Why We Hate Emo Kids (Apparently)
I’ve long been a little shamefaced that this mean-spirited tirade is the most-read thing I’ve ever written (co-written to be exact): not that it wasn’t a true reflection of what I felt but I’d prefer it if one of my more, er, generous pieces was the one that hooked the punters in.
BUT the new look comments function means that the article has been given a second life with the addition of – mostly spluttering and hostile – reader feedback. And it’s turned up something interesting – a sociological fact that I had got too old and out of touch to realise. The description of indie kids in the piece was US-centric anyway, and is out of date now: we had in mind Death Cab fans conducting secret feuds on artofthemix.com, not Kaiser Chiefs-loving Brits. But the traits are clearly still recognisable to googling readers, and recognisable as “emos”. And some apparently “indies” hate “emos”, quite passionately.
“OI YOUR GETTING INDIE KIDS MIXED UP WITH EMOS IN SOME OF YOUR POINTS… 1) indie kids do NOT wear black rimmed glasses… emo DO!
2) indie kids are not all bis, emos are!” (“Becka”)
and
“i think yu should get ur fuckin facts straight before u make urself look even worse. u dont have it right.
emo= (ex.) Where’s my mascara? and i’m a man. (or) i wear size one jeans and i have a penis. (or) hey do you want to come over so we can cut eachother’s wrists!?!? sounds like great fun!
like someone said before (and they’re one of the smart ones – a REAL indie) indie kids aren’t mainstream and dress different and in my opinion better than otyher people. they don’t do what everyone else in the world is doing and dont give a shit what other people think.
(plus they listen to the best music – all alt. and indie)” (“Wtf!?!?!?”)
Parsing the comments I can theorise that indie stands for what it always has – a defensive sense of individuality with no real fixed values. The despised emos, through an indie lens, are hateful wrist-slashers. Of course we don’t know where the commenters are coming from, or how recent this opposition is, or the relative size of the warring camps, or what they might or might not unite against (aside from me getting things wrong). But I’m finding it pretty fascinating to read.
Tom in FT • Pop • 19,149 views • Share/Save
COOL! like the pic!
OMG i was just looking for a website to get my haircut and i found this YOU ARE ALL freakin stupid to be labbaling ppl like this.OH and the ppl that said scene kids were the ones to cut themselfs and are the posers are TOTTALY wrong scene means to follow music go to shows have the “emo” hairstyle and to be your own persom i am a scene girl i go to shows i have scene.emo friends WE ARE NOT POSERS AND DO NOT CUT ARE WRIST!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU SHOUILD ALL FUCKIN FUCK OFF. PLEASE!!!
http://www.myhaircuts.com/emo-haircuts.shtml
hehehe, although surely only 2.5 of those are even vaguely emo…
What give you EMO’s the right to destroy?
I am a dad to 5 kids and we are now close to lose them all, becourse 1 did turn self-harm emo!!
My youngest is 1 and the oldest is 15 years.
How do i and my wife stop this?
We did never do things wrong, also we are not even the mittle class, we can’t afford a card becourse all of his stealing and destroying things!!
Tell me the good part of being a selfharm EMO? please i would like to know how they/you think! as i want to keep the fam!!
I get the sense that people in Scotland really despise emos, just by reading some of these comments, and by things Scottish friends have told me.
Pardon me if this will offend, but I think “indies” and “emos” are equally despised, for some of the same reasons. Both seem to want to prove how far removed they are from mainstream culture, and yet both conform to the standards of their respective inner circles, from what they wear to what they listen to, to their views and opinions (or so it seems, anyway). And the unique culture they put so much pride in has now become a mainstream culture (at least in urban communities). Once you know how you can package and sell an image and lifestyle, you know it has hit the mainstream at least in a small way.
Feel free to disagree, feel free to slag me off – I don’t have a personal vendetta against indies or emos, I am just commenting on what I see (which is what I presume the author of Why We Hate Indie (now Emo) Kids was doing too). Appearances can decieve, and I may be misinformed.
