Sam Lesson - Another Victim of Hate

News reports today and yesterday confirmed another case of bullicide just like the The Tragic Suicide of Nicola Raphael or Tempest Smith or more recently Dominic Maynard.

Bullied to death for being Emo music fan
By Geoffrey Lakeman Mirror
12/06/2008

A gifted teenager may have killed himself after being bullied over his
love of Emo culture, his family said yesterday.
Sam Leeson, a devotee of the
goth-influenced movement, had designed his own web page on Bebo adorned with
pictures and lyrics of favourite acts such as My Chemical Romance.
The 13-year-old was found hanged in his room a week ago after comments mocking his appearance and taste in music were left on the social networking site. Parents
Sally Cope and Christopher Leeson yesterday spoke of their grief as they called
for tighter regulation of such sites
Sally, 45, said: "He was an alternative dresser and I think other teens did make comments. He was quiet and very thoughtful but had a lot of friends. He was such a loving boy. We just can't believe what has happened."

Once again another alternative teen has been hounded to death. Here are other links to the story:

Investigation into Sam's death begins.Gloucester Citizen,

Bullies blamed after suicide of 'Emo' music fanIndependent, UK

Teenager found hanged was abused on website, say family guardian.co.uk, UK

13-year-old suicide over 'emo' cult bullyingTelegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - 11 Jun 2008

The Guardian and The Sun seems to be the only ones to link this with Hannah Bond but none
of them link it to the wave of anti emo hate on the Internet the media's coverage
prompted. Alterophobia thinks it is no coincidence... see J' accuse - How the media lies contributed to a suicide...

Some have criticised emo culture for promoting a morbid outlook on life. Last
September Hannah Bond, a 13-year-old from Peckham, south-east London, took
her life. In May more than 100 young emo fans demonstrated in London against
an accusation by the Daily Mail that the culture was "characterised by
depression, self-injury and suicide".

Emo Sam web bully fearsThe Sun, UK - 11 Jun 2008


Nothing matches though the breathtaking hypocricy of the DAILY MAIL a good report but no mention of how their lies may have led to a child's death.:

Boy, 13, 'hanged himself after he was bullied on BeboMail , UK - 11 Jun 2008

Sam Leeson's family say the 13-year-old was picked on by other users of the
site because of his 'alternative appearance' and his taste in music.
Blaming
Bebo for his 'utterly pointless death', Sam's mother said the family discovered
the extent of the bullying only when they checked his Web page after his death.
'I'm not sure what influence these sites have - but if they are a method of expressing things, maybe they should be checked more,' said 45-year-old Sally Cope.
'He was into his appearance and often wore his black skinny jeans. He was an alternative dresser and I think other teenagers did used to make comments about that.'
Bebo users who taunted Sam on the site have since left messages apologising for their conduct.

Sam was a fan of alternative rock bands such as the Foo Fighters and Slipknot, as well as so-called Emo music, championed by bands such as blink-182 and Good Charlotte.
The movement takes its name from the word emotional - a reference to its angst-ridden lyrics and melancholy themes.
It has become increasingly popular with British teenagers since its inception in the U.S. two decades ago.
Followers see the genre as much as a fashion as a style of music. Many dye their hair black and wear dark clothing.
Sam's sister, Emma, 22, said he had also been bullied at school over his interest in the music.
'He used to laugh about it when people mocked him over his dress sense and
music taste, so we didn't realise it was anything serious.
'We saw him as always happy and smiling, but we now think there has been some name-calling about the whole Emo thing. 'We know some bullying has been going on. We do not want to attack the school, as they have been very good, but we are very
upset it has come to this.'
Sam, of Tredworth, Gloucestershire, was found on Thursday by his mother, Sally Cope, and another sister, Katie, 12, when they returned from a short shopping trip.

Tribute videos here



Rest in peace Sam I only hope you are the last.

J' accuse - How the media and the Daily Mail's lies are connected to the death of Sam Leeson

Sam Leeson is dead. The 13 year old boy killed himself on Thursday June 5th after a campaign of online and real life harassment just because he liked emo and Heavy Metal. Another case of bullicide just like others we have covered.

This was a tragedy. Obviously those who immediately to blame are those bullies who victimised an innocent directly just because he liked a certain type of music and dressed in a certain way.

Behind them however a heavy weight of responsibility rests on the Daily Mail and other media sources who repeated and in some cases sensationalized the reports of Hannah Bond's death and others. Let us examine the time line of events to see what happened:


16 Aug 2006
“ EMO cult warning for parents” The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail publishes a spectacularly inaccurate article. No research evidence is used to back up its conclusions. The article is frequently quoted on anti Emo websites in the next few years. It sparks a wave of criticism from MCR and their fans.

March 25, 2007

"Who said Romance was dead?" TIM DE LISLE
Mail on Sunday, March 25, 2007 Sunday SECTION: FB 04; Pg. 72

In a review of a My Chmical Romance gig a Mail reporter states:

"

My Chemical Romance are loud, dark, heavily made-up and suddenly
popular.
They have even been accused of leading a cult of self-harm, although the
evidence is slight. The subject of self-harm does crop up in chatrooms populated
by the band's fans but they can hardly be blamed for that and their response has
been clear enough: 'We do not encourage self-harm.' They frighten some parents,
but others are here with their children, and some older people are even here of
their own accord. Behind me, two men are reminiscing about a gig by The Damned
in 1976.

