In The Mood to Mock Idiots? Me Too.

Posted by pixie | Filed under Uncategorized

Have you seen “the site emo fans DO NOT want you to see!“? Good lord. I suggest you go to the bathroom, get a fresh drink, and settle in, because we’re going to be here for a while while I tear this site a new one.

First of all, the site is run by someone who is the dictionary definition of a “flapping labia.” I say this because after less than a week, the site has locked its forums because of “obscenity-filled” posts that had to be banned. I’m not sure what the creator of that site expected, considering it’s an ill-informed site full of anti-emo propaganda and the usual “oh my God! It’s all about cutting!” garbage that is shoved down people’s throats on a regular basis.

I really wish people could understand that cutting is not emo. And that there are many people who cut and they will never know these people do, because most people who cut try their best to keep it a secret from everyone around them. Perhaps they should watch the movie Secretary, as I think it’s a great modern story involving cutting, but I’m pretty sure they’d find it “obscene,” considering it involves — gasp — BDSM.

Anyway, this little site has issues with emo and:
cutting
suicide
poetry
lyrics
MySpace

… but the real obsession is self-injury and suicide. Because, you know, nobody but emo people kill themselves. All those thousands of people annually who kill themselves because they suffer from depression or other mental illnesses? Emo. When will these people get a clue? They have a “tragic examples” section, with the three “emo suicide” stories that have been dragged through the press endlessly over the past year or so, with #1 being Hannah Bond. I feel bad that these people died, but let’s face it: if you’re making a site about an “emo suicide epidemic,” you really should be able to find more than three tragic examples. At best, three deaths are an anomaly, not a statistical norm, especially when you consider the number of people who identify with emo worldwide, as well as the number of people who take their own lives annually.

The “identifying” emo page is a list of YouTube videos with all the “ooh scary! emo!” reports that have run on television around the world in the past year.

They then pick apart lyrics by:
My Chemical Romance
Panic! At The Disco
Hawthorne Heights
I Hate Myself

They managed to find offensive lines in seven whole songs! Once again, well-researched and well-thought-out! These people know no bounds when it comes to reporting the truth!

But here’s the icing on the cake… the “about me” page:

I’m a licensed mental health professional in the United States. As I’ve mentioned in other sections, I’ve worked in this profession for several different agencies and settings. For the first seven years of my career, I saw only one case of self injury. Since then, I’ve seen dozens of cases, with the number increasing every year. Of course, I became curious. I knew that most of the “cutters” that I’ve seen belong to the “emo” subculture.

Honestly? She must have really lucked out on the first seven years, because self injury is a fairly common thing amongst people with Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder, as well as with some people who have depression. How she managed to not find any of these people — and then just have a massive influx of emo cutters is well beyond me… but then again, I don’t believe this person is a licensed mental health anything, other than a patient:

You may have noticed that I do not mention my name on this site. There are several reasons. One is that it’s “not about me.” I’m not doing this to advance my career. It’s not going to make me wealthy either. Another reason is privacy. There are quite a few people out there that may get upset with my conclusions, and I’d rather not have my family, my colleagues, or myself be harassed. This is about the kids, let’s make sure that they’re safe. I’ll be content with knowing that I was able to help.

BWAAHAHAHHAHAAH.

Oh man. My name is pixie, I run Emo, Punk, and Beyond, and i bet I have helped more kids than this wingnut ever will. The good thing, though, is I now officially have a site to feud with, as this lunacy is the anti-EPB, and I like having an enemies list. I can’t wait for the forums to open again, though I sincerely doubt they ever will.

P.S. Nice Web design, lady.

Oh, another insigtful and interesting article on emo…

Posted by pixie | Filed under Uncategorized

Wait — nevermind. The UK newspaper The Daily Mail actually wrote an article titled Why No Child is Safe From the Sinister Cult of Emo. Somebody sat at a desk and was paid to write the most absurd drivel I have ever read in my life. And trust me, I’ve read a lot of absurd drivel.

The article is based, as all the anti-emo articles of late are, on the death of that girl, Hannah.  Honestly, it’s sad that she killed herself, but they act like she was the Queen of England with the amount of coverage this one suicide is getting. I wonder how many other people killed themselves that day. I’m guessing more than 1. Worldwide? Hundreds, or thousands. It’s just not a very sensational story since those people probably weren’t “emo” or, even better, “emos.” [I will never grasp why journalists feel a need to refer to people in the scene as “emos.” I have officially added that to my list of peeves concerning the English language. Take that, shady journalists!]

The article, though is full of wild misinformation. I mean, this should be clear since they call emo a “cult” in the headline, and later, refer to it as a sect, but allow me to point to this sheer genius:

“Emos like guitar-based rock with emotional lyrics. American bands such as My Chemical Romance, Good Charlotte and Blink 182 are particular favourites.”

Honest to God, would it be that hard to head over to Wikipedia and look up “emo”? Or any of the countless sites that tell you what “emo” is? I know there’s no boilerplate definition, but they really could do better than throwing Good Charlotte and the long-defunct Blink-182 out there as emo.  I let MCR slide because they were the girl’s favorite band, and even I tend to lump them in with emo [sorry, Gerard] but… come on.

Here’s the thing, too. They keep insisting this girl, Hannah, was extremely happy, popular, and there were no signs she was troubled. As such, they blame the nebulous concept of emo for everything. And yet, we find out she was self harming, called herself “living disaster,” and had photos of girls with bloody wrists.  Yep, sounds entirely happy and trouble-free.  I feel bad for her parents, but it’s really time to face the facts and accept that Hannah was not a happy girl. She was not mentally stable, either. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have killed herself. That’s really what it comes down to. Music doesn’t make people kill themselves!

