Rob, Rambling

Dun. Dun. Duuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhn.

Those of you who are British: try to guess which newspaper this is from. I bet you get it first time.

It’s a terrible thing that this girl has died, and I don’t want to come across as callous, but it’s such a typical response to blame the music and subculture for her death.

She obviously had some severe problems that even her parents weren’t aware of. But they’ve just blamed her rapid transition to being an “emo” for her suicide, the easy way out for both them and her.

She’d been self-harming before this (no doubt on a superficial level; what’s the point if you can’t show off your scars?!), so the signs were there. For me, if you can’t notice this kind of thing soon enough, then this is what happens.

Remember how Marilyn Manson was blamed for just about every teen suicide/homicide in the late 90s, culminating in Columbine? Turns out the two killers there didn’t actually listen to Manson’s music.

But that’s the kind of thing which doesn’t get reported. It’s just easier to create the spectre of a ghoulish, inhumane form of music and culture that is hellbent on corrupting those innocent souls who stumble across it.

Fuck that.

Why not do some genuine investigating and question the actual motives? I would put money on this girl having been bullied at school after she turned emo, and her parents/teachers being unaware.

Eminem, in one of his more insightful lyrics, gets it about right:

When a dude’s gettin’ bullied and shoots up his school
And they blame it on Marilyn, and the heroin
Where were the parents at?
And look where it’s at: Middle America,
Now it’s a tragedy
Now it’s so sad to see
An upper class city having this happening

What about the spate of suicides around Bridgend over the last 18 months? Were they all emos too? They were explained away as being some kind of cult, linked to each other through Bebo (subsitute the evil internet for evil music in this instance). I’ve not really seen any investigation of the circumstances surrounding each person and their death. It’s far easier to lump them all together and spread the FUD.

I really should stop browsing the Daily Mail’s website, because it just infuriates me. And to think, I grew up with nothing but this paper in the house. My parents read nothing but, and it worries me that their world view is so warped because of this. Them and 2 million others in this country. Eek.