My Chemical Romance are not so much objectionable as
puzzlingly hard to place not quite punk, not quite emo, not quite metal. At last
summer's Reading Festival they were pelted with bottles by fans of the veteran
death-metal band Slayer."

It is significant that this report completely contradicts what the Mail claimed about MCR in 2006 and in 2008. Which is correct?




September 22 2007

Hannah Bond commits suicide in East Peckham

January 23rd 2008
Beginning of wave of irresponsible coverage of Bridgend suicides by national media including the Mail which is later criticised as irresponsible by the police and The Samaritans. It is interesting to note that of the 20 young people who have died in Bridgend only one of them seems to be a fan of alternative music. Statistically given the chart success of Emo and metal bands this is well below average. None of the coroner reports has highlighted musical choice as a factor in the Bridgend deaths.

May 8th 2008

Following the verdict of the coroner’s court this local Newspaper article this forms the basis for coverage by national media.
Teenage girl's music obsession suicide link

http://www.yourmedway.co.uk/kent-news/Teenage-girl_s-music-obsession-suicide-link-newsinkent12700.aspx?news=local


May 8th 2008

Link to Hannah's bebo tribute page posted online on 4 chan. Immediately it is spammed massively with anti-emo insults .


May 9th 2008 - Telegraph, Mail and Sun
The press sieze on the coroner and local press report. This coverage triggers a further mass wave of anti emo propaganda on the internet. Some of this is the work of elements in association with the Internet group Anonymous. The rest comes from the ongoing sites which ferment anti-emo prejudice. Many of these are frequented by listeners of other alternative music especially metal.


May 14, 2008 Wednesday

Mail publishes a good letter criticising its coverage. Unfortunately it ignores everything it says in an article a few days later:

I'M A 14-YEAR-OLD who loves emo music, but I cannot associate it with the
unfortunate suicide of a 13-year-old girl (Mail). Emo is a music genre, not a
fashion. It doesn't glamorise death it makes people fear it
less.

There's too much labelling and stereotyping these days. Many
people who have read about the new emo 'trend' have bullied me more than before,
because I fitted into the 'emo' description by liking rock music and dying my
hair black. This made my school life utter chaos and it has only recently
started to improve. Why do the newspapers never pick on any other genre or
scene? It's always emo that is under attack and normally without explaining the
difference between emo and goth. There's no way in which you can blame My
Chemical Romance for the suicide of teenagers. The lead singer, Gerard Way, is
one of my few idols.

He's always telling people 'not to kill
themselves because it's not worth it' and that 'you shouldn't let people get you
down'. The group has never promoted suicide. Gerard tells all girls to respect
themselves and not to do as men tell them. He gave me confidence hope,
even.

The main character in the song The Black Parade was a cancer
victim, not a suicide victim. The lyrics mean that despite the fact that you're
dead, we still love you and cherish the memories. They do not mean 'die now and
we'll all remember and glorify you'.

You can't blame music for the
loss of children's lives there are such things as bullying and
self-hate…
SOPHIE BROWN (14), Llandybie, Carms..

16 May 2008
"Why no child is safe from the sinister cult of emo"
By TOM RAWSTORNE Daily Mail 16 May 2008

The Mail continues to distort the truth. This contains a number of inaccurate and misleading statements including the following:

1 - MCR is defiantly an Emo band. – As the Mail reported in 2007 MCR’s association with Emo is questionable.
2 - ) “the 'black parade' is a place where all emos believe they will go when they die” - This is blatantanly untrue. All emos don't belive anything of the kind.
3 - The rate of self harm has indeed risen from as the article states "New figures show that the number of children admitted to hospital due to injuries inflicted on themselves has risen by a third in five years.In 2002/03 there were 11,891 such admissions; in 2006/07 this had risen to 15,955". - However what the Mail does not mention is that the rate of suicide has dropped in that same time period. If Emo/MCR causes suicide it should have peaked in 2006 with MCR reaching no 1. In fact the peak was 1998 long before MCR was formed or emo was popular in the UK.
4 – The article does not mention that MCR has consistently campaigned against Youth suicide and self-harm despite the Mail on Sunday mentioning it in print in 2007.



Like earlier articles this generates a wave of internet controversy.

May 20th
Mail publishes another letter criticising its coverage:

" I FOUND it very difficult to read Tom Rawstorne s article on Hannah Bond s
suicide because I m a 15-year-old girl who is stereotyped by my peers as emo .
This is because I listen to bands such as My Chemical Romance and wear clothes
that are apparently emo (skinny jeans, studded belts, band tees, hoodies). I
wouldn t mind being stereotyped so much most teenagers are put into some
stereotype. What I mind is going into school every day and having to put up with
people shouting such horrific things as Why aren t you dead, emo? and Emo, go
slit your wrists and die . All this because of how I dress and the bad press my
favourite band gets? Rather unfair, I think....
AOIFE MULLEN, Drogheda, Co
Louth."

Sat May 31st - MCR/Emo March against Daily Mail's biased reporting.

The Mail claims its reporting is fair and balanced.


Thurs June 5th - Sam Leeson kills himself


Online bullying of Emos certainly has peaked in the last month. There are a number of reports I am gathering that this carried over into real life with an increase in bullying of emos in school and elsewhere.

