Miss America 2014 hopeful is a U.S. Military soldier... with tattoos

[SuperMillionaire]

As for the tattoo thing? Typically, tattoos have a bad rap, due to being associated with strippers and prostitutes in the case of women (think the lower-back tattoo, sometimes insultingly referred to as the "tramp stamp"), and criminals, in the case of men, especially in prison. However, tattoos are also a common military practice, and many soldiers have them.

Let me make this clear right now: that statement is NOT my own personal opinion, but from what I have seen on many other message boards and articles with comments, that is still a pretty popular opinion.

I've also looked on Wikipedia about tattoos, and that it has a long history, and has both positive and negative associations. Many pagan tribes prominently used tattoos, and there are also a lot of modern religious tattoos that some people tend to get today. And of course, there's also the military.

When it comes to the lower-back tattoo, I'm open-minded enough to know that not all women who have such tattoos are strippers, prostitutes, or promiscuous, though a significant number of them still are, and that's what reinforces and confirms the stereotype; nonetheless, there are aversions. And another thing about this particular tattoo: it can just as easily be concealed as it can be revealed, simply by wearing a top that covers the lower midriff.

Many popular musicians have them too, especially hard rock, heavy metal, country, reggae, and hip-hop/rap. The last group, however, is (sometimes) associated with inner-city crime and gangster/mobster activity, and many criminals, both on the streets and in prison, have tattoos. The following quote from the article below is an example of people who view tattoos in this way:

Pull up your pants - or the law may do it for you - SFGate

"If you walk in somebody's office with your hair uncombed and the pick in the back and your shoes untied and your pants half down, tattoos up and down your arm, on your face, on your neck and you're wondering why somebody won't hire you? They don't hire you because you look like you're crazy!"

(Also note that prisons also have a separate tattooing tradition as well; they sometimes tattoo the prisoner number onto the prisoner.)

Now, I won't object if you just happen to have a few tattoos on your body. I've actually complemented many other people I know in my school that have tattoos. Would I get a tattoo myself, though? No. I like it for others, but not for me. However, there is a certain point at which the tattoos become too much, and that point is when you have tattoos covering entire parts of your body, all over your body. That is when I start to object. Also note that while some tattoos are seen as nice, other tattoos are seen as offensive, depending on the design of the tattoo and what the tattoo is. For instance, if you have a tattoo of a positive symbol, such as a heart, a flower, the "peace" symbol, or a religious symbol, such as the Christian cross, it is seen as acceptable, but if you have, let's say, a swastika or a skull (which symbolizes death) as a tattoo, that is seen as offensive. There are various other examples of what people view as acceptable and offensive, which I won't get into, because it would take too much time.

The thing about tattoos, though, is that, from what I've seen and heard, when you get older, it's doesn't look good anymore, and the process of removing a permanent tattoo is quite painful. However, there are also "temporary tattoos" that last only a short time before fading away.

As for the Miss America pageant this year, I was actually rooting for Miss Kansas, but she didn't win. She at least made it to the talent competition, and let me tell you, she was awesome. I mean, who would have thought that a military soldier with tattoos would be an opera singer, let alone a beauty queen, not to mention that she mastered that song in less than 48 hours just by watching it on YouTube. She originally wanted to show off her archery skills, but projectile objects are forbidden, so she improvised and switched to singing, which she had in fact done before, but not in a while, and she nailed it. Then there's Miss Florida, who injured her knee earlier during preparation, but still executed her routine flawlessly live on national TV, while wearing a knee brace.

Both myself and a friend of mine thought that either Miss Kansas, Miss Texas, Miss Florida, or Miss California (the runner up, who was also Asian) should have won, instead of Miss New York. Let's also note that last year's winner, Mallory Hagan, also represented New York, but she's originally from Alabama.

As for Nina Davuluri, the first Miss America of Indian descent? Some people need to get their facts straight. She is not Arab, and she is not Muslim; I am not sure about whether she is Christian or Buddhist, but she is Indian, and not Arab or Muslim. The first Asian Miss America was Angela Perez Baraquio, who represented Hawaii, and is of Filipino (or Filipina) descent, winning Miss America 2001. Let's also note that the unaffiliated Miss USA pageant once actually crowned an Arab Muslim winner, Rima Fakih, Miss USA 2010, who had previously danced on a stripper pole, and was arrested for drunk driving sometime later on. Still, neither myself nor my friend, who is in fact of Indian descent, thought that Nina Davuluri was attractive; her body is good, but her face isn't. Nonetheless, it's still a good thing that the pageant is embracing diversity, though we still have yet to crown a Miss America of Hispanic/Latina descent, even though Puerto Rico has competed in the pageant for quite some time now.