Mexico Declares War On Emo

[nabraxas]

Chances are if you aren’t emo, you hate emo. But you likely don’t hate this straight-haired, massacre-lined subculture as much as the Mexicans do. In recent weeks, a wave of emo bashings has swept across Mexico, several news agencies have reported, fuelled by punks, rockabillies, goths, metalheads and basically anyone who’s not emo.

According to Daniel Hernandez, who’s been covering the anti-emo riots on his blog Intersections, the violence began March 7, when an estimated 800 young people poured into the Mexican city of Queretaro’s main plaza “hunting” for emo kids to pummel. Then the following weekend similar violence occurred in Mexico City at the Glorieta de Insurgents, a central gathering space for emos. Hernandez also reports that several anti-emo riots have now also spread to various other Mexican cities. Via the Austin American Statesmen, several postings on Mexican social-networking sites, primarily organising spot for these “emo hunts,” have been dug up and translated. One states: “I HATE EMOS!!! They are not even people, they are so stupid, they cry over meaningless things… My school is infested with them, I want to kill them all!”

Another says: “We’ve never seen all the urban tribes unite against one single tribe before… Emos, their way of thinking is for crap, if you are so depressed please do us all a favour and kill yourselves!”

More recent reports state that the emos have begun to fight back against the other “urban tribes” and organised marches in Guadalajara and Mexico City, escalating the violence and leading to increased police presence. Also, some Mexican newspapers, such as El Porvenir, have called for government intervention to protect the emos, writing, “It’s the responsibility of the authorities to make sure the threats aren’t carried out and the aggressions are punished.”

Several clips of the violence have surfaced on YouTube, but since we at Exclaim! spent our high school days studying French rather than Spanish, we can only make out the repeated mention of “emos.”

http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarti...&fid1=30610

Mexican news broadcast ov the "riots":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJPeffMSzVA&eurl

[faustus]

classic!

[shruman]

That is funny, but sad as well.

Watch out for revenge of the EMO's

[Lachy]

On a more serious note, it's a pretty sad and pathetic state of affairs when a particular subculture gets singled out for mob beatings. Seriously, why would someone do that? It's stupid and thuggish violence for no reason.

[shruman]

EMO, the new black...?

[Guest Øskorei]

Yea, I'm with Lachy. Our species is becoming a mob. Whilst I personally think this whole 'emo' subculture is a complete toss, unless there's a genuine personal reason to inflict violence, it's pretty dumb. And is it just my observations, or are emo's pretty much an easy target ? Those youth who might fall into this categorisation all seem pretty wimpy, at least from what I gather from Sydney's anti-scene. It would be akin to ganging up on a bunch of invalid pensioners. This report therefore puts the agressors in a light of being juvinile macho-bullshit tryhards who only beat on the infirm.

Out of interest, do any forum contributors identify themselves with the tag as being 'emo'? I know that the age group here is quite wide and varied, so would be keen to know.

Subcultural trends are strange beasts, aren't they ?

I recall doing some home reno's at my mum's house about 15 years ago and coming across a bunch of old newspapapers from perhaps the 1950's that the original builder put down as a structural base. And the big stories of the time in the old print were concerning "Wedgies & Bodgies" or some such group roaming the streets of Sydney with their tough punk attitude and their cut-throat razors. Emo's never get this sort of coverage!

There are always going to be schisms in popular mainstream culture, where teens/post teens need to feel a part of something 'unconventional'. So then, it would appear that youth have a need to simultaneously disengage & identify with peers. One can look back upon these trends and note that they are but fleeting, but I guess we also need to be able to identify with the new-generation of rebellion. Sure, Emo's are going to put the fancy-dress and the maudlin life approach aside soon, as they become accountants as young adults, but in the interim, perhaps other mexican youth need to chill the fuck out and let them whine away to their crap music

Ø

PS: The only long term issue I have with the Emo movement is that the bar has been lowered considerably as to what rock music should be. Cobain set the precedent I reckon.

