The War On "Emo"?

Parents everywhere are shocked as the news of two so-called "emo" kids committing suicide is broad-casted. They rush home to their own children and computers, quickly finding out just exactly what this "emo" craze is. They've no doubt found information from popular news groups blaming these incidents on skinny jeans, straightened bangs, eyeliner, and popular alternative bands with a few dark lyrics. The fad of the alternative lifestyle is no doubt rising, but with it's growth is the rise of suicides due to bullying for differences and riots against their culture.

Thirteen year old Hannah Bond committed suicide on May 7th, 2008. She had apparently been discussing suicide with her friends and family, and pasted with it a false beauty. Hannah had read on the internet that suicide and the new "emo" trend of cutting was cool. Among the list of her favorite bands was the popular My Chemical Romance. My Chemical Romance happens to be a band that supports saving lives, not destroying them, but worried parents put two and two together and slapped the blame on this alternative band after finding a few lyrics about death.

Shortly after Hannah, Sam Leeson, another fan of My Chemical Romance, committed suicide by hanging himself. News sources say this was due to internet bullying. Teens had been sending him offensive emails against his music tastes and looks after hearing what people that wear eyeliner and tight jeans are suicidal and whiny. He had enough and gave up on life. This is obviously not the answer to his problems, but was probably the only way he could think of to fix his problems after getting ridiculed.These were just two of the many young adult suicides.

Children had read somewhere online that suicide was the new trendy thing to do. It was "in" with the cool kids. There was a time when "emo" was used to mean emotional, and bands called themselves so to promote emotion filled music. If music doesn't have emotion, than what's it's purpose? Over recent years, kids have busted the definition of "emo" out of whack, and it now means a group of kids devoted to self-harm and suicide. Due to this, parents are now starting a war against "emo", attacking not just the kids devoted to self-harm, but also the real emos. The ones who support music that has a point to it.

Meanwhile, across the world from where these two suicides were, there is an anti-emo movement in Mexico. Totally separate from the other events, non-emo violence is growing. Imagine a sixteen year old boy walking down the street. He's wearing tight jeans, a t-shirt supporting his favorite alternative band, and a bit of eyeliner; his fashion is like this because he things it looks cool. Immediately, this boy gets bombarded with harsh words and threats, and in extreme cases violence, all because of what he is wearing. This boy never self-harmed a day in his life, never whined about how his parents hated him in a web-blog, is friends with just about everybody, and is getting top marks in his class. But here he lies, most likely injured all because of what he was wearing? This is madness.

Here people are targeting teenagers because of what they wear or the bands they listen to, all because a select group of people decided to warp the definition of a fad. This war began because people decided that "emo" doesn't mean emotional, it means whiny people who cut themselves, and anyone who fit's the description of the clothing should be shot down (theoretically, and in some cases technically).

These events draw to mind some key issues in our history. Racism, segregation, gang-violence, and more. You should be beaten up or taken to a psychiatrist because of what you're wearing or what kind of music you listen to. If you're cutting or have thoughts of suicide, you have a problem that strings deeper than the internet and music. A song doesn't go tell a teenager to kill themselves, people know better than that. I have a feeling "emo" suicides string deeper than the news wants to let out, but they have this huge trend to blame it on, so why not?

When will the world realize not to judge a book by it's cover?