If I was working for the Daily Mail I would hang my head in shame. The Daily Mail claimed its reports were balanced they were not an example of balanced reporting can be seen in the Times or BBC's reports on the same issue. They created an atmosphere which supported and justified and irrational prejudice. Just like in the 1930s when the Mail headline read "Hurrah for the Black Shirts" their biased reporting has now come back to haunt them.

Alterophobia is in position of interesting new evidence which further highlights the media's irresponsibility in this matter.

Sophie Lancaster - Wristbands on Sale online here

You can now buy these online directly at this website http://www.backstreet-merch.com/stores/sophielancaster/


You can even get them in batches of 5. There are also links from the Sophie main website.

Russian Duma vows to stamp out evils of Goth and Emo

Alternative people in the supposedly free west have to put up with a lot of rubbish but nothing to compare with this:

Educational Policy Turns Protective
Kommersant, Russia - 2 Jun 2008

For example, the draft law “On Moral and Patriotic Education and Guarantees of the Rights of Children in the Informational Sphere” envisages that all informational products, from books and films to websites and computer games will be divided into groups by audience age as “6 and older,” “12 and older,” “16 and older” and “18 and older.”

Specifically, children under 6 will be allowed to read books and watch cartoons where there is “non-naturalistic description of violence justified by the genre and topic under the condition of sympathy with the victim and a condemnatory attitude toward violence.” After 16, it will be possible to hear “expletives justified by the genre” and watch “depictions of sexual acts between men and women that do not have a pornographic nature.” The draft law “On Children’s Toys” would ban the production and importation of toys that “provoke aggression,” “model actions of a sexual nature,” “justify extremism and a criminal lifestyle,” “depict horror or unbearable pain” or that are created “on the basis of the psychologically incongruous.” That might be, for example, candy in the shape of skeletons or stuffed toys in the shape of bacteria or viruses.

Other legislative initiatives propose imposing a curfew for schoolchildren from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. During those hours, children would be unable to be present in public places under threat of punishment to their parents. Attempts by schoolchildren to send SMS messages with obscene words (including those in Latin transcription) would be blocked by the cellular operator. Schools would be forbidden to observe “artificially borrowed holidays not appropriate to Russian cultural values,” such as Halloween and St. Valentine’s Day.

The drafters of the concept took a particular negative stance in regard to the Goth and emo youth subcultures, which are characterized by black clothing, piercings and a depressed outlook on reality. They authors compared the danger those subcultures hold for society to the dangers of skinheads, soccer hooligans, National Bolsheviks and even anti-fascists. Emo youths, according to the concept, “are subject to suicidal tendencies” and Goth children cultivate bisexuality. “The cost of the sexual services of an underage boy prostitute with Goth attributes is lower than for students in military schools but higher than for usual gay prostitutes,” the authors say, demonstrating their knowledge of life. The government would use informational campaigns for healthy lifestyles to fight the nonconformists, as well as the introduction of “Basics of Orthodox Christian Culture” in the schools and a legislative ban on tattoos and piercings for minors (“with the exception of women’s earrings”).... “The proposed measures are like an imitation of busyness,” commented Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy director of the SOVA anti-extremist center. “Skinheads and Goths cannot be fought with the same methods. The result of the fight will be the same – youth protest will grow even more, and youth will be attracted to everything forbidden, making it even more popular. Our state fought hippies, rockers, metal fans, and lost every time, because there will always be a youth subculture.”

Russia to ban Valentine's Day to 'save' youth
Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom Jun 3, 2008

Teenagers who model themselves on Western youth subcultures like Goths — who are accused of “cultivating bisexuality” — are to be regarded by the authorities as social nuisances in the same league as skinheads, football hooligans and anti-fascists.

The authors of the legislation, which mirrors other government measures to promote Russian nationalism, say urgent action is required to end a moral crisis inspired by the West that has seen a dramatic rise in alcoholism and addiction among teenagers.

“Today we have a lost generation of wandering morons whose parents’ moral vision was robbed by perestroika,” said Stanislav Govorukhin, a Duma deputy.

“We have taken the worst from the West because we failed to resist the encroachment of Western values.” He denied accusations by liberal activists that the new laws represented an attack on freedom of expression.

“The essence of freedom is that there should be moral restrictions — that is what freedom is,” he said.

Round of media on the anti Mail march

Emo is no suicide cult
New Statesman, UK - 3 Jun 2008
“The Daily Mail has written a few articles attacking My Chemical Romance, and calling them an emo suicide cult. Recently they blamed the band for the

Good article at the Guardian:

Fear of a black planet
guardian.co.uk

The Mail's 'war on emo' is pure bigotry: once again, teenagers are being castigated simply for expressing their individuality.


Emo runs high as fans defend band against Daily Mail
The Observer Blog, UK - 31 May 2008

Daily Mail - Legacy of Distortion Part II - Luke Mitchell and the Murder of Jodi Jones

The sensationalised reporting surrounding the case of Luke Mitchell and he murder of Jodi Jones is also interesting. This was a terrible case but the focus on goth found generally in the media was simply media sensationalism full of distortion interconnecting the murder with goth, Heavy metal, occult and Satanism. The Police in the case did not help with their focus. Luke Mitchell was a sick killer but the reporting linked innocent fans of bands and certain music to murder in an unjustified way. As always Columbine goth myth is mentioned in fact neither of the murders there really liked Marilyn Manson or goth and nor did they wear trenchcoats generally (see Columbine - The Legacy of Hatred).