Edited March 31, 2008 by Øskorei

[Teljkon]

asdfasd

Edited December 19, 2021 by Teljkon

[ThunderIdeal]

bodgies and widgies were like rocker types weren't they? predated punk by more than a decade, but maybe they had a bit in common (how the fuck would i know!?)

it's a sad affair. i admit to disliking other subcultures as a teen (like skaters... curse them) but i didn't go making a point of it.

[ThunderIdeal]

ok in theory, what is wrong with a hare krishna? i think of it as a bit of a cult, but their literature is also the basis for most of my beliefs.

[Guest Øskorei]

predated punk by more than a decade

Oh much more than a decade, if you're talking about the commercial concept of 'Punk' in the mid/late '70's (I think you are)..... but we have to consider that the disparaging term 'punk' has been used since at least the 1950's to point a finger at those in society that don't conform. The king of cool, Mr Arthur Fonzarelli, would have been considered a 'punk'.

We can look at the Hare-Krsna movement as a subculture, or perhaps a 'cult'..... I think there's quite a difference. Emo's for example don't hold true to a messianic figure or even a spiritual guidance outside of the very anti-hero persona of the movement, and the only person on the pedestal is the latest band to have an attitude, and garb to suit. But these messiahs are but transient, and not inclusive of an all encompassing godlike entity.

Religious/Spiritual movements operate on a totally different tangent to the passing subcultural groups that pop up over the years. For one, there are no marketing-savvy figureheads in subculture gangs.

Sorry Chopper.

[Jesus On Peyote]

Maybe the Mexicans dont like American borne subcultures invading their lands?

in my mind, kinda (not the most stable) it can be alikened to Christians invading muslim lands. and we all know what happens to the christians when that happens.

Im not saying its justified,other wise most of us in this forum would be under constant attack by the more "mainstream" Australians.

All i know is the mexicans have a proud past and culture and see the emos as a threat to the younger generations.. kinda like hippies in the 60s 70s in america, they dident get bashed, but they where scorned by 90% of the establishments, or the "status quo".

BTW Emos do shit me. once i was talking to my cus, and i told him i liked a song by.. cant remember but the song name was black parade, or somthing like that, and he called me an emo, at the time i was like wtf is an emo, i cant like a single song without having a tag slapped on me

[Guest Øskorei]

Maybe the Mexicans dont like American borne subcultures invading their lands?

What ? Didn't you read the first paragraph of the article ? It doesn't sound like a proud nationalist movement to me, it's the other subcultures that are being tagged as the agressors, and they're just as un-Mexican as the victims. "Proud past & culture" isn't really what's being reported here. For your review:

In recent weeks, a wave of emo bashings has swept across Mexico, several news agencies have reported, fuelled by punks, rockabillies, goths, metalheads and basically anyone who’s not emo.

in my mind, kinda (not the most stable) it can be alikened to Christians invading muslim lands. and we all know what happens to the christians when that happens.

Huh ? Big 'c' versus little 'm' ? This shouldn't need to become a religious thread.

Im not saying its justified,other wise most of us in this forum would be under constant attack by the more "mainstream" Australians.

So what defines an Aussie ethno-head as a commonly recognisable subculture ? I'm specifically seeking Jesus' (OP) response on this one.

[Jesus On Peyote]

hmmmmmmm hoki

1-

What ? Didn't you read the first paragraph of the article ? It doesn't sound like a proud nationalist movement to me, it's the other subcultures that are being tagged as the agressors, and they're just as un-Mexican as the victims. "Proud past & culture" isn't really what's being reported here. For your review:

status quo. the other "tribes" have been round for longer.. i admit i misread some of the article so maybe the Mexican pride might not play a factor, depending on what these "other tribes" motives are,which it doesent say,other then they just hate them.

