OFFS

[emmelinemay]

Now the Daily Mail can no longer blame Goths for everything, they've switched targets.

The headline: Why no child is safe from the sinister cult of emo

Some choice quotes:

'emo' - part of a sinister teenage craze that romanticises death.

Some describe it as a cult or a sect[...]its followers dress in black, favouring tight jeans, T-shirts, studded belts and sneakers or skater shoes.

emo followers all over the world, talking about death and of the "black parade" — a place where emos believe they go after they die.

full article here

There always has to be a scapegoat, doesn't there?

I wonder which music genre is responsible for the teen knife killings.

Comments

[spoox.livejournal.com]

>I wonder which music genre is responsible for the teen knife >killings.

Rap, R&B and anything in the charts.

[smogo.livejournal.com]

It's generally MOR radio-friendly blandness like Scouting for Girls, Editors and Robbie Williams that sends me into a stabby rage.

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

Scouting for Girls, Editors and Robbie Williams

I like them

[exliontamer.livejournal.com]

When I read that article a while ago for the first time I was literally shaking with rage.
It's never allowed to be a case of teenagers hurting genuinely, is it? This is similar to the reaction of my parents to my depression when I was younger. We still can't really talk about it.

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

Parts of it actually made me FURIOUS - take all the references to emo out and you have

13 year old girl - just going into the confusing teen years, difficult troubled years even for the most well balanced happy child. One of her best friends killed herself last year. She occasionally cuts her self.

And when she says to her mum "I feel like killing myself" her mother says "Don't be so silly, we'll talk about it in the morning" ??????????

I mean, what the hell?????

[exliontamer.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Arg.

[exliontamer.livejournal.com]

(Though I hasten to add I wasn't an emo kid, just a Manicsfan)

[smogo.livejournal.com]

"American bands such as... Blink 182 are particular favourites.


Some emos yesterday

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

OMG!!! THEY'RE SO DARK AND EDGY!!!!!

[yaruar.livejournal.com]

i though the memo had been circulated to everyone that Rap and Computer Games were to blame for violence against others whereas goth and emo were only responsible for violence against the self.

clearly i need to resend the email to middle england lest they forget.

Edit: I almost forgot that we must remember the exception to the second rule whereby any mass murders or murders with implied ritualistic elements are the fault of Metal.

[dan-lane.livejournal.com]

unless your skin is dark, in which case it's an act of terror!

[suicideally.livejournal.com]

I particularly like the bit about "the black parade is a place all emos believe they go when they die"

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

Daily Mail: FAIL at investigative journalism

[publicansdecoy.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I was a bit chicked when I first heard this. Emo is now a religion?

-x-

[tintintin.livejournal.com]

Teen knife murders are typically black-on-black, so it would be UTTERLY RACIST and ENTIRELY INAPPROPRIATE to ascribe it to the music of young black people.

[dan-lane.livejournal.com]

is this something to do with the aforementioned black parade?

[yaruar.livejournal.com]

and totally innapropriate to apportion blame to disenfranchisement and social/economic inequalities rather than going for the easy answers of evil music. And lets not mention the lack of positive male role models/father figures and mentors.

[jez-alone.livejournal.com]

I commented on the page. The insensitivity of this article makes me want to vomit. So close after Sophie to vilify yet another group of people who dare to be different.

As you say - perhaps the parents should look at the root cause of why their child was depressed, self harming, etc. It's easy to blame the music...why the hell should we look at ourselves and try to see if we have anything to do with it?

I am so angry, I want to spit, vomit, hit someone and hug an emo all at once.

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

So close after Sophie to vilify yet another group of people who dare to be different.

Exactly. This from the same paper recently calling for understanding of Goths and promoting the S.O.P.H.I.E campaign. It's just disgusting.

Luckily, many of the comments are equally appalled at the tone of the article, not so many 'quite right, bring back the cane and national service' comments as you'd expect.

slightly off topic, but....

[button-quail.livejournal.com]

Following the behaviour of football fans in Manchester this week - I did wonder whether had this level of violence and criminal damage been exhibited by fans of a particular band...lets say an emo band for argument's sake..the authorities would seek to ban said band from playing. Ever.

Interesting how actual violence is committed by one "group" repeatedly, all over the country, and somehow it's acceptable, even expected of them, (or so it seems judging by the Police presence around football matches). We even get cries of "Police brutality!""!?!! wtf!!

Re: slightly off topic, but....

[yaruar.livejournal.com]

I've seen violence worse than that at music festivals. At the first Phoenix festival there were widespread riots and Leeds has a terrible reputation for destruction and violence in recent years. Although both of those pale into comparison to the Anti Nazi League riots i was involved in back in the 90's, although there are a number of left wing bully boy groups who i would have gladly banned after those.

Re: slightly off topic, but....

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

The thing that annoys me about this is that it was about 0.1% of all the people that travelled up to see that game. Most people went up, got a bit pissed, booed or cheered, and came home.

They're now talking about preventing people travelling to cities where a match is without a ticket tot he game. WTF is that??
'Where are you going?' '
'Manchester.'
'Do you have a ticket for the game?'
'No'
'Then you can't go'

SRSLY, It's not only unenforceable, but probably a civil liberties violation.

There's always been a problem with a small number of alleged football fans causing violence - back in the 80s it was well known that people who would travel deliberately to cause violence - they weren't even there for the football. The police even kept an eye on certain people who are banned from going to games.

That would be much more sensible - surely - simply bar those who cause trouble from travelling, not the hundreds of thousands of others who didn't cause any trouble. There are thousands of football matches in a season - and violence at ONE of them causes a moral panic.

[publicansdecoy.livejournal.com]

>>I wonder which music genre is responsible for the teen knife killings

Oh, this week it's GTA IV that's responsible.

-x-

[wardytron.livejournal.com]

It's jaunty Dixieland jazz, that's what these youths are all listening to. Hanging around outside KFC with Louis Armstrong's Hot Seven blaring out of their gramophones.

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

oh, of course!

Because ordinary people think that violence is ok because...no..wait...

My first ever boyfriend did this at uni for his psychology degree. Back then it was accepted that computer games/films etc affected people only if they were already suseptible to suggestion either through a mental condition whereby they had difficulty telling fiction from fact, or through inadequate socialisation.

I wonder if the state of parenting in the UK has anything to do with that - or the failure of shops to stick to the age recommendation guidelines on games. Or parents who don't realise that some computer games are designed for ADULTS.