Read some of the earliest reports:

Was 'Goth' Jodi the victim of a ritual black magic murder?

BYLINE: TAMZIN LEWIS

Mail on Sunday July 6, 2003

SECTION: STH1; Pg. 13

THE brutal murder of schoolgirl Jodi Jones may be linked to satanism and black magic, detectives revealed last night.

Senior officers confirmed that the 14-year-old girl's association with Goth culture is a major part of their investigation into her killing.

Jodi and her boyfriend Luke Mitchell, also 14, were followers of the morbid subculture which celebrates death, depression, anger and hatred. Extreme elements of the Goth world have been known to dabble in satanism and black magic.

Jodi's mutilated body was found dumped by a country path near her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian, on Monday.

The officer leading the hunt for the killer, Detective Superintendent Craig Dobbie, described the attack as 'the most violent death I've experienced in 28 years in the police'.

Jodi's throat had been slashed and she had multiple stab wounds including a large injury to her stomach. The Mail on Sunday has knowledge of other aspects of the way her body was mutilated but cannot reveal them for police operational reasons.

However, the 'sinister' nature of her injuries has led detectives to investigate her association with the movement.

Last night a senior police source revealed: 'We will be looking at what Jodi and her social circle were interested in and an obvious area will be their ties to the Goth movement.

'We will be examining if the manner in which she was killed has any links to the violent world that many Goths find fascinating and will be speaking to all her friends who had similar interests.' Jodi was killed after failing to keep an appointment to meet Luke. The alarm was raised after her mother Judith sent a text message to Luke's mobile phone saying her daughter was late returning home.

As Jodi's grandmother and sister began searching a wooded area used by locals as a shortcut, Luke stumbled upon her body lying behind a wall.

On Friday police questioned the boy for several hours and a team of forensic officers removed more than 20 large brown paper bags and yellow sacks from his family's home in Dalkeith as they combed the detached house, garage, garden and cars for items.

The couple were part of a small band of friends who enjoyed grunge and Goth music, dressed in dark clothing and dyed their hair. Jodi was a fan of bands such as Nirvana, Korn and Queens Of The Stone Age and loved dressing in Goth-style clothing.

Teenagers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado and then committed suicide, were labelled Goths because they wore black trench coats and listened to Marilyn Manson.

After the 1999 shootings, critics of Marilyn Manson claimed that the singer's dark lyrics may have inspired the killers.

Three days after Jodi's death, Luke placed a floral tribute near to where she died with a card which quoted Nirvana star Kurt Cobain who committed suicide nine years ago.

The card said: 'The finest day I ever had, was when tomorrow never came.'

And again in this article:

'Satanism' link to the brutal murder of schoolgirl Jodi
DAILY MAIL July 7, 2003 BYLINE: GAVIN MADELEY

SECTION: ED_SC1; Pg. 6

THE maniac who murdered schoolgirl Jodi Jones may have been obsessed with Satanism and the occult, detectives said yesterday.

The nature of 14-year-old Jodi's injuries - precise details of which are being kept secret by police - hint at a 'ritualistic' aspect to her death.

Murder squad officers are looking closely at the teenager's Goth lifestyle and musical tastes for clues. As prayers were said for Jodi and her family in local churches yesterday, officers were focusing a 'major' part of their inquiry on the macabre song lyrics of many of her favourite bands and on the morbid literature she read.


Both she and her boyfriend, 14- year- old Luke Mitchell, were followers of the Goth movement. Fans favour dark clothing, heavy make- up, tattoos and body piercings.
Some, at the extremes of the Goth scene, profess to 'dabble' in witchcraft. Occult imagery is a major part of the look and lyrics of Goth bands.

The possible link to Satanism comes as detectives await the outcome this week of crucial DNA tests on Jodi's body and clothing.

Detectives hope scientists will find a clue to the killer's identity from the body - one of his hairs; a flake of skin; saliva. Even fibres from his clothing could help track him down.

Jodi's body was found by her boyfriend near a secluded path close to her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian, a week ago.

Her throat had been slashed and she had suffered multiple stab wounds, including a large gash injury to her stomach...

A senior police source said last night: 'We will be looking carefully at what Jodi and her social circle were interested in. An obvious area will be their ties to the Goth movement.

'We will examine if the manner in which she was killed has any links to the violent world many Goths find fascinating.' Jodi, a fourth-year pupil at St David's RC High School, and her small circle of friends listened to bands such as Korn and Nirvana, dyed their hair and dressed in dark clothing.

Her favourite film was Queen of the Damned. It became a cult classic, in part because its star - pop singer Aaliyah - died in a plane crash before filming was complete.
Jodi also read the works of poet Sylvia Plath, who wrote about death before she committed suicide in 1963.

Jodi was killed on her way to meet Luke, using the popular Roman Dyke shortcut. She left her home at around 5pm last Monday after the pair had exchanged text messages. Within an hour, she had been brutally murdered

When the trial ended the connections continued:

Obsessed with drugs and death, a descent into evil BYLINE: GRACE MCLEAN

DAILY MAIL January 22, 2005

His parents Philip and Corinne split up in 1999, and by the time he was 14, Mitchell was claiming to smoke hundreds of cannabis joints a week, was obsessed with knives, and immersed himself in a Goth subculture which celebrated Satanism.

