http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89265941
Emo is a term used to describe just about every new band that breaks onto alternative radio. Emo is short for the word emotional. The term originated in Washington DC in the early 80s. It describes the music of bands such as Rites of Spring, Thursday, Saves the Day, Dashboard Confessional, and Jimmy Eat World. The music consists of deeply impassioned and emotional lyrics. The instruments are the guitar, the bass, the drums and vocal.
I chose the argument in the article "Mobs in Mexico Attack Fans of Emo Music." Emo music has made its way from the United States to Mexico. This music has not been accepted very well in Mexico. Most emo fans are teenagers about 15 years old. They dress and look different than most teenagers. Most Mexican youth hate emos and even attack them. On March 7, 2008 in the city Queretaro, Mexico a mob of 800 people gathered from the Internet to beat severely three emo fans. This was not an isolated incident. The next week in Mexico City people protesting that violence were attacked. Riot police had to be called in to protect them.
There is not just anti-emo violence on the Internet, but there is also anti-emo violence on TV. Kristoff, a TV personality on a music channel, called emo culture worthless and called the music rubbish and garbage. He was aggressive and had a harsh tone. He made these comments about emo fans days before the incident happened in Mexico. He was inciting the violence.
On the surface, the stasis seems to be an example of schoolyard dynamics. Teenagers see emo fans as an easy target, because they are usually younger and come from comfortable, middle class backgrounds. But the real controversy seems to be something much more disturbing. Emo music fans wear tight jeans, makeup, and dye their hair black. The emo's clothing style is against the hypermasculine Mexican culture as well. The stasis is homophobia. At the core of this is the homophobic issue. The other arguments are just window dressing for that. It is the conservative side of Mexican society fighting against something different. The article does not take any side of the argument, but one can think that discrimination and violence towards a group is always negative. Violence is not the solution. Understanding differences between people is the solution.
I chose the argument in the article "Mobs in Mexico Attack Fans of Emo Music." Emo music has made its way from the United States to Mexico. This music has not been accepted very well in Mexico. Most emo fans are teenagers about 15 years old. They dress and look different than most teenagers. Most Mexican youth hate emos and even attack them. On March 7, 2008 in the city Queretaro, Mexico a mob of 800 people gathered from the Internet to beat severely three emo fans. This was not an isolated incident. The next week in Mexico City people protesting that violence were attacked. Riot police had to be called in to protect them.
There is not just anti-emo violence on the Internet, but there is also anti-emo violence on TV. Kristoff, a TV personality on a music channel, called emo culture worthless and called the music rubbish and garbage. He was aggressive and had a harsh tone. He made these comments about emo fans days before the incident happened in Mexico. He was inciting the violence.
On the surface, the stasis seems to be an example of schoolyard dynamics. Teenagers see emo fans as an easy target, because they are usually younger and come from comfortable, middle class backgrounds. But the real controversy seems to be something much more disturbing. Emo music fans wear tight jeans, makeup, and dye their hair black. The emo's clothing style is against the hypermasculine Mexican culture as well. The stasis is homophobia. At the core of this is the homophobic issue. The other arguments are just window dressing for that. It is the conservative side of Mexican society fighting against something different. The article does not take any side of the argument, but one can think that discrimination and violence towards a group is always negative. Violence is not the solution. Understanding differences between people is the solution.
