Flash by Jason Phillips, FTW Tattoo, Oakland, CA.

This isn't an elegy, it's not a dirge and it's definitely not fucking sarcastic. The F.T.W. tattoo is alive and well and I'm here to tell you why.

It's true that these three initials have long been associated with your average prison scratcher ne'er-do-well biker type, and even your thug life three strikes gangbanger who now resides permanently at the Graybar Hotel -- but those are the folks that this country was built on. The United States was founded on the backs of the have-nots and built with the blood, sweat and tears of the same folks on whom we are wont to look down upon. No one cares about Do-Gooder This, or World Peace Ambassador That. We care about the hard-drinking, hard-fighting, hard-working men -- and women -- who would just as soon clock you in the jaw as tattoo you with a huge F.T.W. on your forehead just for being a pussy and passing out after too much whiskey.

So. After some serious consideration, I have absolutely and wholeheartedly embraced the F.T.W. tattoo and its place in the modern tattoo lexicon. Here are three reasons why.

1.) It's the best statement of all time.

It means "fuck the world," in case you weren't sure. The whole world. In a time where shock-value has lost all value, when everything's been done to death, the phrase fuck the world is about as blunt and ignorant-sounding as you can get. It's meant as the ultimate middle finger, but the phrase itself comes off as melodramatic. It's a little too high school angsty, yet it's been championed by so many outwardly tough subcultures that you really shouldn't be laughing at anyone who sports the initials. 1b.) Also note, I have a fondness for initialisms.

2.) History, sorta.

F.T.W. doesn't go back as far as most of what are considered the iconic western-style tattoo designs that are still with us today: the pharoah's horses, rose of no man's land, etc. Its predecessors were a bit more tongue-in-cheek when they wanted to be funny or crass, but it's got a little history all the same. It seems to me that F.T.W. tattoos peaked in the 90s (anyone?), and while there's never been (to my knowledge) any consistent designs, there has been the theme of, ahem, fuck the world. Hell, Method Man used it! (And unlike that toting-a-toothbrush gimmick he tried, this one stuck.) I liked the 80s okay. The 90s, however, I loved. Granted, I'm still a young man, so my experience in the 90s wasn't your typical Gen. X disillusionment or whatever the hell twentysomethings were doing in the 90s. But there's a history there. And I can appreciate that.

3.) It can be a complex statement (if you wanna read too much into it).

This is where I read too much into it. So if you don't want me to further spoil this, quit reading, because I'm about to tell you why the phrase fuck the world is so illustrative. Also, feel free to tell me I'm an idiot for going the English major route on this one. Tattoos are what they are, nobody needs anyone dissecting anything. But here I go.

The F-bomb is about as strong a single curse word as you can get. It's the apex of single-word profanity. But we're the ones who gave it that status. The world crowned the F-word king of all curses. And we, being a people who love contradictions, a people who adore criminals and vilify the simple man, love to use fuck. Because it's so fucking crude.

And the world? You want to fuck the world?! Not only is this statement far too large in scope to actually be taken seriously, it's completely ridiculous, no matter which meanings or connotation you want to ascribe to 'fuck'. However, when I can clear my head, it makes sense. I like to think of the world as a big silly mess of materialistic nonsense. If you want to put it in a spiritual context, it's a lot of stuff that clouds our minds, distracts our focus and slowly murders our spirit. If you want to put it in a Tyler Durden context, "The things you own end up owning you." I get the feeling he was right.

And it's not just things. It's the jobs we kill ourselves over, making enough money to scrape by and pay rent, maybe take a meager vacation to your parents' house and do it all again. It's advertising, television, fashion, thirty-eight different things every day telling you who you should be, why you need something, what you should fear. It's corporations bilking people out of pensions, bleeding seniors dry on medical bills, it's Bernard fucking Madoff. It's religions that use a cheap spirituality as an excuse for hatred, war and death. It's politicians, it's junk food, it's even blogs like this one. Holy shit, it's even. Fucking. Tattoos.

So fuck the world! Meth and Tyler were right. Now, where do I have room for an F.T.W. tattoo?