Whilst, as I made clear, the whole emo thing bothers me, that doesn't mean that all of them do, should, or will cut or kill themsleves. Frankly, the opposite is often true - by being with other people who UNDERSTAND that sort of negativity, rather than goiing "(insert emo joke here - ed)" they have far more chance of getting through adolescense unharmed. It's about time the Daily Mail, and a few people here actually realised that.

Do you not think the culture itself encourages depression and self-harm? Surely it can't be actually helpful to one's mental state to make a lifestyle out of sitting around in dark rooms listening to incredibly bleak music and discussing the pointlessness of living?

THAT'S NOT EMO

Do you really think that's all they do? Really?

That and take pictures of emo boys kissing, so I hear.

THAT'S NOT EMO

Is.
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Do you really think that's all they do? Really? I have friends who own MCR shirts, they like sunshine and lollipops and partying in the sun.

what's "emotional hardcore" then? As opposed to, say, Sara McGlachlan or Amy Mann?

Hardcore, except they're not shouting about punching men.

Biohazard - not emo.

Circle Takes the Square - emo.

I've heard this line of reasoning before, and I really do have some sympathy with it. But it does strike me that it's just as likely to have the opposite effect. You get a bunch of depressed kids and they're hardly likely to be cheering each other up, are they? I've seen one or two "emo" boards where there's an awful lot of negative encouragement going on.

Plus, "emo" is a sub-culture - it's not a support group. I'm sure that there are depressed kids who help other depressed kids (and I hope there are), and they also just happen to be "emos" as we'd categorise them. But the whole "emo" thing as a sub-culture seems to be wallowing and almost glorifying that sort of depression. Turning depression into a fashion
statement is really, really pathetic. I know it's not every emo kid that does this, but it's the net effect of the whole grouping - from the pseudo-emos to the proper-emos. That's what leads to the jokes - most of the kids that would be described as emo by themselves or others aren't clinically depressed or suicidal, they're just whiney teenagers making out like they are. And therefore rightly fit for a pisstake.

No-one on here, I'm sure, would ever take the piss out of someone who's depressed or suicidal because they're depressed or suicidal. It just happens that the emo grouping includes some people who are genuinely depressed, and I can assure you those aren'tthe target of any piss taking.

I get the sense we pretty much agree with each other on this, too.

Do you not think the culture itself encourages depression and self-harm? Surely it can't be actually helpful to one's mental state to make a lifestyle out of sitting around in dark rooms listening to incredibly bleak music and discussing the pointlessness of living?

Really, Fugazi were emotional hardcore. It's about the lyrics and that.

It seems to me that adolesence, always a difficult time, is becoming harder and harder, for a variety of reasons. Going back 15 or so years, when I was mid-teens, things weren't so regulated or difficult, or so it seems.

Tish and indeed, piffle. Every generation thinks they have it bad, worse than their parents had it. Its called being a teenager. Mods, punks, goths, emo, Smiths fans, navel-gazers. Difference is that we didn't have internet sites to act as bloody support groups.

The only problem I have with stereotypical emo is the idea that "having issues" is worn as a badge of honour. I damned near throttled someone once who was very loudly proclaiming about his "depression". As someone who really has suffered depression I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy so to see some young scrote trying to show off about it - and make no mistake, that is what it was - made me utterly furious.

to be 'Emo' do you have to only have one eye visible and the other hid under a big shelf of fringe?

to be 'Emo' do you have to only have one eye visible and the other hid under a big shelf of fringe?

No
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Louise Wener 4TW.

I also know people who cut themselves, and that REALLY is no laughing matter. I'm not talking the scratching to make a cool scar, I'm talking the needing stitches and having to hide the marks sense.

Maybe you're right, Goatboy. I may be being oversensitive, but I got the impression that there were people saying "ha ha, laugh at the miserable kids". If that's a misunderstanding of anyone, I apologise.

Suffice to say, there's personal reasons it bothers me. I alluded to them above, but I don't really want to go into detail.

It is quite clearly that guy from Peep Show.

You're absolutely right of course, but a fair old percentage of them are just playing at being depressed. I should know, shamefully I did exactly the same thing when I was 16 and listening to Nirvana non-stop. The music's miserable, your idols are miserable, so at that impressionable age you try to follow suit. As anyone knows there's nothing more frustrating than seeing people walking straight into mistakes you've already made yourself, which is why, broadly speaking, I think emo kids are a bunch of twats.

My point is not to have a go at anyone, it's to try to make people realise that a LOT of people, especially but not exclusively teens-early twenties, have real problems.

I doubt that the several friends I have, of various ages, diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, any eating disorder you care to name, or who self harm, are all playing at it either.

My point is not to have a go at anyone, it's to try to make people realise that a LOT of people, especially but not exclusively teens-early twenties, have real problems.

But surely the amount of people who are emo because it is a 'scene', and don't have real problems, are obscuring the problem?

The question is, how do you tell silly children to grow up and stop making excuses, and also identify and support the ones with genuine needs?

ng fakery or twattish behaviour, far from it. It's the assumption* that most or all such behaviour is that that I'm questioning.