Thursday, April 3, 2008

Slash hates Emos? Mxico anti-emo row still going on

A classic case of irresponsible reporting.

Slash and Perez Hilton Split Votes On Emo
Exclaim!, Canada - 31 Mar 2008

And if things weren’t bad enough, guitar-master extraordinaire, Slash, has now stepped up to fuel the fire. In a recent interview with the Daily Star, the former Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist weighed into emo, and modern rock in general. “Rock ’n’ roll is so diluted in this millennium, you just don’t hear good solos. And I hate emo,” Slash said. “With the exception of Jack White —who is great — the new breed of bands aren’t bringing out decent guitarists.” So it’s official: Slash hates emo.
Look again:

A - Slash wasn't talking about Mexico
B - Or assaulting emos

He was stating he hates emo music. A fair comment. What is not fair is to report that hating emo music and hating emos is the same thing and that Slash wants riots to happen. It is not a question of taking sides on whether emo music is any good. The question is whether it is right to physically beat some one because they listen to a certain type of music or dress in a certain way. If you advocate that you are arguing against the freedom of speech and expression which is at the heart of democracy, and you are on the same side as both the Taliban and the Nazis.

You might think anti-emo riots are funny if it was attacks against Jews or blacks would you be laughing?

"At the core of this is the homophobic issue," Victor Mendoza, a youth worker in Mexico City, told Time magazine. "The other arguments are just window dressing for that. This is not a battle between music styles at all. It is the conservative side of Mexican society fighting against something different."

Conspiracy theories meanwhile are rife:
Mexico’s media spotlight youth subcultures
Daily O'Collegian, OK - 31 Mar 2008

More important posts
from Daniel Hernandez. Now an academic is arguing emos are not a bonafide 'tribu urbana' because they don't have a political ideology. >

The specialist in urban groups Héctor Castillo Berthier indicated that to consider the emos an urban tribe is incorrect, as they do not adhere to the characteristics necessary to be one, and they only represent a fad.

The article "also quotes someone who says 40 percent of emos are suicidal." Once again the typical lies are trotted out. I have yet to find any academic article which shows emos are more more likely to kill themselves than other groups.

Great so its ok to beat them up if they are sucidal or part of a "fad" then? Emos are a "fad" really - the man is a fool - the original Emo music was almost thirty years ago. Emo subculture in its modern form developed in the late nineties. It might be newish in Mexico but so was punk and goth once, both of which had popular "fad" periods in the UK and elsewhere. The main anti emo site in Mexico dates from 2006 alone which means emo must have been around for a few years before that.

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