Ok can somebody please explain to me what the fuck is EMO? I'd never even heard of it a year ago and now everybody's going around "Oh Emos suck. We hate Emos. We'd never be caught dead at the Hot Topic like a whiney little Emo." I seriously don't get it. The first time I heard of it i was like "Emo Phillips? Who wouldn't want to be Emo Phillips? He's hilarious!"

So anyway I don't get what the difference between Emo and Goth is, and I've been told there is a *Huge* difference. They both wear nothing but black, they both dye their hair, they both like dark poetry, a large percentage are into self-mutilation, dark music, making out with members of the same sex even though they claim to be straight... I am seeing a lot of similarities here but most of them are stereotypes.

One of the differences that I have seen is the age group. A lot of the goths I know are age 20+. A lot of the people I have seen that I've been told are emo or claim to be emo are under 17, with the majority being ~14.

So... emos are wannabe goths in training who just haven't learned the A Simple Plan sucks and Sisters of Mercy are awesome?

I still don't get why they need to be hated so much? Did you forget what it's like to be 14? You weren't the perfect epitome of everything goth were you? No, you were a whiney little wannabe just like everyone else. You were struggling to find your place and your voice and your identity. I mean take all the so-called emo kids and teleport them to 1994 and see how everyone at their high school says "Oooh look at those goths. Goths suck. We hate goths."  

When did being goth mean becoming so closed-minded and snobby? Goths used to be so open-minded and tolerant of people's differences because they knew what is was like to be ridiculed. Now they are among those doing the ridiculing? I don't say that you have to like whatever these emo are, I'm asking what good will it do to put them down like you've been put down in the past? What will this accomplish? It reminds me of little brother syndrome... you know "Me too me too!" Do you think that a little education instead of insults would help the situation?

 

I saw this video about emo and in all honesty I don't get what the big deal is. So they dye their hair black and cut it short... is emo a hairstyle? So they write dark poetry... does that mean everyone who feels depressed and confused during their teenage years and writes poetry as a creative outlet is an emo? I don't think so. I mean, I remember 10 years ago when I was in high school I wore all black, wrote dark poetry, cut myself a lot, listened to dark music, dyed my hair, and was all angsty and broody all the time... did that make me emo?

No. It didn't.

And why is that, you may ask? Because emo didn't exist back then. I looked that way, acted that way, and listened to that music because I was having a hard time in school, I was feeling alienated, and I needed a way to express myself that mirrored those feelings. Doesn't that sound like just about EVERYBODY in high school?!? When I was in school the social outcasts like myself would pick on a few social groups that we felt were deserving of our ire: namely the Preppies, Rapper-wannabes, etc. We hated them. We would make fun of them in our best "Clueless" voices: "Like, oh my gawd! I was talking to Kiersten who was talking to Amber who was talking to Brittany and she said she, like, saw someone wearing the exact same shoes as me! Like, couldn't you just die! I mean, like, who does she think she is? Like, helloooo?"

Or, we would do our lamest (to use a term I generally dislike) 'wigger' voices: 'Sup homie, I gots to go borrow my mom's mini-van and go down to the timmie's for a coffee before fourth period, yo." 

Yeah, you were sooo the suburban gangsta.

Why, oh high school goths of the present day, why are you berating these emos when there are far more deserving subjects in the world? Why not the jocks who think that just because they made the team they rule the school? Why not the wanksters? WHY NOT THE PREPPIES?!?! You know they sooooooooo deserve it more than these emos. So they may act like your annoying little brother always copying you and never quite "getting it"? Guess what, you're on the same side! There's always been a war and there will always be a war between the preps, the jocks, and the wanksters Vs. the goths, the skaters & slackers, the nerds & geeks, and the other social outcasts. Now aim your misdirected fire at those Britney Spears cheerleader bitches and those muscle head assholes who always slam you into lockers when passing you in the hall. 

So a lot of these supposed "emo" bands suck. So what? Are they worse than Hillary Duff or Jessica Simpson or 50 Cent? Fuck no! I'm sorry but given the choice between listening to Lindsay Lohan or Good Charlotte I'd take Good Charlotte. There are way worse bands out there than emo bands and there are much better targets of mockery and hatred. Fuck Ashlee Simpson!!! WANNABE FUCKING TWAT LYPSYNCHER!!! Ya make me wanna *stab* *stab* YARGH!!!! KILL PARIS HILTON!! FUCK HER! FUCK HER RIGHT IN THE EAR!! See? Isn't that better?

 

Oh, and what's wrong with Hot Topic? I don't get why shopping at that store is so wrong? I mean I can see why shopping at the Gap or Old Navy is wrong... but why Hot Topic? I live in eastern Canada and, suprise suprise, we don't have a Hot Topic anywhere within a 2 hour flight from us. I've been to their website and some of their stuff isn't half bad. Some of it is damn fugly but on the whole the store doesn't have the obvious "Preppy" overtones that immediately turn me off like those two other stores I mentioned. I seriously hate all you people when you say "Oh only poseurs and wannabe emos shop at Hot Topic. I hate that store, I get all my gothwear at another store which is waaay better." Do any of you people have any idea how many of you I'd kill to get a Hot Topic to open up in my city?!? Seriously, to get any clothing that's even remotely gothy I have to shop at either the local Comic Book shop or Le Chateau of all places!!! If you can't find anything there you have to MAKE IT YOURSELF or take a chance on not getting ripped off on ebay if you're lucky enough to have a credit card! You have no idea how lucky you are to be able to have a store like that.

 

I am not emo. I am not goth. I am not punk. I am not... whatever. I try not to be categorized because there really isn't any category I fit into. Such a category doesn't exist and if it did it would be a category of one called "WeirdMetalSlackerGothGeekSarcastibitch."

Yeah. Now THAT's a category.