A fan of Marilyn Manson whose songs are said to have inspired murders all over the U.S. and Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain who committed suicide in 1994 Mitchell's burgeoning sexuality drove him to pursue schoolgirls with a predatory appetite.

"MARILYN Manson is perhaps the most notorious figure in the Goth rock music scene.

A media manipulator and self-styled 'Antichrist superstar' he has taken the first name of Marilyn Monroe, and the surname of a serial killer, Charles Manson, to create a disturbing public persona.

His Satanic lyrics and grotesque videos were blamed for the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado when two neo-Nazi teenagers killed 25 of their classmates.

Goths have a huge following among British teenagers who dress in black and revel in looking pale and gaunt."

But this long article furthers the accusation between Manson and murder. As discussed earlier the columbine murderers were neither goths nor were they Manson fans really.

SHOCK ROCK

BYLINE: GRACE MCLEAN; JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK

DAILY MAIL January 22, 2005 SECTION: ED_SC1; Pg. 15

ROCK star Marilyn Manson's influence on teenagers has already been blamed for several murders across the world. Now Jodi Jones's name may be added to that list.

While the question of any link between Jodi's death and Manson's fascination with the notorious Black Dahlia Murder remained the subject of intense debate in court, it is clear the two crimes bore chilling similarities.

As they came to interview Luke Mitchell, detectives made the connection almost at once. They believe he became fascinated with the 1947 Los Angeles murder after Manson painted a series of gruesome watercolour paintings of actress Elizabeth Short's dismembered body.


Jodi's face was slit from just below her mouth, across the cheek almost to her ear. Similar injuries were found on both sides of Miss Short's face.

Jodi also suffered a terrible knife injury to one breast. In Miss Short's case, part of her breast was removed and, police believe, kept as a souvenir by her killer.

Miss Short's killer cut her in two across the middle. Jodi also suffered terrible wounds to her abdomen probably inflicted after death although there was no apparent attempt to dismember her.

Post-mortem pictures of Miss Short were depicted in a catalogue of paintmannequinings by Marilyn Manson. The possible link with Jodi's death was established when detectives raided Mitchell's home and found that he was a fan of the star.

Manson's name was scrawled across Mitchell's school jotters, and two days after Jodi's death he bought a DVD and CD package containing a short film made by Manson called Doppelherz. It featured images of a young girl lying naked on open ground and of two girls in corsets bound together in the woods with bags over their heads.

A police source said: 'We very quickly made the connection between Mitchell's obsession with Manson and the murder of Elizabeth Short. Jodi's injuries were so similar it was frightening.

' Mitchell was absolutely obsessed by Manson and the violence surrounding his work.' Born in Massachusetts, Elizabeth Short had came to Hollywood in August 1946 to try her luck in the film business.

It was two months earlier, while living in Southern California, that the nickname the Black Dahlia was born at a corner drugstore she used to frequent. It was a play on the recently released film noir The Blue Dahlia, starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.

ON January 15, 1947, Betty Bersinger caught a glimpse of something in a vacant lot which looked like a broken mannequin. As she grew closer, she realised the body was human and called police.

It was the most sickening thing the officers had ever seen. The dead woman seemed posed, lying on her back with her arms raised over her shoulders. She had been cut in half at the waist.

Her face and body had been slashed viciously, with cuts running from both edges of her mouth to the ears. Rope marks were also found on her neck.

The 22-year-old was identified from her fingerprints as details of the case spread across America, gripping much of the country with morbid fascination.

At least three men made false confessions.

In a book written by a childhood friend of the victim, filmmaker Orson Welles was even suggested as a suspect because an unused set from his 1948 movie The Lady from Shanghai was decorated with female body parts, including a face mutilated like Miss Short's and a body cut in half.

Meanwhile, police believed the real killer was taunting them. They received items belonging to the victim in the post and, later, notes which said: 'Catch me if you can.' Some detectives came to believe it was the perfect murder because of the lack of hard evidence.

Police officers in the Jodi Jones case think Mitchell, too, believed he had committed the perfect murder. One detective said: 'He thought he had got clean away with it that the case was too circumstantial for him to go down.' Today interest in the Black Dahlia murder is as keen as ever and it is in no small measure due to death metal stars such as Marilyn Manson peddling the horrors of the case almost as if they were something to be celebrated.

Commenting on the infamous murder, Manson once said: 'The crime was never solved and I've been obsessed with it since I was very young. The first picture, A Smile I, is how she came to Hollywood with hopes of becoming famous.

'The second, A Smile II, is how she was left, in a sad way, very famous. I think this is one of my best pieces. So I hope no one buys it, cos I really don't want to lose it.' Filming of a new movie about the Black Dahlia murder, starring Josh Hartnett, Mark Wahlberg and Scarlett Johansson, is due to start in March and there is even a U.S heavy metal band which calls itself The Black Dahlia Murder.

In 2002 they devoted a whole album to Miss Short's murder. It contains lyrics which would appal most yet their audiences are largely impressionable, often confused teenagers.

One song has the lines: 'And in my dreams I cut your mouth from ear to ear/Dissecting your angelic body in the quiet of your room/ 'How splendidly I carve into your tender heart/I'm shuddering between the sheets.' The same song has the lyrics: 'As I caress your perfection/My angel, I'll tear your insides out.' AS for Manson whose name is a combination of Marilyn Monroe and killer Charles Manson his Satanic lyrics and disturbing videos were once blamed for the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, when two teenagers went on the rampage, killing 25 classmates.

