Where emos come from
Thursday, 23 August 2007 | 140 readers so far
You may or may not know what an “emo” is. I do. Emo is short for emotional, and emos are a fairly new type of subculture in the society of American youth.
These are the kids who replaced goths in the pyramid of hopeless self-pity and absolute despondence and helpnessness that we are creating for our future generations of leaders. Emos are completely unable to deal with reality, because they live in a fantasy world that is emotionally unhealthy and, not surprisingly, devoid of real logic. The world of an emo is a dark one filled with tears and no real direction unless you count the downward spiral into death as a direction.
But where do emos come from? That’s an easy answer. Public schools.
When your kid gets in trouble for even thinking about any type of self-assertion, the politics of the emo world are born. Think about it. Many public schools today will punish you for drawing a picture of any type of weapon. Ask your kid to write a diatribe about a society that values self-defense. Then tell your kid to create a cover page with the title, “Why I Have the Right to Defend Myself by Any Means” and get him to put some clip art of a pistol on the cover.
Tell the kid to take it to school and put it on his desk in every class without saying anything. No matter how good the diatribe is, no matter how valid the logic of the essay, your kid will be in trouble of some sort by the end of the school day. Perhaps a suspension. Perhaps the law will be called. Your child will be labeled. You’ll be lucky if your kid is allowed to continue attending the school.
From Wikipedia, “When referring to a person’s personality and attitude, most definitions of emo hold that an emo person is emotionally candid, sensitive, shy, introverted, glum, and quiet.[7] Depressed and broken-hearted are sometimes used to describe the emo personality. Emo music and poetry contain multiple references to unrequited love, emotional and relationship problems. Being melodramatic or overly emotional is also often associated with being emo.[7] ”
Is it any wonder children go emo? They cannot assert themselves as individuals, at least not in any way that approaches aggressiveness. That is patently unhealthy. We humans are sometimes naturally aggressive. We need constructive outlets for that aggression. We need to be able to roar. We need to be able to piss and mark our territory.
Zero tolerance and the politics of subservience to the state are working hard to ensure that no child will be left behind in the battle to sap our wills and destroy our sense of individualism. And that is why the next time you are at a mall you will probably see an emo or fifteen sulking about moodily. I blame public education camps.
1 August 23rd, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Don Miller says:
Trevor,
How times have changed. I remember when I was in high school speech class in ‘60 or ‘61. One of the guys gave a speech on self defense. When the speech was over there was 12 guns laying on the table. When he walked up to the lectern he wasn’t carrying anything in his hands (other than his notes). All 12 guns were concealed. If that happened today he would still be in prison 40 years from now.
2 August 24th, 2007 at 1:00 am
So THAT’S what Emo means! says:
[...] importantly, what does it imply? From Wikipedia, “When referring to a person’s personality and attitude, most definitions of [...]
3 August 24th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Gringo_Malo says:
I don’t think that I know any emos. They might have been around when I was in high school, but would have been called other, rather rude, names.
While public schools should be abolished, I don’t think that they’re entirely to blame. What about single parents, either divorced or never married? Isn’t the illegitimacy rate among whites something like 25%, and higher among non-whites? What about parents involved in short-term, serial marriages, or less formal arrangements? What about all the self-absorbed parents, in or out of wedlock, who pay minimal attention to their latchkey kids? There’s plenty of blame to go around.
4 August 26th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Trevor says:
Don,
Yeah, times sure have changed. For the better? I’m dubious… I worry about where we are headed. I don’t want to live in an aggressively warlike culture. I do want to live in a place where the individual has value and the right to defend his or her own existence.
Gringo,
Yes, my friend, the blame can certainly be spread around. Ultimately though, it comes down to the memes each of us is passing along to his or her fellow humans. We’re passing around a lot of defective memes.
5 August 27th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
KindGal says:
And if you can’t afford a private school for your “emo” child in which s/he may easily express him/herself, then what?
6 September 6th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
UrbanGrounds » Blog Archive » Emos — the New Goths says:
[...] growing subculture around me — I just didn’t know they had a name. Thanks to Trevor at The Will to Exist for filling me in on Emos — what they are and where they come from: These are the kids who [...]
