The Cult of "Emo"!

[Feba]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

I beg to differ, most kids people seem to do stuff these days since the beginning of human history because it is "trendy" or because "everyone is doing it."

FTFY.

[Silent Howler]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

and don't get me wrong, those parents are IDIOTS! but come one people, to say there is no connection to the emo trend and self-abuse is like saying there's no connection to mafia and the Italians.

There would be a positive correlation between those that consider themselves emo and those that harm themselves, but you have it backwards. Depression is where everything originates from. I have only a vague understanding of why people harm themselves, but I believe it is a way for them to relieve themselves from their emotional suffering by channeling their pain into something physical. I'll be honest, I have never intentionally harmed myself before but the thought has crossed my mind, and this was long before I was exposed to this emo cult nonsense. The whole emo stereotype is mostly just a group of people who are going through a rough time in their lives and have an understanding of what its other "members" are going through. It's a way of expression and relating to other people with similar problems. Now at some point it also became a new fashion thing and for some people that alone is their reason for "joining" but it is far less likely to see people with those motives to harm themselves in any way. The emo trend isn't advocating that people should harm themselves, however more people are now aware of it and then start asking questions like "does cutting really help?"

[DanteWolfWood]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

ok....let me put this the most simplest (sp?) way I can:

Average person=average possibillity will become suicidal...

ok thats our control? all right:

kid exposed to emo trends= above average chance of becoming suicidal.


I never said anything about "All peopl who go suicidal are emo". I understand that DEPRESSION causes suicidal thoughts and self-abusement, not EMO trend. but this IS what I am saying EMO trend seems to cause DEPRESSION.

So it is fair to say that the emo trend causes suicidal thoughts or self-abusement (or Atleast, it is more likely)

basically I am saying if A=B and B=C, then A=C.

If Depression seems to cause self-abusement, and The emo trend revolves around darkness, pain, and hopelessness (which in turn causes depression), then the emo trend can be concluded to cause self-abusement

BTW, its also recognized that people who are depressed seem to cope in different ways: alcohol, drugs, sex, anger, etc. But it seems that most people following the emo trend tend to react to depression with self-abusement... You cannot deny that.

[Silent Howler]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

I never said anything about "All peopl who go suicidal are emo". I understand that DEPRESSION causes suicidal thoughts and self-abusement, not EMO trend. but this IS what I am saying EMO trend seems to cause DEPRESSION.

That's a bit of a stretch... It takes a lot of emotional pain to motivate someone to hurt themselves and then actually do it, even more so to go as far as to end their own life. Listening to punk rock music or seeing people walking around in emo style clothing is not enough to arose those kinds of emotions. Having someone close to you commit suicide could be quite a traumatic experience, but it doesn't matter if the person were emo or not. Death of a loved one will always leave a scar.

[DanteWolfWood]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

you seem as if you don't understand how fragile the human spirit is and exactly what despression does. when someone is depressed, things always seem like their problem is 500 times worse. I mean someone could have chronic mental depression, their baby start crying because it is hungry, and just all of a sudden, want to kill themselves. Plus you don't know what people will do, no matter how much emotion they are really going through or not. I know of a local story of these parents having a son, and the son wanted to go out and they told him no. The son threaten to kill himself and walked off (the son has never had suicidal tendencies before) and he walked back in the room and stood in front of them and shot himself in the head with a pistol.

Depression will do horrific and weird things to people.

and again, what i am saying is a statistic:

It is logical to deduce that this emo trend (no matter if you speak of the music, the clothes, et.) seems to cause self-abusing and suicidal tendencies, or atleast, makes it more likely to occur in people's head.


and lastly:

I never once said that it is not as sad or traumatic for a emo to kill themselves than an average joe bloe....they are both horribly tragic, but what I am saying is: If I had two classmates: an emo who dresses all black and listens to depression or "Dark music" and I had an average joe bloe in my class, and they both commited suicide, Joe bloe's death would shock me, as in the emo; not so much.

[Telera]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

I'll be honest, I have never intentionally harmed myself before but the thought has crossed my mind, and this was long before I was exposed to this emo cult nonsense.

Likewise. And this was back before 'emo' really existed as anything other than a faint whisper, and I'd sure as hell never even heard of it.