Your a fucking guy thats been sad enough to slag off emos ? I think you are probably some guy wearing a reebok trackie drinking cheap booze with your burbary scarf and hat on [ned] only thing is, i dont know where you woudl get a computer from if your a ned, so here comes the conclustion that your a cheap free loader just out there to slag other people off, get this fucking removed off this site, or it will be reported!!!!!!!!!!!
Reported… to the EMO POLICE!
Haha very funny…NOT
You must be a prep.. right.?
Just because your emo doesn’t mean its all about cutting yourself. It gives you a sence of direction to be who you want to be. I hate to tell you but half the music you listen to would be considered “emo or scream-o.” I guess your one of those guys that go around acting like your better then everyone else.After reading this I may just have to sit in a corner and cut myself.
Examples of ’scream-o’ to thread plz. I nominate ‘How Much Is This Fish’ by Scooter.
Can’t people accept that there’s always going to be emo’s/indie’s out there no matter how hard you try. Are they really effecting your life that badly that you feel the need to sit here and basically discriminate against them? If you left it and let them get on with life then there’d be no problem but there’s always the person who’ll sit and slag them yet aren’t able to take any stick about themselves.
Get over the fact that emo’s/indie’s are around and accept them as a different type of human than you are, after all that’s all they are.
If your emo it doesn’t mean your not human or different at all.
You both breath, eat, and shower.
Yeah you may have different point of views on life but who doesn’t.
No one really gives a care about what you label them as its just a name.
Im EMO are you going to do anything about that..?
Its not like when I get home from school I go cry because some kid took my lunch or knocked my books out of my hand. Or even told me that my style is shit.
IT JUST DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY..!!!!!
and one more thing just because Im emo, I don’t have a live journal.
Its all about the MYSPACE. :p
swedish:
Alla som är emot emo’s gör en sol (#) framför sitt namn för det är typ bara ljuset som kan ta dom. De färgar tillomed håret blondt o tar över!Skicka detta till alla i din kontaktlista, till och med emo’s(om du nu har någon i din kontaktlista)!!
dom som vägrar ha en sol är EMO’s!!!
Ett exempel räcker:
1. mitt på dagen kan det bli svart som natten när det kommer ett gäng emos!
english version:
put a sun (#) in front of your msn-name if you hate emo’s, send this message to everyone! every site, every community! everywhere! make this message spread over the whole world!
I am not emo. I have friends who are though. They dont cut or hate themselves and they are straight. So what they wear black. Doesnt everyone? So if i wear a black shirt once in my life im emo? Wow. what a great society. Ive been called emo because i wear black. but i also wear orange and white. What to classify me as now….so hard. We dont get on Gangstas” while they sit around and deal drugs and look like theyre going to mug someone and we dont get on preps for making everythign about them and being some type of barbie doll and seeing the world as puppys and rainbows. Get it straight. We are not all the same so stop trying to say we are.
Haha very funny…NOT
You must be a prep…right.?
Just because your emo doesn’t mean its all about cutting yourself. It gives you a sence of direction to be who you want to be. I hate to tell you but half the music you listen to would be considered “emo or scream-o.” I guess your one of those guys that go around acting like your better then everyone else.
so get a life cuz u dont have one if ur complaining about amos.
does anyone really care? why doesn’t everyone who reads this thread just decide to get on with their lives, and to hell with the sad people who feel the need to post insulting comments on the internet???
realistically, no one is going to change their opinion of emos having read this thread or any other. therefore, writing a comment on your viewpoint is completely pointless, so let’s see if we can just lay this topic to rest now
you guys are fucking posers
FUCK EMO
FUCK INDIE
FUCK RAP
FUCK YOUR CRY ASS SHIT
you don’t know the fuck how to be non conformist if you’re emo fuck off !
By the way PUNK RULES
And there’s a post which is
EmO Punk rules !
i Cutt myself.. It’s Emo..
And i really hate myself..
