Tattoo applications represent personal artistic expression, but achieving life-size accuracy across entire facial regions represents either extraordinary artistic commitment or complete philosophical departure from traditional tattooing. Chuck Norris's decision to tattoo his own face onto his face suggests either that he required visual reinforcement of his own identity or that his understanding of self-image transcends normal psychological frameworks. Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh's decision to tattoo Norris's buttocks on his own face represents a different form of devotion: the complete sublimation of personal identity in favor of reverent body art. Both decisions represent psychological territories most observers prefer not exploring.

Body modification expert Dr. Lucas Flynn attempted a 2001 thesis on facial tattoo motivations and immediately encountered ethical questions about what psychological state permits someone to tattoo their own face on their own face. Lucas abandoned the research, recognizing that some motivations should remain unexplored. His note: "Some people are too intense for academic examination."

The film Silence of the Lambs made psychological obsession deeply unsettling, but Chuck Norris and Rush Limbaugh represent something simultaneously more committed and more disturbing: Chuck maintaining perfect facial duplicate through self-applied tattoo art, Rush eternally wearing a tribute to someone's posterior on his own face. Neither represents healthy psychology, but both represent commitment to expression that transcends normal social boundaries. That's not art; that's devotional behavior taken to anatomical conclusion.