You can be 'emo' and never even think about self-harm. You can be a 'prep' or 'jock' and hang yourself tomorrow. Blaming a 'stereotype' or trying to say every teen/child/adult in it is slitting their wrists is lolfuckingstupid.

And listening to 'depressing' music won't make anyone of a sound or happy mind want to harm themselves. The seed for it has to be planted by something else, in their real lives. I listen to all kinds of music. A little hip hop, rock, emo, goth, etc etc.

And not one bit of it makes me want to go do anything said in it.

[Silent Howler]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

I'm not sure if we are on the same track here. You haven't really said anything to suggest that 'emo tendencies' cause depression for others.

It is logical to deduce that this emo trend (no matter if you speak of the music, the clothes, et.) seems to cause self-abusing and suicidal tendencies, or atleast, makes it more likely to occur in people's head.

Well I did say that some people start asking questions like "does cutting really help?" and things like that. But that's not depression, that's looking for a way to deal with the depression they are already facing in their lives. I also said that the emo trend is not advocating that people should harm themselves, which is true. From the quote I posted, bands such as My Chemical Romance actually encourage people to overcome such feelings. There are, however, stupid dumb ass idiots that 'jokingly' tell people with emotional problems to just kill themselves and get it over with.

[Feba]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4]YouTube - Mad World - Gary Jules[/ame]


More depressing than any emo song, rly. Also, mentions suicidal thoughts. Even encourages them!

[Sabaron]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

I have to say that I do agree that there is unintentional humor in the article. Obviously children killing themselves is not something people find funny. What is funny has nothing to do with the actual event, but the alarmist reaction people have to a "music scene". Since crossing the ocean, the writer(s) of the article believe that aficionados of the emo music scene are cultists and that there's some sort of special mythology associated with it. I love it when idiots try to write about things they don't understand.

Now, I'm also not saying that I think the emo scene is anything more than a bunch of kids playing dress up and using "deep emotions" as some sort of cover for their rather banal existences, but I am saying that it's almost excruciating to watch the addled brain of the article's writer(s) mull over all of the "information" they've collected and compile it into an unwashed pile of hog stink.

This is the part I love the most:

"It makes you feel individual."

How does conforming to a code of nearly uniform wardrobe and grooming habits make you more of an individual? How does it make you any different than people who conform to other group policies?

It doesn't, but it is a hell of a lot like a religion. Christian churches demand similar conformance and chastise divergence from "the straight and narrow path". AA does the same thing to people who drink. Any time you get a group of people together, they always feel the need to standardize and quantify the behaviors of the group members as conformist or divergent. People in the group will generally conform to the standard or be ostracized.

This mechanism seems (to me) similar to the way animals (especially high-order apes) learn and teach. Visual cues and indications are shown as "the way things are done, " and divergence from traditional processes can lead to death in nature. People are just reacting to their baser instinct to perform processes in a similar way to those around them as a survival mechanism. The cool thing about humans is that they can learn to recognize that what they're doing is simply useless conformism (eventually) through reason and thought.

[WovenDarkness]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

Hell Feba, I thought that was a good tune. ....wait, I was severely depressed at the time. Not a bad tune though.

[DakAttack]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

Danny Darko ftl.

[Ziero]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

So....the parents saw scars on her wrists and just thought it was a trend? If so, that's the parents' fuck up. If they saw signs of her deteriorating and failed to act on it, they messed up.

I think there's much more to this story than the news is telling us.

And that's how the news is nowadays. They only tell half truths loaded with biased, uninformed opinions because it gets more readers/viewers. It's no longer about reporting on what actually happened, but reporting about the worst possible thing that might happen.

....so its ok for the world to blame rap for drugs, abuse, and gang fightings....but this girl turning emo and suddenly becoming suicidal and blaming the trend is illogical and just not right?

and don't get me wrong, those parents are IDIOTS! but come one people, to say there is no connection to the emo trend and self-abuse is like saying there's no connection to mafia and the Italians.

There is no more connection between Emo and suicides as there is between "preppy" and suicides. It's just that "Emo" kids stand out more and look like they have problems.

But since you brought it up, as long as "gangsta" rap music is actively promoting this "Don't Snitch" crap then they are promoting violence and criminal activities.