That’s Punk
YOU CAN’T BE EMO PUNK YOU SCUM and by the way i’m punk and i love myself, and if you hate yourself stop cutting, shoot the brain out of your fucking head dammit. and cutting is NOT emo, you can cut yourself without being emo. WTF!!!
Emo is only about to care for yourself, you emos are SCUM, you don’t know fuck about being different, you think, ” OH I’M DIFFERENT, I WEAR MAKE UP” fuck off and go cry in yer corner.
if you want to know about non conformist stop being emo or anything, just let the rebelion go over you, do as me, do what the fuck you want, if you wanna smoke in school DO IT stop to care about your fucking parents that don’t give a fuck about you.
bye! and hope you learn something, cunts!
Check for GG Allin to learn on what is being a non conformist.
if you want to know about non conformist
do as me
Somehow you’ve created one of the worlds most beautiful ever poems
um greaterthings you oviously dont know much do u im a christian and a skater and im definately not a no lifer like you say just because you dont like who the other people are doesnt mean you can label them no lifers so right now im gonna call you a no lifer just because your so retarded that you dont know anything there is nothing wrong with being emo/goth/skater or punk there is something wrong with you so get your facts straight before you speak faggot
and back to the homophobia. yipee!
average age for responses to this post: 14. I’ll bet my life on it.
and here was me thinking none of you people cared what others thought about you….yet here you are making a big scene….every other person has a diffrent view, you cant make them see the way you do, or understand what you do…
like a girl wearing a short skirt ridding up her arse with a low cut top, and ofcourse for good mesurment ,enjoys boys company better that girls <-imediatly classified as a slut.
its a label people give others to make themselves feel beter about their lives…
and the more attention you give them, the more they feel like pushing the subject.
just ignore it…dont let poelpe get to you and do what ever the fuck you want…hell jump of a building if it makes you feel better.
have youh ever wondered why they cut there wristes?
or why they cry?
instead of sittin gthere and laughing why dont youh ask them?
okay im not emo or anything but what abput this
why do preps talk about people
why are they snobs
why do they were sweaters and colared shirts?
try asking that one
why do you disrespect these people just because they wear diffrent cloths to what you wear i think its disgusting the way that people like those that have written this disrecpect them because they wear diffrent cloths to the emos
im not an emo but i have loads of friend that are and thier not like wat you think there like!!!!!
to lose who rote this article GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
u fucking bastards im a emo we dont want attention thats just who we r!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well i am not an Emo. But i do all the things emos do. i understand that all stereotypes are at war, but just lay off. Just because theyre emos – doesnt mean they slit there wrists. im considered as a Chave and i cut my wrists. & i bet they wouldnt do it as much if it wasnt for you lot dissing them.
Okay, well.
I must say, I’ve gone through my emo days I must admit.. from age 12-14 (approx)
I agree with the emo sterotype these days although not all ‘emos’ are like that.
I think emo is something a lot of teens go through during their “no one understands me” (no emoness intended) stage and it’s often grown out of.
I think emo has been created by that stage where a teen views things differently from most peers due to an emotional problem/experience.
They may find emo music something they can relate to a lot since it’s emotionally expressive and expression is something that is kind of lacking in general society.
Or they might just like the sound. Whatever
Emo is more than emo when you’re an emo. It’s something you can kind of belong to, it’s kind of a feeling of belongment and connection to other ‘emos’
I think most teenagers reach a stage where they want someone to understand them and make them see the real them = expression.
I don’t know. In some ways you could say it is a form of cult.
overall emo is rather pathetic and immature. It’s a cry out to the public about who you could be or how your mind works.
It’s revealling and gives a sense that you want someone to notice you and pay attention to you, and how you could be.
When everyone else also has problems similar to emos but don’t express it in this way. They don’t bring attention to it.
Which is, yes. The stereotypical part where the wrist-cutting and wearing black bit comes in.
I think it’s mostly for kids who are going through changes and who are lost and confused and think rather morbidly.
I think a lot of emo wannabe’s or people who try too hard to be emo (and not achieve it) also give emos an even worse name!! (the majority of emos are the ones who try too hard)
And yes. I BLOODY HATE ‘EM EMOS.