2-

Huh ? Big 'c' versus little 'm' ? This shouldn't need to become a religious thread.

Im not trying to edge religion into the thing,just used it as an example. like, "when 2 forces collide" it was just an example. plus christians aint so big and muslims aint so little. their both "subcultures" in a secular world.

So what defines an Aussie ethno-head as a commonly recognisable subculture ? I'm specifically seeking Jesus' (OP) response on this one.

I cant fully answer that, because its still in its infancy in terms of "looks". but to though a few things out there, enthos are more on the "hippie" side of things, if you see someone walking round with dreads and a beard, wearing a pro pot or whatever shirt, then people will look at you differently. thus putting you into another "category".

In the end, the message i was putting out there is, its not good to go round bashing people for what they are,even if you dont agree with their life style. and dont forget i did mention i have no love for emos, yet, i have no hate for em. they just shit me lol. am i going to go rally a group of people to hunt em down..No. i dont know the situation in mehico, but its probebly nothing more then the riots we had here, aussie vs immigrants back in the day that shall not be named.

Edited March 28, 2008 by Jesus On Peyote

[Guest Øskorei]

Im not trying to edge religion into the thing,just used it as an example. like, "when 2 forces collide" it was just an example. plus christians aint so big and muslims aint so little. their both "subcultures" in a secular world.

I thought faith was the majority, and secularism the minority........

I cant fully answer that, because its still in its infancy in terms of "looks". but to though a few things out there, enthos are more on the "hippie" side of things, if you see someone walking round with dreads and a beard, wearing a pro pot or whatever shirt, then people will look at you differently. thus putting you into another "category".

Anywhere I work, after an amount of time, I get labelled 'a hippie' due to the ideals that I exist by (and i don't even blurt about them, eh it's just observed by others over time) Yet I have very close-cropped hair to the scalp, and my facial hair is rarely erratic in the romanticised Woodstock style of 'Hippie" that you seem to portray in your surmations of the indie-typical-ethnoheD. Yet I might know a gmone who met a foaf who met swim who joined a forum called SAB. Outwardly, for all I know I might look like a fucking architect to people who pass me in the street. Unless of course I meet a gang of architects, they can see right through the facade. But do I buy my duds from K-Mart or from OxFam ? They won't look at what's in my coffee grinder either. Physical appearances are largely illusion. And the quest to 'look like' peers in any given group is futile if one expects to maintain a trueness to ones self of being.

I s'pose my point here is that once people nudge away from youth, it should be less important to play the part by listening to a particular style of music, to grow/colour/shorten/lengthen/dreaderise hair, wear anti brand X clothes, and just "BE". That's what defines true individuality. It's not about being different, just like the subculture you're being different with, but standing alone as an individual.

...who is obviously gonna get bagged out very soon ..... /end rant/

[Jesus On Peyote]

I fully agree

[The Dude]

[deleted] meh...

Edited March 30, 2008 by The Dude

[FungalFractoids]

"Wedgies & Bodgies"

Think Bob Hawke, the Silver Bodgie

[chilli]

Aha Bodgies! When I was a kid I wished I had straight hair and a widow's peak just so I could look like a Bodgie... so cool!

That article would be funny if it happened on the Simpsons, but I reckon it's fucked up that it's for real... emo's are cool, and in my experience they are rarely depressed and in fact seem a lot happier and well-adjusted than most other people their age, if they are an age.

[The Dude]

... emo's are cool, and in my experience they are rarely depressed and in fact seem a lot happier and well-adjusted than most other people their age, if they are an age.

8-15.. above that, if you're still an emo, good luck to ya.

spose thats pretty 1337ist.

Reminds me of a shirt... "punk: cool when you're 15, pathetic when you're 50."

also reminds me of a joke.

How many punks does it take to change a lightbulb?