Manson argues his name was wrongly linked with the crime on the basis of erroneous early news reports on the massacre which said the killers were wearing Marilyn Manson T-shirts.

Five years ago, his lyrics are also said to have inspired three teenage girls identified only as 16-year-old Milena, Ambra, 17, and Veronica, 17, to stab the 61- year- old Mother Superior who had taught them at their school in Italy.

Police found the girls were obsessive fans of the singer, their school diaries were scrawled with Manson's lyrics and they had made a pact to worship the Devil.

Responding to criticism over the murder, Manson said: 'You can find inspiration for man's behaviour wherever you look. I think people have to take responsibility for their own actions. I don't think I have ever tried to create things to encourage people to hurt others, or themselves.' He claimed his stage show helps teenagers release their pent-up aggression, rather than encouraging violence in their everyday lives.

' These kids are getting out everything that they can't get out the rest of the week the rest of the year. That's a catharsis for them, that's what rock'n'roll's supposed to be.' With his name now inextricably linked with the Jodi Jones murder trial, parents may well wonder i f Manson's peddling of the grotesque to teenagers really is a welcome catharsis or a potential trigger for slaughter

This article by MELANIE PHILLIPS is shockingly blatant in its attempt to link drug use to goth culture. Drug use is rife right across British youth of all types not just goths, plu I seriously doubt that there statistically any more goths from broken homes than any other group:

Cannabis caused a 14-year-old to kill. Yet still they say it's harmless

BYLINE: MELANIE PHILLIPS

DAILY MAIL February 14, 2005

With websites now dedicated to Mitchell, too, there are fears that a disturbed young person might try yet another copycat murder. Such fears are hardly groundless.

In 1999, the killings in America at Columbine High School in Denver were committed by two young Manson fans.

What we are facing now among a section of our young people is a terrifying breakdown of the bonds not just of socialisation but of civilisation itself.

This is the result of a number of ruinous changes in our society - in which the growing acceptability of drugs is a significant part.

For these young people, the moral obligation to accept the difference between right and wrong has disintegrated. From all sides, they are bombarded by the message that the only thing that matters is their own pleasure and gratification.

Duty, responsibility, shame and stigma have all but evaporated. Difficulty, pain or failure are viewed as assaults on their right to be happy. What trumps everything else is the need to protect their feelings. Instead of providing boundaries to give young people the security that is vital for emotional health, the adult world has simply abandoned them.

Family disintegration shatters their sense of themselves, schools leave them floundering in their own ignorance and immaturity, and the commercial world exploits and encourages their premature sexualisation.

It is among these rising numbers of confused, unhappy or disturbed children that the 'Goth rock' cult of satanism, self-harm and nihilism principally has its lethal appeal.

Daily Mail - Legacy of Distortion Part I

Giving the Mail recent statement claims they are unbiased and gives fair coverage over all. I decided to look back over the years to see if the Mail's tendency to distort the truth noticeable in two recent articles was noticeable elsewhere. It is interesting to note that the Mail did give good coverage to the Sophie Lancaster case highlighting the prejudice of the attackers to some extent. It is odd they should then follow up that with their articles on Emo.

This even seems more odd when you see this article from their sister paper on My Chemical Romance:

Mail on Sunday March 25, 2007 Sunday

Who said Romance was dead? BYLINE: TIM DE LISLE

For years, the generation gap has been narrowing.

Students listen to the gently rousing sound of Snow Patrol and so do their parents. Girls and their mothers read the same celebrity rags and sing along to Scissor Sisters. But now a band from New Jersey threaten to reopen the great divide.

My Chemical Romance are loud, dark, heavily made-up and suddenly popular.

They have even been accused of leading a cult of self-harm, although the evidence is slight. The subject of self-harm does crop up in chatrooms populated by the band's fans but they can hardly be blamed for that and their response has been clear enough: 'We do not encourage self-harm.' They frighten some parents, but others are here with their children, and some older people are even here of their own accord. Behind me, two men are reminiscing about a gig by The Damned in 1976.

My Chemical Romance are not so much objectionable as puzzlingly hard to place not quite punk, not quite emo, not quite metal. At last summer's Reading Festival they were pelted with bottles by fans of the veteran death-metal band Slayer. This delighted My Chemical Romance, who pride themselves on being outsiders.

This is bizzare. Note De Lisle who clearly has some idea of what is talking about points out that:

1 - De Lisle notes MCR do not advocate self-harm in anyway and says: "the evidence is slight". NOTE in 2007 the evidence "cult of self-harm" is slight but in 2008 it is suddnly definate.
2 - It points out the band may or may not be Emo.... as a lot of MCR fans claim. So if there is doubt about their status as a emo band in 2007 why in 2008 are they suddenly definitely Emo leaders of a suicide cult?

Not so long ago of course it was not Emos who were the problem:

Young 'Goths' are a suicide risk: Report reveals darker side of teenage culture

BYLINE: JENNY HOPE

Daily Mail (London)April 14, 2006 Friday

TEENAGE 'Goths' who like to dress in black and listen to morbid rock music are more likely to attempt suicide, it was revealed yesterday. A study of Scots youngsters found those attracted to the dramatic black makeup and pasty, white faces of the Goths often showed a deep melancholic streak. They had alarmingly high levels of mental health problems and were more likely to harm themselves or attempt to take their own lives than members of any other youth subculture... Lead researcher Robert Young said: 'Although only fairly small numbers of young people identify themselves as Goths, their rates of self-harm and attempted suicide are very high.