However, goth is a whole new story ;)
Okay, well.
I must say, I’ve gone through my emo days I must admit.. from age 12-14 (approx)
I agree with the emo sterotype these days although not all ‘emos’ are like that.
I think emo is something a lot of teens go through during their “no one understands me” (no emoness intended) stage and it’s often grown out of.
I think emo has been created by that stage where a teen views things differently from most peers due to an emotional problem/experience.
They may find emo music something they can relate to a lot since it’s emotionally expressive and expression is something that is kind of lacking in general society.
Or they might just like the sound. Whatever
Emo is more than emo when you’re an emo. It’s something you can kind of belong to, it’s kind of a feeling of belongment and connection to other ‘emos’
I think most teenagers reach a stage where they want someone to understand them and make them see the real them = expression.
I don’t know. In some ways you could say it is a form of cult.
overall emo is rather pathetic and immature. It’s a cry out to the public about who you could be or how your mind works.
It’s revealling and gives a sense that you want someone to notice you and pay attention to you, and how you could be.
When everyone else also has problems similar to emos but don’t express it in this way. They don’t bring attention to it.
Which is, yes. The stereotypical part where the wrist-cutting and wearing black bit comes in.
I think it’s mostly for kids who are going through changes and who are lost and confused and think rather morbidly.
I think a lot of emo wannabe’s or people who try too hard to be emo (and not achieve it) also give emos an even worse name!! (the majority of emos are the ones who try too hard)
And yes. I BLOODY HATE ‘EM EMOS.
However, goth is a whole new story ;) ..
Balder (A Concerned DAD) † on November 23 rd 2007
What give you EMO’s the right to destroy?
I am a dad to 5 kids and we are now close to lose them all, becourse 1 did turn self-harm emo!!
My youngest is 1 and the oldest is 15 years.
How do i and my wife stop this?
We did never do things wrong, also we are not even the mittle class, we can’t afford a card becourse all of his stealing and destroying things!!
Tell me the good part of being a selfharm EMO? please i would like to know how they/you think! as i want to keep the fam!!
omg, did know one notice that comment??
poor guy. Goodluck, hope your kid has grown out of it..
Are these comments satire or “real people?” Consider my mind blown.
@ MattPotato # 405:
“Are these comments satire or “real people?” Consider my mind blown.”
They aren’t satire. They’re real people completely failing to grasp the criticisms of the piece, and just reinforcing what the article says about them. They’re primarily ‘young’ people, and primarily teenage girls, which is why so many of them have this level of reasoning; “get a life!” They don’t say what that means, since the writer is married with kids and so clearly has a life. I’m sure they’d say in order to “get a life” he’d have to “stop being sad” which would underscore their reasoning abilities.
I have no issue with ‘Indie’ or ‘Emo’ or whatever else in general. But those things just remind me of when I was a teenager and felt like I was surrounded by people who would copy each other in order to be different, and who would wear the shirts of anti-establishment bands without getting the irony of doing so. When I was asked why I was dressed the way I was as a teen, I’d always say, “I’m a teenager – it’s a phase. I’ll grown out of it.” Nobody else seemed self-aware enough to get this, and would announce things like “I’ll never cut my hair” etc. At one point I had a bet going with about a dozen friends about how they’d all end up conforming in the end. Technically, they *all* owe me money.
The problem is, teenagers exist in that awkward time between childhood and adulthood in which they’re trying to reconcile the fact that they can now see the world *does not* revolve around them with the remaining controls of parenthood that restrict their lives. They want to be free, but they need their parents money; they want to be individuals, but they have to copy someone else to do it; they want space, but they also want attention; they criticise everyone who isn’t like them, but they demand to not be criticised themselves. They’re teenagers. They need to grow up. If they all came back here in 10 years, they would feel shame at how dumb it was that the labels they chose to associate themselves with meant anything to them at all. Like Amanda # 403 showed, all that will happen to these people is they’ll grow up and feel a mild sense of embarrassment at who they *thought* they were.
hey is this right