Are you or have you ever been an emo?

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No, it most certainly is not. If you have to resort to harming yourself in order to deal with stress, you have a problem. No f*****g argument about it. Get help.

*peers at Wikipedia entry* Definitely not. My musical tastes are more varied than that, I don't bother with my hair beyond keeping it clean which generally means that it's wavy, and frankly the whole whining thing rather turns my stomach.

I am not Emo.

I pre-date emo, so, never have been and I'm not now with no plans on it.
Not to mention the fact that I despise most popu-labels on general principle. Never really fit into any one specific group/label. I take stylistic elements from whatever I feel like and try (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to integrate it into my own personal style.
To the labellers - I am me. Deal with it. Pigeonhole someone else.

If emos are faking their depression, that makes them horrible people. If emos are genuinely depressed people, then I think they're ridiculous. They have friends. They often have boyfriends/girlfriends. They're NTs. They have no good reason to be depressed. On the other hand, I don't have friends. I've never had a girlfriend. I would have legitimate reasons to be depressed, yet I'm not depressed. The stuff emos have to deal with that makes them "depressed" is miniscule compared to what Aspies have to deal with. I always hate it when people take a legitimate problem and (either intentionally or unintentionally) make a mockery of it to the point where no one believes people who seriously do have the problem. As evidenced by urbandictionary.com and the way that teenagers in general throw around the term "emo", any sort of teenage depression is associated with the emo subculture and thus not taken seriously. No one takes our (Aspies') justifiable indignance seriously anymore - they assume we're just angsty teenage emos. Our credibility has been damaged thanks to the emos.

And as for emo music, it makes my ears bleed. All the emo bands that I've heard can't sing (their voices are way too whiny), and their angst is most likely faked. These bands have nothing to be sad about! They're all making lots of money and they can easily find friends/girlfriends! If I want to listen to a "heartfelt song with meaning", I'll listen to a love song by someone who can actually sing and can actually come up with creative lyrics.

Justify both of these statements, if you can.

Which I doubt.

All the emos I've known have large groups of friends and seem to be very comfortable in social situations. Therefore they're NT. And NTs really have no reason to be depressed, at least compared to us anyway.

Just because you've only met people like that, doesn't mean that everyone else is the same.

Secondly, Aspies don't have the monopoly on suffering. There are plenty of depressed NTs around. What next? Picking on starving Ethiopians - "You can't be depressed, you're a 4 stone NT!". Absolute rubbish.

Thirdly, emo currently has a lot of fashion-victim hangers-on, because it IS fashionable at the moment. But if this opens a few NT eyes to alternative culture, good! And just because it's fashionable doesn't mean you can write off the people who genuinely always liked this kind of music and/or felt a particular way about themselves. Plus I still don't believe that ALL emo songs are depressing anyway - take "Hey girl" by Dashboard Confessional for example - it's a charming and funny love song.

Fourthly, the whole "emo" thing is largely a construction of the media. In the real world emo music overlaps punk, indie, college rock, grunge, shoegazer and all sorts of other music too. Your impression of "emo" has been shaped by the press. If you take off the blinkers and start listening to the full spectrum of music which the scene incorporates, you'll find it isn't all depressing as the stereotype dictates.

Have a listen to: Green Day, Cave In, 3 Doors Down, Stroke 9, Third Eye Blind, Something Corporate, Weezer, Engineers, Straw, Cerulean, Urusei Yatsura, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Derrero, Explosions in the Sky, Death Cab for Cutie, The Ataris, Idlewild, Super Furry Animals, Gin Blossoms, Goo Goo Dolls, Muzzle, Catherine Wheel, Swervedriver, the Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, the Stone Roses, Fugazi, Monsterland, Senseless Things. All of thses bands contain elements of that which is currently called "emo".

Some of the songs ARE depressing, but certainly not all. The characteristic these bands share is an ability to sing openly about things other than sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Surely this is a good thing? And even the depressing songs can be a comfort to an Aspie in need, sometimes.

I'm sorry if I come across as rude in this post. I just tend to have strong opinions and sometimes alienate others when expressing them. That's part of my Aspieness, I guess.

Emos, by definition, pretty much have to be that way. Otherwise they're not emo.


Starving Ethiopians have far more reason to be depressed than we do. Emos, on the other hand, usually come from middle class suburban backgrounds and they have plenty of friends. I'm sorry, but I don't see anything they should be depressed about.

Actually, wait a second. They do have something to be depressed about - the fact that they dress horribly and listen to horrible music.


I'm not a fan of alternative culture. It's way too NTish to me. If you want to be an individual, BE AN INDIVIDUAL. Subcultures, even supposedly "nonconformist" subcultures, are based on the principle of conformity.


I don't see any reason, other than bad taste, why anyone would like that style. But I also think that most other modern music is horrible. I can't stand rap, techno, country, modern pop, or even modern rock. I listen to older stuff.


Maybe there are, but the emo songs that become popular are the depressing ones.


There's very little that distinguishes them. They're all part of that "alternative" movement.


I've listened to a few of those bands and I wasn't too impressed. I especially can't stand Green Day. "American Idiot", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", etc. are some of the worst songs I've ever heard in my life.


I find the Beatles, the Bee Gees, the Beach Boys, Queen, and other old bands much more comforting.

Last edited by Dart on 19 Oct 2006, 6:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I didn't say I didn't have a problem.

The point I'm trying to make is that, if emo people are labelled "pathetic", I'd argue that harming yourself is a lot less cowardly than taking out your problems on other people. As a quick-fix damage limitation exercise it is, perhaps, the most honourable course of action.

Incorrect.

"Usually" = assumption, worthless.

What if a particular style happens to sum up exactly who you are naturally? Have you thought about that? Like-minded people naturally cling together. That's why you'll find a lot of Aspies talking to each other on WP, for example.

Well then, that just goes to prove that this is all about your personal taste and prejudices.

It's not a bloody movement. "Alternative" is just a word that encapsulates all of the bands who don't follow the mainstream. A bit like.... ooh.... Aspies?

That's your problem. I'm not asking you to like them, necessarily, but to acknowledge that your stereotypes aren't true and furthermore other people have the right to listen to what they like. I'm not taking lessons in taste from a man who likes the Bee Gees.

So you'd be upset if I slagged them off, wouldn't you?

You're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine.

Quite. But if you choose to criticise something I like, based on nothing more than cliches, assumptions, generalisations and stereotypes, don't be surprised if I get upset.

I am particularly offended by your comment that "Emos, on the other hand, usually come from middle class suburban backgrounds and they have plenty of friends. I'm sorry, but I don't see anything they should be depressed about". This exhibits a basic misunderstanding of the nature of depression. You could give a depressed man a million pounds and they'd simply be a rich depressed man. Surroundings and circumstances have nothing to do with it. If you're depressed, you're depressed, end of story.

Same as if I gave an Aspie a million pounds, they'd be a very rich Aspie. It wouldn't change who they were.

So why exactly are emos "depressed" again?

Well, some of them are not depressed, they just do it for the trend. But other 'emos' are truly depressed and they want their sadness to show.

Honourable? Cowardly? Why are you even trying to apply these concepts to this situation? If someone is f****d in the head, however his f**kery manifests itself, he's still f****d in the head, and needs to get help. What's the point of trying to decide who's a cowardly headfuck and who's a brave headfuck?

Also, has it ever occured to you that the people in your surroundings, your gf, parents etc might want to help you become unfucked in the head?