'One common suggestion is that they may be copying their icons or peers but our study found that more reported self-harm before becoming a Goth, rather than after which suggests that youngsters with a tendency to selfharm are attracted to the subculture.'... Goths acquired a violent reputation after songs and art by the group's rock hero Marilyn Manson were linked to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, in which 13 were shot dead, and also to the murder of 14-year-old Jodi Jones in Dalkeith, Midlothian, in 2003.

Covering the infamous study on suicidal tendencies we have mentioned before the article does at strive to give a balanced view and I think it is fair reporting whatever we think of the study. But it include references to earlier cases which will come to shortly.

The Suicide of Carina Stephenson

This suicide attracted much media attention because the girl was in a reality TV programme. But was her love of Marilyn Manson involved perhaps according to these Mail stories?

I was devastated that our lovely, funny girl decided to die in such a lonely way. You may feel close to your children, but there are always things you'll never know

BYLINE: ANGELLA JOHNSON
Mail on Sunday (London)

September 11, 2005
SECTION: FB_04; Pg. 28
Carina had a taste for Goth music which typically glorifies death and mutilation. One favourite was Marilyn Manson, whose songs have been implicated in other teenage suicides.

Liz said: 'I had no idea of the kind of grim messages she was brainwashing herself with through her headphones. I think she just got locked into a web of misery. Instead of sharing her pain with people around her, she sought out likeminded and vulnerable teenagers.

There is other coverage:

DAILY MAIL (London)

May 30, 2005

Last month Mail writer David Jones interviewed a close-knit family just back from the latest reality TV experiment. Then came shocking news: their bright 17-year-old daughter had taken her own life. Was reality TV implicated?...

Or perhaps her depression was connected to her fascination with 'goths', a dark subculture which attracts melancholic, introspective youths. A friend revealed yesterday that even before Carina announced that she thought she was gay, she had been bullied and teased for being a 'tomboy' and her love of gothic clothing.

And more:

Carina from The Colony killed herself after bullies taunted her for being a lesbian
Mail on Sunday (London) May 29, 2005

BYLINE: ANGELLA JOHNSON SECTION: FB_04; Pg. 36; Pg. 37

A policeman found her body hanging from a tree two days later, in a wood a few hundred yards away from the family's Pounds 400,000 self-built home in Branton, near Doncaster. She left two suicide notes. One clue to her state of mind may come from Laura Howden, 15, who had befriended Carina at Armthorpe Comprehensive School near Doncaster.

She told The Mail on Sunday that even before Carina revealed she thought she was gay, she had been bullied and teased for being a tomboy and her love of 'Goth'-style clothing. 'I used to go into dinner at school with her and because she was often on her own I kept her company during breaks,' said Laura. 'She was not really interested in boys. She concentrated on her schoolwork and kept everything to herself. She was taunted at school that she was a lesbian. Other girls would call her "lesbo" or "gay girl" and she got really upset about it.

'At one point she spent a lot of time off because of the bullying while it was being sorted out. But despite what had happened at school the news of her death still came as a shock. She was someone you could really get along with. I never thought she would do that.'

So this seems to be another case bullicide interconnected to homophobia and anti-goth prejudice. Even raising the Manson connection seems irrelevant. Interesting to note that Manson and MCR had a falling out a few years ago. They have one thing in common the Daily Mail hates both of them

EMO/MCR March - "Annoymous" vs MCR

It seems to have been successful with lots of coverage and portrayed a positive view of MCR fans successfully.

Ok much of the general media coverage of was not in depth but youtube has provided some real gems. The most amazing thing is that some peopl who may have been from Anonymous the internet group that was behind the hoax videos actually turned up to the protest. (They are in the Guy Fawkes/ V masks) They turned out surprise to be a bunch of geeks... and were heavily outnumbered and they lost the argument as you see here. Wow this looks lots of fun!! Teenage girls versus geeks what did you think would happen?

At the end of day various b-tards (frequenters of an online forum 4chan) have long found it amusing to spam commemoration message boards for suicides usually celebrating the death. This is not only in poor taste but may influence others to kill themselves. While many anon symphasiers don't care simply looking for lulz others think it is wrong. Of course Anonymous is an anarchistic mess so it is not surprising they cannot agree about things. [Since writing this I discovered that the faction attacking the march are mainly in fact from PartyVan this "is a sub of Ebaums, the enemy of the chans." You can found out more about anon internal poltics here and about the mass trolling on MCR websites. No wonder tempers flared.]

There are signs the so called pro-suicide comments picked up by the media on such boards are not by real emos or MCR fans but are by various b-tards trolling. And as we know academic studies have demonstrated that media sensationalism is definitely linked to suicide clusters so anonymous have played their part in building up problems like the Bridgend suicide cluster which if you remember was blammed on the Internet. Which is doubly ironic of course as some of Anonymous accusations against Scientology focus on their links with strange deaths and suicides.

Anyway be any conventional standards if you compare all this confusion with the stance by MCR fans and the band who all agree suicide is wrong and have put out consistently anti-suicide message then "Anonymous" come out looking bad. But that is not an issue really :)

Besides all the fun of the march there is a dark question. This is a serious issue. Has this march trivialised it or not? There has been some good coverage but at the end of the day the Daily Mail stands firm.

