selector.dub.u wrote:UmkhontoWeSizwe wrote:this is what happens when parents get banned from hitting their children. gotta nip that shit right in the bud!
man its probably the opposite. i dont think this is something really to joke about. .I am going to open up myself here and make it clear right now that i am not happy with this kind of thinking
i was beaten severely as a child and teenager by my step father on a regular basis. stabbed, punched ,kicked, etc...
I felt just as this girl did for years. I feel sorry for her more than anything. in a way she is crying for help but she is going about it the wrong way.
Hopefully she will get the help she needs and work out her problems as I have.
I can relate W,believe me...I can relate.I was a deathrock kid.So Jr. high/high school was a constant trial of fire for me.And I too had a very abusive stepfather(I stll have scars on my back from being beaten by the business end of a Texas sized belt buckle).
And I 100% agree that she is a teen going through hormonal changes and feels like it's her vs. the world.And at one point in the video,I could identify with how she was feeling,because most teens do indeed feel that way at some point or another.Violence never really solves anything.The thing that I thought was funny was how violent she was about being non-violent.I can under stand defending yourself,but she is quoting Jesus one minute("turn the other cheek"),then coming back about how she will beat someone down.There's always a fine line between self-defense and a counterattack.That's why a lot of courts have a hard time differentiating between the two.If someone is mugged by strongarm,but just happens to also have a gun and kills the assailant,is that really self-defense,or is that an even more violent crime.Both are crimes either way.
But I also have to say that homeboy has got a point here.Things are different with the American youths in this day and age.It doesn't matter what scene they identify with,the truth is that the new generation of parents want to be "cool",assuming this will somehow earn the respect of thier children.I can see that.Parents now are much cooler than my parents.But the new laws that say that spanking your child can get you locked up really adds to it.However,I feel if they lack a certain disciplinary structure,thier kids think that they can get away with everything.Violence being one of them.This,to me,says violently defending one's self over namecalling is no better than violence itself.And as I stated before in this thread,I wasn't exactly thrilled that she compared emo kids being beat up at school is the same as a black man being killed for the colour of his skin.You can't really change that,but you can change your style of dress.Which is what emo really is.Nothing else about it has any originality.Emo sounds like the San Diego post-grunge/pop-punk music scene cir. '93-98,which the guy from Dashboard Confessional(apparently the "inventor" of the term) claims some of those bands(especially No Knife) as his main influences.
It just happens that the majority of emo kids are trying to be punk without the political and social ethic.And they go a bit extreme with it.It is fashion.So was New Wave.So was post-Nirvana Alternative.It's not to say that they are shallow as people,but the style is watered down and only taken for surface ideals. It's like I had this conversation the other day at an old-school hiphop club about why I felt that NWA was just as politically and socially deep as Public Enemy,but on a much more local level.It was music about where they lived,living in poverty stricken areas,being killed over drugs and women,hassled and killed by police,not only for the colour of thier skin,but because the police just "could".I also mentioned that because it was pretty much the beginning of Gangsta Rap,most people only saw the surface ideals and ran with it.Simply put,the general populace heard "bitches,ho's,nig*as,drugs,guns,and cheddar" and glamourised it greatly.Back in the '80s when it all started,I maybe knew one or two white kids into hiphop.After NWA,I saw tons of middle class suburban white kids sagging,wearing Raiders paraphenelia,and throwing "westside" up all over SoCal,many of them only owning "Straight Outta Compton" and not much else.They just thought it made them look tough.
It's the same with emo.Many of these kids that try to front(like this girl),where born/babies when Grunge became Alternative,Punk had it's second coming,and Ska,it's third.By the time they got into middle school,the Post-Punk revival had started(Strokes,Interpol[yuck city],Franz Ferdinand,Bloc Party),which brought the eyeliner,floppy bangs,Hitler Youth haircuts,and the "life sucks" pathos into the mainstream.I was doing that back in '85 and it wasn't well recieved.Now you have jocks doing it."Good" Christian kids doing it.Kids of all races doing it.I see these kids all the time in my profession and in talking to them about the music,most of them seem disaffected by fashionable default,not because they actually have a hard life or are struggling with any political or social issues.They are far too caught up in thier own scene to care about the rest of the world,trying to be individuals by doing whatever it is everyone else does,so long as they feel safe.When this girl talks about how she and her friends are taking risks and rising up,what are they risking?Punk,Deathrock,Two-Tone,and Traditonal Skinhead kids when I was growing up(myself included) took a risk in just believing what we believed in socially and politically and dressing the way we did as part of that statement.We actually fought for change,for individuality and acceptance.This girl and her friends aren't fighting for anything realistic.There are emo kids
everywhere.They are the accepted.They are the "norm".They have the unity already,as emo is an amalgamation of Pop-Punk,Post-Punk,Electroclash,New Wave,Glam,,Rock N Roll,Pop,Raver,and Hiphop(yes..even Hiphop) elements.The styles are too easily defined in both the music and fashion.You know where one style starts and the other ends.
And Warren...you are also right about another ting.She does need help.Professional help.