Now, the article provided some statistics.

New figures show that the number of children admitted to hospital due to injuries inflicted on themselves has risen by a third in five years. In 2002/03 there were 11,891 such admissions; in 2006/07 this had risen to 15,955. In both periods, there were more than three times as many admissions of girls as of boys.

Okay, that’s a big deal. However, let’s think about this rationally.  Why is self-injury on the rise? Multiple reasons.

01. Self-harm is talked about more than it was in the past. This open dialogue means people are more comfortable admitting they’re doing something that people have been doing long before emo was even a thought, much less a concept. It also means that some people who may not have done it in the past take an interest in it because they hear about it.

02. Mental illness is now detected and diagnosed earlier, and treatment is often administered more quickly. The number of people in therapy or seeing psychologists has also risen in recent years. As a result, there are more instances of reported self-injurers.

03. Look at the times we live in. War, declining economies, scare tactics from our leaders, unprecedented stress on adults, teens, and children alike. Is it shocking that people end up depressed or with other mental disorders/issues?

And to be honest, the “more girls than boys” thing means nothing. That’s simply because more girls than boys have bipolar or borderline disorders, which are often associated with self-injury.

The article goes on and on and on. People changed when they found emo. Of course they did.  When I was a teenager and discovered punk, my best friend and I went down into the basement of my house, chopped about 15″ off my long hair and dyed it black. I was a teenager. I was finding myself. I wore all black. I started wearing blue nail polish and black eyeliner. I was moody and depressed a lot. I sat in corners and wrote poetry and listened to music that confused and scared my mom. [Hey, you know what? Not much has changed… oh well.]

But here’s the thing! I was a teenager just like the kids they describe in the article. And guess what? I’m not dead. I made it through my teenage years, went to college, have had a bunch of jobs as a professional writer, and I still dress and look however I want — much like I did when I was a teenager, actually. What’s my point? I don’t have a major depressive disorder, suicidal urges, or the types of mental illnesses that are associated with suicide.

How the hell do these people explain the 47-year-old middle manager who hangs himself while listening to country music? Or the 35-year-old housewife who jumps off a bridge, but only listened to Top 40 radio? Where are the articles that scream “Country music KILLS!” or “Pop Music is the Leading Cause of Suicide”? I strongly suspect if you broke down the numbers on every suicide worldwide and the music the person listened to, emo/punk would be close to the bottom both numbers and percentage-wise.

This turned out to be way longer and far more serious than I’d intended. I’m just frustrated by this constant coverage that paints the scene, bands I like, friends of mine, me, and all of you guys who read this site in such a negative light.  It’s really not true, and I wish they could take an unbiased look at forum posts about cutting or depression or other issues and see all the helpful advice, support, and the way people in the scene look out for each other, rather than all of this negative, sensationalist crap.

But they won’t.  “Emo kids really help each other to deal with problems and feel accepted” doesn’t have the same ring as “THE WORLD IS ENDING!! EMO DEATH CULTS!!!” and won’t sell as many papers.

Are You Stupid? Then You Blame “Emo” For Suicide

Posted by pixie | Filed under Uncategorized

Because it couldn’t be anything like clinical depression or untreated mental illness… it must be music or a scene….

Here’s the thing. A 13-year-old girl told her parents she was going to kill herself, and then she did. She hung herself, and died. Her mother insists she was a “normal girl” [because that’s what normal girls do] and the person investigating the suicide said he found”elements of the emo movement very disturbing.”

So how did they determine this girl was “emo”?
-She liked My Chemical Romance. Yeah, her and millions of other people.
-She talked about The Black Parade a lot. Again, her and millions of other people who bought the album.

The worst thing the coroner investigating could find was someone writing, “I hope you like the black parade” in a tribute book. Gasp. Horror. Someone evoked music to express an emotion? It must be evil!

For some reason, the original article opened with this:

A teenage girl committed suicide because she thought the act would impress fans of emo music, an inquest has been told.

Accepting that it’s been a few years since I took a journalism class, I still have to ask: shouldn’t you have to support that with something more than “she told her parents she was going to kill herself and then she did. And she really liked My Chemical Romance”?  I’m pretty sure that’s the case. Ultimately, this article fails on so many levels, it hurts my head.

The worst thing is, they always pick one particular thing that it’s popular to turn into a villain when they cover stories like this. Nobody ever says, “she ate Pop Tarts… she clearly wanted to die” or “She washed her hair with Herbal Essences, a clear sign of suicide.”  I’m sure anyone reading this would say, “but that’s absurd!”  My point exactly. If My Chemical Romance fans were all suicidal and/or killing themselves, the band would have a slightly more difficult time selling out arenas, wouldn’t they?

I’m not denying she liked the band. Clearly, she did. But it’s one facet of a multi-faceted person who obviously had more issues than anyone wanted to believe she did.  Bands don’t kill people, or make them kill themselves. Not even Dethkok on “Metalocalypse” has those powers….

It’s tragic that a 13-year-old killed herself, but I’d be quicker to put the blame — if blame should even be assigned — on people who missed the signs that something was terribly wrong, rather than on a band.

By the way, the article went on to point out other bands “associated” with emo:
-Taking Back Sunday
-Fall Out Boy
-Panic At The Disco
-Paramore

*sigh* Shoddy journalism, no real story, and then a list of bands who had nothing to do with the original story being attached to it somehow. Welcome to the Internet, where this passes for news coverage.  Articles like the original are exactly why I opted out of journalism and went for a major in fiction and screenwriting.