SteONorDar wrote:
Right, rant time.
Whilst, as I made clear, the whole emo thing bothers me, that doesn't mean that all of them do, should, or will cut or kill themsleves. Frankly, the opposite is often true - by being with other people who UNDERSTAND that sort of negativity, rather than goiing "(insert emo joke here - ed)" they have far more chance of getting through adolescense unharmed. It's about time the Daily Mail, and a few people here actually realised that.
I've heard this line of reasoning before, and I really do have some sympathy with it. But it does strike me that it's just as likely to have the opposite effect. You get a bunch of depressed kids together listening to shitty, depressing music and they're hardly likely to be cheering each other up, are they? I've seen one or two "emo" boards where there's an awful lot of negative encouragement going on.
Plus, "emo" is a sub-culture - it's not a support group. I'm sure that there are depressed kids who help other depressed kids (and I hope there are), and they also just happen to be "emos" as we'd categorise them. But the whole "emo" thing
as a sub-culture seems to be wallowing and almost glorifying that sort of depression. Turning depression into a fashion statement is really,
really pathetic. I know it's not every emo kid that does this, but it's the net effect of the whole grouping - from the pseudo-emos to the proper-emos.
That's what leads to the jokes - most of the kids that would be described as emo by themselves or others aren't clinically depressed or suicidal, they're just whiney teenagers making out like they are. And therefore rightly fit for a pisstake.
No-one on here, I'm sure, would ever take the piss out of someone who's depressed or suicidal because they're depressed or suicidal. It just happens that the emo grouping includes some people who are genuinely depressed, and I can assure you those
aren'tthe target of any piss taking.
I get the sense we pretty much agree with each other on this, too.