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Grinders and society

djangojerusalem

June 2012

edited February 2015

in Everything else

Hi joined recently, been lurking for a while, I was on the grinder symbol thread and lots of people were saying some interesting things about how people will react to how grinders present themselves, where do people see this going socially over the next 10 years or so? How do you think we should best present ourselves so we aren't viewed as abominations but as the next steps? What affect do you think this will have on society?

Comments

1. 

   Jackthetripper
   June 2012
   Sorry for waiting for a response, but I was hoping for somebody a little better suited that me to respond. My two cents is:

   
   

   It's mostly up to us, the current grinders, to show people we aren't some crazed fringe group. The first step is to present ourselves as a legitimate body mod group like facial piercings and hanging piercings. This is mostly looked down upon by the average person but is still wrote off as "Oh those crazy kids" more so than being confused for satanic worshipers. I think we're doing pretty good and are roughly close to here right now. 

   
   

   The next step is to prove that we can provide an actual, useful, day to day use for these mods. We're getting closer and closer with our inventions to having such a device. This will still be considered a fringe idea but is more acceptable to an average person like prosthetic limbs. 

   
   

   For the future, I don't think we have much to worry about. The grinder movement as a whole tries to follow the most up to-date science we can cheaply reproduce. Most of this is something an average person can make in their garage or take a needle and shove under their skin. This isn't smoke and mirrors done in a lab, it's something you can do any time you want. I think we will always been seen as kind of a weird fringe, but over time we will see a small growth of acceptance the more we can provide to an average consumer. Compare it to a tattoo, tattoos are growing in acceptance now they are no longer seen as criminal identifications. Now a imagine a tattoo that could work along side your cell phone, 60% or more people in developed countries would have them in the next five years. 

   
   

   
   
2. 

   rdb
   June 2012
   In my opinion, the reason why a lot of people think we're crazy is because we take big risks and perform rather painful procedures.  People generally aren't willing to dig a hole into a finger and stick an object in unless they have a pretty good reason to (eg medical).
   
   I see grinders as the pioneers in the area of non-medical implants and other such modifications.  Eventually, the modifications we make will become mainstream, but there always has to be this group of nutters to show that it can be done.
   
   If we want these kinds of body modifications to become less of a "weird fringe", the emphasis should be on minimising risks and pains associated with the mods.  I think we're moving in the right direction though, with the coming experiments regarding injection of magnets (as opposed to operating with a scalpel) for instance.  I've also recently designed a tDCS that is significantly safer than any DIY electrostimulation device I've seen, and I'll personally continue looking for ways to do what we do even more safely.  I do think this is important, because incidents happening and becoming news will make people scared, and that is exactly what we don't want.
   
   Just my two cents.
   
3. 

   Ghost02236
   June 2012

   I think that, if we can make implants more functional and safe and less painful, people will have a very different view of things. A response I have been getting a lot is "so much pain and risk just to feel the wires in your walls is nuts" or "Yeah, if it was something more functional like a watch or phone, then I'd go for it".

   So, If we want better acceptance, we have to come up with more and get people mith medical qualification to work with us...