2nd
What’s Wrong with the World Today (Part I) - Emo Kids
I first heard about Goth kids when I was growing up (elementary school years). Goths. They were obsessed with the Devil and death, dressed all in black, wore eye makeup regardless of gender, and had a fascination with metallic accessories and oddly-placed piercings. They had a dark outlook on life, they were anti-religion, and they were full of anger. Flash forward a decade or so, and not much has changed. Known today as “Emo” kids (as in over-emotional), these same types of kids have become less anti-religion and more anti-conformist, replaced their anger with self-pity, and begun to accent their black wardrobe with bright neon colours, especially the colour pink. Oh, and bangs. Especially for boy Emos. They need to have long, long bangs that nearly cover half of the face at a diagonal—hopefully, covering one eye completely. Ironically, girl Emos might have short, even buzz cut hair in order to contradict the norm even more. But hair is a big part of it.
The move towards anti-conformist rather than anti-religion makes sense. With a lot more people nowadays moving towards atheism or agnosticism, there’s a lot less to rebel against. They don’t have an iconic enemy anymore. So, forget the Pope, Hillary Duff is the new evil. But with the new rebellion comes much less of a fight. Goth kids were full of anger. Piss. Vinegar. The topic of religion could easily lead to an argument, and Goth kids weren’t afraid of a fight. On the other hand, Emo kids don’t really have a set ideology to fight against, so they don’t really have a fight. The closest they come to confrontation is going out on the town looking like a total ass-hat, and then bitching you out for having the audacity to gawk at them. For the most part, they just sit there, cry, and feel sorry for themselves, all the while snapping self-portraits to post on their myspace page.
Then, unfortunately, the Emos find other Emos just like them, so they all can cry together, take pictures of themselves crying together… and then maybe start a band. Emo music is how this whole pandemic began, and it’s resulted in an exponentially growing problem. Emo bands beget more Emo kids. More Emo kids beget more Emo bands. It’s a vicious cycle. Think bird flu, times two, and there’s no cure in the foreseeable future.
The ultimate problem, however, is that their growing popularity will ultimately reach a hypocritical mass. (Yes, I just made a nuclear physics pun.) It’s ridiculous. I could go on and on with this rant about Goths and Emos, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone sum it up quite nicely with the following two South Park clips:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OCaeko9qHrI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=b7TmolA8Ur0
To finish off, I invite you to read through the different definitions of “Emo” that have been submitted to urbandictionary.com, to get a better idea of what we’re dealing with and to get a better perspective on the general public opinion:
