The emo thing

I suppose it could be part of human nature to conform. This might be why people discriminate against minorities. But as society has become more socially liberal, the primal desires of people to discriminate against others have become repressed by laws which protect minorities from being harassed for their differences. This system works for the public and most of the time in the workplace, but not necessarily in private, where people can privately vent their prejudices about others in the company of like-minded family and friends.

For example, one guy from the University of Plymouth writes in the Facebook group Anti-Emo Army, "emo's are tossers, their not emotional, their just boring and a waste of space".

Emo is a complex definition. Some people say it's short for an emotional person. The majority, like Tom, probably hate emos who pretend to be emotionally depressed to get attention from others. Then there are the emos who don't act like that, but just look the part: They're pale and skinny, have long, black hair in front of the face, wear vintage clothes, or black clothes, or tight pants, or a Ramones shirt, or a Canada shirt, etc...

Then there's this other guy from West Alabama who throws in his bone, "Look emo is all unorigional, corperate music that all sounds the same. Those trashy kids wear all of that ugly ass black stuff because they are depressed about having no sense of style, I'm glad this group was created so sensible people like me can vent about all this uninterperitable bullcrap that's coming out of todays radio stations."

This is the other definition of emo: a type of music. According to Wikipedia users, the word emo evolved from a type of music that branched off from hardcore punk in the 1980's. Today, bands that promote the stereotypical emo image have been commercialized, as Erin alludes to, by corporations. This promotion of the emo image has caused it to become popular amognst mainstream radio listeners. This seemed to start around the time that boy bands started to grow up and fizzle out. Blink 182 might be the first example of a commercialized emo image, though a very benign one. The most successful marketer of the emo image, and possibly the most hated by the anti-emo crowd, is the band My Chemical Romance.

Meanwhile, another guy from West Alabama also has some strong feelings on the issue, "Fuck emo people,fuck emo music, and fuck their boo fucking hoo attitude. Do the world a favor emo people, just go off and drop dead".

I find this guy's quote amusing as he left one piece of evidence that would seal his hypocritical doom: his avatar, or profile picture, is the cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album. From here, I assume that Joe likes Pink Floyd, and from his quote, I know he doesn't like "emo" people, music and sympathetic attitudes. Well here we go, Joe: Lucky for you, Pink Floyd, but mostly Roger Waters - the most popular and influential member of Pink Floyd - is by your standards, very emo. If they weren't more emotionally sensitive, Pink Floyd probably wouldn't exist. Not to mention Joe, going on Facebook and venting your feelings about emo kids isn't exactly a masculine trait, either.

So why all this anger about a group of people who like to be a little different than the majority? Granted, someone dressing in black and acting depressed just to gain attention is a little dramatic, but is it so bad to inspire hate groups? There's something else going on here that makes people hate these "emo kids" that I don't know, but let me extrapolate...

You're a guy in high school or college and you like this girl that's in your class. She's available, and you're interested. But she's taking to this other guy in your class - he's mysterious, skinny, kind of weird, a little introverted, has long black hair that hangs in his face, doesn't look like he's played any kind of sport in his life, and he's real weak looking - you know that you could kick his ass. So why does she like him! I mean he's completely opposite of what a girl expects from a guy. You sit there in your polo shirt wondering this the entire class. It frustrates you to see a guy succeeding at what you think is completely wrong.

I see this as a possible explaination because most of the emo criticism comes from males and is directed at emo males. On the other hand, if a girl is emo, it's more acceptable - I think there are a lot of guys that like the bad-girl look. While I think most girls don't like the emo look on guys, it's completely unbeknownst to me what they think about fellow females adopting the emo look. Ultimately, I think that mainstream guy's think emo on guys is gay and mainstream girls think emo on girls is lesbian. In fact, I'm willing to bet that the same feelings of hatred towards homosexuality are activated when a bigot sees an emo of the same sex.

Most importantly, most of this is hearsay. But I think it's worthy of discussion. I mean why can't people just let these nonconformists be? Is it that important to people that we are all the same - all identical and follow the same trends?

Are there any queers in the theater tonight?
Get them up against the wall!
There's one in the spotlight, he don't look right to me,
Get him up against the wall!
That one looks Jewish!
And that one's a coon!
Who let all of this riff-raff into the room?
There's one smoking a joint,
And another with spots!
If I had my way,
I'd have all of you shot!

- Roger Waters, In The Flesh, Pink Floyd The Wall