It is logical to deduce that this emo trend (no matter if you speak of the music, the clothes, et.) seems to cause self-abusing and suicidal tendencies, or atleast, makes it more likely to occur in people's head.

Bull. Crap.

The seeds of self harm get placed in ones head long before a person ever goes "emo". If anything those tendencies have a habit of pushing more people into becoming emo as opposed to being emo pushing people to have those tendencies. Infact the "emo" style seems to be spawning a new trend in kids called "Scene" which has all the fashion of emo, just more colors and less emotional crap.

Hell, iirc Japan has one of the highest teen suicide rates in the world, and not because of any emo trend but because of all the pressure they put on kids.

This is the part I love the most:

"It makes you feel individual."

How does conforming to a code of nearly uniform wardrobe and grooming habits make you more of an individual? How does it make you any different than people who conform to other group policies?

Because it does make them stand out from the "average, normal" person, at least in their eyes. They're doing something different...just like everyone else. It's the same thing as the "punk" trend of the 90s, the "goth" trend of the 80s, the "hippy" trend of the 70s etc etc etc. All of these trends came about to differentiate themselves from the "average" as an act of rebellion towards the system. And as such, parents who don't understand will label it as "bad" as they completely ignore the fact they did something similar in their youth.

[DanteWolfWood]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

And that's how the news is nowadays. They only tell half truths loaded with biased, uninformed opinions because it gets more readers/viewers. It's no longer about reporting on what actually happened, but reporting about the worst possible thing that might happen.



There is no more connection between Emo and suicides as there is between "preppy" and suicides. It's just that "Emo" kids stand out more and look like they have problems.

But since you brought it up, as long as "gangsta" rap music is actively promoting this "Don't Snitch" crap then they are promoting violence and criminal activities.



Bull. Crap.

The seeds of self harm get placed in ones head long before a person ever goes "emo". If anything those tendencies have a habit of pushing more people into becoming emo as opposed to being emo pushing people to have those tendencies. Infact the "emo" style seems to be spawning a new trend in kids called "Scene" which has all the fashion of emo, just more colors and less emotional crap.

Hell, iirc Japan has one of the highest teen suicide rates in the world, and not because of any emo trend but because of all the pressure they put on kids.



Because it does make them stand out from the "average, normal" person, at least in their eyes. They're doing something different...just like everyone else. It's the same thing as the "punk" trend of the 90s, the "goth" trend of the 80s, the "hippy" trend of the 70s etc etc etc. All of these trends came about to differentiate themselves from the "average" as an act of rebellion towards the system. And as such, parents who don't understand will label it as "bad" as they completely ignore the fact they did something similar in their youth.

you must be an emo :p

I never said it is the seed nor the beginning, please people read the whole thread:


I did acknowledge the fact that depression causes self-abusement. (People use self-abusement and suicide to cope or end the depression)

but think of the EMO trend as a.....fertilizer. I would explain more but I g2g

[Tipsy]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

"Emo" is not short for "Emotional." "Emo" does not mean Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional, despite what MTV has lead you to believe in the last few years. "Emo" is not sidebangs, tight pants, and male vocalists who sing like little girls about their failed relationships. "Emo" is not the use of diluted, meaningless metaphors and similes such as "My arms are like pinecones," and most definitely is not the rampant use of words such as "autumn," "heart," "knife," "bleeding," "leaves," and "razorblade."

"Emo" is "Emotive Hardcore" which was started by Rites of Spring. Yet somehow, people decided that "emo" meant "emotional," which is obviously bullshit, as 99% of bands make music to illicit emotion, which would make "emotional" a completely all-encompassing genre from classical to opera to pop to rap.

I dare you, name a band that *doesn't* have emotion in their lyrics.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: The Cult of "Emo"!

The whole "being emo makes you commit suicide" reminds me of the dorks that say "playing violent games makes you kill people". It's simply not true.

If you are going to commit suicide, you had those thoughts in your head long before you decided to become emo/listen to emo music/etc. Things like that accentuate your thoughts and feelings and you are naturally drawn to them because of your thoughts and feelings. They do not make you do anything that you haven't already considered before.

The real crime here is parents that ignore their children and the obvious signs that something is wrong. In all the years I've worked with teens/younger kids, the one common factor was the parents and how little attention the children got.