7 September 14th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Rabid Sanity says:
Will to Exist is linked at the right. I first found him when he was blogging from Iraq. Now he is safe and sound back in North Georgia, but he kept his keen sense of the ridiculous when he returned. One of his more recent posts deals withEmos.What’s an Emo you ask? Well, as he put it so well: Emo is short for emotional, and emos are a fairly new type of subculture in the society of American youth. These are the kids who replaced goths in the pyramid of hopeless self-pity and absolute
8 November 28th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
death_X_bear says:
as me being emo i can tell u dat emos arent alwayz sad, and depressed… and emo duznt come from only public schools! im emo cuz…
* my mom iz in jail
* idk who my dad iz
* and i liv wit my older bitchy sister…
i have a tat. and my belly, nose, 2 lipz, eyebrow, and earz piereced… nd i wear the emo style…. so say whatever u want, but u normal happy people will never kno exactly wut emo is
9 December 30th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
skinny miss x. says:
I’m a real life cursader to surviving mental illness such as bipolar and suicidal tendencies. My father died in a plane crash recently (possible suicide) and my mother is currently homeless and unawarefully depressed. I am having a hard time with “emo’s”. I don’t think public schools have anything to do with it. I attended Catholic school my whole life and it’s even worse. I think you need to go broader than blaming schools. These kids are special situations and yes, I agree with their need and courage to continue to express their emotions, which in fact is essentail to healing. My problem with them is if they are just posers. That is so screwed. Making a style out of mental illness and continuing to outpour depressed poetry on the internet is creating a negative vibration for our world, or make it more aware, one of the two. All I know is that before I had survied numberous bouts of depression, all I might have needed to go over the edge was an emo poem. They are like a new disease, off-shoot of actual mental disease, which is the anti-christ to those of us who want to heal. Try the real road to truth Emo’s…facing your fears in the mirror and finding that you are not a victum, but the creator of your own lives. Yes, I have a screwed up childhood in which I have addressed, done the work, therapy, meds, support groups with real guides, not just a group of other kids who feed into my “drug of choice”…NEGATIVE THOUGHTS and fantasies about death. Emo’s are just unaware and no doubt, depressed boys and girls, but at some point it’s time to grow up and take your life on yourselves or someone else will. Call it death possession…that’s right, Emo’s, you are just possessed. Out of control of your destiny. On an emotional drug. At least it’s for free, but it isn’t cool and it isn’t admirable to a woman of 35 years who has legitimately watched mubers of my own family struggle with mind control and mental challenges, including possession. I’ve even been know to seek thiese types out just to make them aware of it so that they can get the help they need to really THRIVE; otherwise you are all just the living DEAD. I do happen to think your style and music is neat, but as for me, you are now a new disease. You don’t help any teen who is trying to find themselves through. Your way is a sad, sorry excuse to tell your big, bad stories. I have them too, but I will not choose to be YOU. Work for a LIFE, or end it. You could be just taking up space. And a side note…you are selfish for what you put everyone else through. Get a journal, keep it to yourself, share it with the right therapist or mentor, start digging yourself out of the whole you have been thrown in, take you own meds and stay on them, and don’t forget to cry…without the drama. Your way doesn’t seem to be working for you does it? Get control of your life and yourselves and loose the need to DEFINE yourselves by a “gang”. Find a family filled with love. Help them through when things get tough. Get over your blood, or anti-up. Public schools, whatever, it runs deeper than that. I will congradulate you for having introduce a new contagious disease to the world. You should be proud to be an advocate to dead endings-not. Make the world AWARE of your pain without making the world suffer. Get help, do the real work. I did. I can assure you I was more fucked up then you through my teens and twenty’s and life is still a struggle. Sounds to me Emo kids need alittle therapy BOOT CAMP cause sitting in self=pity is just sitting in your own shit and making everyone else smell it. Get clean, wear what you want, Emo style or not, listen to what you want, have sex with who you want, but have fun doing it, otherwise the joke’s on you. Someone’s been possessing you…and you are no longer in the control seat you thought you were, and your ride sucks. It sucks to die…I’ve tried, succeeded and bam, got back UNCONCEITED. It’s survival of the fittest out here if you want to be of this world, so eat some meat, and buck up camper’s, suicide is a permenant answer for a temporary emotion. CHANGE your mind, that’s right, CHANGE your chemistry in your mind, not your school, your surroundings will always be fucked up, “RE”-MIND yourself that you can be one of the authentically STRONG. As for now I see you as weak. I know you true Emo’s are suffering. That I don’t doubt, but for all you posers who channel disasterous and tragic experiences because you don’t have any are just plain odd ducks. If you are that bored, as I have been before, at least set a GOAL to conquer what you have called for. You called for a very dark experience and either you get out off the emotional quicksand, which means MAKE NEW FRIENDS who want to survive, or just plain die. As you live now, you are just taking up space. I hope you choose to fight and get in touch with your rage. Communication is the key to better days…but for now it’s me you have enraged. Quite frankly now that I know what I’m up against, I will be sharing your friend’s stories who have had the courage to life or die, not just whine, because they have something to say, I hear it everyday.
I’m writing a book and MySpace is fun. Check me out and come bask in my sun.
Come tell me what you wanna hear.
myspace.com/skinnymisss
http://www.SkinnyMissS.com
10 March 14th, 2008 at 4:44 am
misha says:
all i can say about bein’ a emo doesn’t mean that your a wasted person.
like me i treated myself as an emo because i come up with some suicidal experiences and bein’ a loner.
emo is harmless..
emo is good..
we quite somehow relate ourselves bein’ anti-christ but it doesn’t mean that we have a great impact against god because we keep on asking him on every single thing he planned on us and try to figure it out all the consequences that we “EMO” are bein’ rejected by those people.
*hate to hear that