...

punks don't change anything!

ha bloody wingers. Nah I like punks; they're like hippies with some aggro - that gets shit done.. ... sometimes. Emos ..as part of the emo-code tend to be whingers by default -pure whinging gets nothing done. Homeboys are too cool for school, but they know that so that's cool, and metros are just so damn fashionable, good on em...

How many hippies does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

...

Hippies don't screw in light-bulbs they screw in dirty sleeping bags.

Edited April 6, 2008 by The Dude

[stiched up]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM............

dirty sleeping bags

[ThunderIdeal]

now that is a cool slant on the screw-in lightbulb joke.

[Teljkon]

asdfasdf

Edited December 19, 2021 by Teljkon

[ThunderIdeal]

iskcon - INTERNATIONAL society for krishna consciousness

i get where you're coming from but i reckon they'd be in weirder places than mehico.

[shruman]

Classic!, with a little more insight. Still sad though.

"Riot police have taken to the streets of several cities in Mexico to ... defend emo kids?

A series of attacks on dyed-hair, eye-makeup-wearing emo kids began in early March when several hundred people went on an emo-beating rampage in Querétaro, a town of 1.5 million about 160 miles north of Mexico City.

The next week, shaggy-haired emo teenagers were harassed again by punks and rockabillys in the capital, prompting police protection and a segment on the TV news. Most recently, a Mexican newspaper reported that metal heads and gangsters have warned Tijuana's emo kids to stay away from the town's fair next month.

But the so-called emos are organizing, too. Last week, they demonstrated against the violence, pictured above, and Wednesday some met with police in Mexico City.

"They're organizing to defend their right to be emo," wrote Daniel Hernandez of LA Weekly on his personal blog, which has provided stellar coverage of the whole affair.

Music-based subcultures have permeated Mexico's major cities for decades, fueled by constant migration from rural cities. But only in the past year have emos begun to make their presence felt in the streets. In response, many of the established so-called tribus urbanas like punks and metalheads are responding with violence. The emo-punk battles are reminiscent of earlier subculture fights among various factions, like the Hell's Angels fighting hippies at the Altamont Music Festival or the Mods taking on the Rockers.

But while videos of Mexican teenagers with pompadours advancing on equally baby-faced emo rockers seem like scenes from a south-of-the-border version of John Waters' Crybaby, there are ugly undercurrents to the story.

First, by some accounts, the emo subculture is identified with homosexuality in Mexico. As Mexico City youth worker Victor Mendoza told Time.com: "At the core of this is the homophobic issue. The other arguments are just window dressing for that."

Gustavo Arellano, the author of Ask a Mexican and an editor at OC Weekly, said that the sexual ambiguities cultivated by emo fashion helped set the group up for targeting by more macho groups.

"What do you do when you are confronted with a question mark about sexuality in Mexico?" Arellano said. "You beat it up."

Forum posts show similar sentiments. One person wrote on a government youth-website forum, "detesto a los emosexuales," which translates as "I hate emosexuals." Emosexual is an obvious play on homosexual, especially in Spanish, where the H is silent.

Many of the attacks have been planned, or at least fomented, on violently anti-emo websites like Movimiento Anti Emosexual, which features videos of physical violence sprinkled liberally with anti-gay sentiment. Last.fm's Anti Emo Death Squad group has almost 4,000 members.

But Arellano said he thought the riots could have a positive impact here in the US.

"It's a great clusterfuck for the American mind's idea of Mexico," Arellano said. "This teaches the rest of the world that Mexico is not just a bunch of cactuses and sombreros.""

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/03/an...mo-riots.html?1

[Lachy]

That makes sense. From the little I know, masculinity is very important in Mexican culture. Anything that appears effeminate or challenges gender roles is likely to be met with hostility by a fairly macho culture. This appear to be a response to that particular aspect of the emo stereotype, rather than a general hatred of emos in particular.

...Not that that is a particularly good excuse for the violence. Any sort of prejudice based on race, orientation, gender, whatever, is pretty damn pathetic IMHO.