in its bi-monthly attempt to take the onion off its belt and prove how hip it is, the New York Times has published a piece on the ever-increasing acceptability of tattoos in the mainstream and it’s actually not so bad. There are a few predictably hilarious quotes, such as this reaction to Project Runway season three victor Jeffrey Sebelia’s large throat tattoo:

“I was, like, ‘Whoa.’ It wasn’t a prison tattoo. It wasn’t sailors or criminals. It was this real-life person that you saw being creative and successful, and it really affected your perception about who gets tattooed.”

So that’s a nice, positive sentiment. And, since it’s the New York Times, this has gotten some pretty heavy coverage all over the series of tubes. What say the Internets?

Jessica Grose, Jezebel: “We were already aware that tattoos have lost their taboo status because the Times keeps telling us. Over and over and over and over again. They want to make sure we know that moms and dads and heartbroken doctors and heartbroken writers and even the Jews are getting inked. After the jump, some passages from these taboo busting articles that show, once and for all, that getting a tattoo is about as transgressive as eating a donut (think of the transfats!).”

Michael M. O’Hear, Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog: “While the article has led me to reconsider that flaming skull I’ve always thought would look great on my forehead, I do note that ‘lawyer’ is not in the list of professions in which visible tattoos are becoming more common. I wonder, though, whether there are some outposts of the legal profession in which tattoos have become the norm, or are at least more accepted than in others. And is there a resource guide somewhere for inked-up law students letting them know which employers are tattoo-friendly and which are not? Maybe this should be part of the NALP form . . . .”

Ann Althouse: “Who knew you had to earn your neck tattoo? I’d have thought getting a neck tattoo as opposed to, say, one of those peeping-over-the-pantyline tattoos was a real demonstration of commitment. Ten (or more) years ago I stood in line at the University Bookstore behind a pretty young woman who had a tattoo on her neck of an old-fashioned, claw-footed bathtub — complete with the extended pipe and shower-head. ‘Poseur’ is not the word that crossed my mind.”

Half Sigma: “I think they have prole drift backwards. The higher classes are taking on the habits of the lower classes.

It still seems incredibly stupid to get a tattoo. What happens when they go out of style? It’s still not considered upper class. Why permanently prevent yourself from ever being upper class?

Nevertheless, I see many white people in Manhattan with white collar jobs and probably college degrees who have tattoos. I suspect that they are all voting for Obama. College gradautes with tattoos just has a left-wing feel to it, but I can’t pinpoint why. Normally, left-wing people have no qualms about hating low-class white culture like hunting and NASCAR. It’s a real shame that the General Social Survey has never asked any questions about tattoos.”