Sarah Sands, the emo's old enemy from 2006 appeared in The Independent trotting out the usual nonsense a few days ago:

How to turn an emo into a fitness fanatic

A couple of years ago, I wrote about the dreariness of emos. I thought song titles such as "Dead!" or "Cancer!" were not very life-enhancing. US band Adam and Andrew have a witty take: "When I get depressed I cut my wrists in every direction/ Hearing songs about getting dumped gives me an erection." The emos, forceful, even if they look as if they live in coffins, have railed against anti-emoism, and yesterday they went on a march.

Emo culture is self-dramatising and self-pitying. If we tell them they are wonderful, they will give up white skins and dark clothes and take up hockey.

Sarah Sands: It's a great plot: two novelists under one roof
Independent

This issue is far too important to be left to die. I hope the activism of MCR and emos takes firm roots.

Another good video of the day here from AudiojunkiesTV discusses the groups present:

A Sing along to MCR not really a dangerous cult I think.

"Emo" March - First Coverage - Daily Mail responds

Emo runs high as fans defend band against Daily Mail
guardian.co.uk, UK

Fans of My Chemical Romance came from all over the country but the atmosphere was more carnival fairground than protest. Photograph: Anna Gordon

There are few things that would drag a typical teenager out of bed early on a Saturday morning, but defending the honour of a beloved band from tabloid attacks is probably one of them.

Around 100 My Chemical Romance fans had already gathered at Marble Arch, in central London, by 10.30 this morning - not bad given that organisers had given the protest a 12-hour window, of 10am to 10pm, and that there was a last minute change of venue.

The fans were objecting to Daily Mail reports describing My Chemical Romance as a "suicide cult band" and linking the recent suicide of a Peckham schoolgirl, Hannah Bond, 13, to the fact that she had started following the band two weeks before her death.

It is a good article but it looks like the size of the march if not the dedication of those involved was not up to expectations. Impressive to se people coming so far. The very harmless nature of those involved underlines the Mail's stupidity.

The Mail's official response looks bland:

EMO: The Daily Mail Responds - Xfm The Daily Mail have finally made a statement:

"

The Daily Mail’s coverage of the “Emo” movement has been balanced,
restrained and above all, in the public interest.

Genuine concerns were raised at the inquest earlier this month on 13
year old Emo follower Hannah Bond who had been self-harming and then
tragically killed herself.

The Coroner found " the Emo overtones concerning death and associating
it with glamour very disturbing."

Her mother had told the inquest that Hannah had been obsessed with My
Chemical Romance whose hit number one on their last album was called The
Black Parade.

Mrs Bond told the court ;"In Emo it is a very glamorous death to hang
yourself. The band she was into, the music she was into-the whole thing
is based on the black parade which is all about dying. "She called Emo a
fashion and I thought it was normal. I didn't know about the cuts." Her
father said he had seen cuts on her wrists and his daughter had told him
they “ were an Emo initiation.”

In common with other newspapers we ran an accurate news story recording
the Coroner's remarks and the parents' comments. We also published two
other articles, one of which explained the background to the Hannah
tragedy in calm and un-sensational language.

The other was a first person opinion piece by a well-known writer,
written from the perspective of a mother concerned for her children.

We have also run two prominent page lead letters from an Emo music fan
and from a fan of My Chemical Romance defending their point of view. Our
music critic admires the music of the band and publicised the band’s UK
tour last year.

Since this protest was announced a great deal of misinformation has
appeared on the internet, much of which confuses what the Daily Mail has
actually published with the comments of web site readers and “blogs”
over which we have no control and which have stirred up emotions.

We note it has been pointed out by others that all this provides
wonderful publicity for Warners and their impending release of My
Chemical Romance's latest album.

The Daily Mail is a broad church and is always ready to listen to the
views of readers. We do, however, suggest those who want to protest or
comment read everything we have published and act on fact not rumour."

The fact is the Daily Mail published articles which were prejudiced and unbalanced. Remember too the band and their company have done nothing to exploit the situation for publicity this was all down to the fans.

There was also a good earlier article interviewing the organizer:

Exclusive: Emo March Organiser And More Stars Speak Out - Xfm

More here:
Black Parade of teen angst
Irish Independent, Ireland

March against the Mail today

The march/gathering has moved location looks like the police would not accept it being direcly outside the Mail. See here.

The publicity surrounding the march has resulted in a few articles. The BBC has looked into the problem:

Rock cult or nice kids that do their homework?
BBC News, UK -29 May 2008

As she knuckles down to prepare for her A-level exams, Kate Ashford, 17, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, offers a less sinister explanation for the appeal of MCR.

The theatrical angst and drama of emo is, she suggests, no more than an outlet for a generation creaking under the weight of social expectation.

"Being a teenager has got to be so much more difficult these days," Kate says. "There's a lot more exams and pressure to get into university.

"Listening to a band like MCR is a cathartic thing. And I suppose emo style is meant to be about standing out, looking different - even if all the other emo kids are dressed the same as you."

Matthew Hirons, a 22-year-old web developer from Stourport-on-Severn, is even more phlegmatic. He suggests that the critics take the music far more seriously than the fans.

"People say emo is all about depression and suicide," he says. "But I'm a happy person. I've got a girlfriend and a good job. I just like the music and the fashion.

"I think anyone over 25 will find it hard to understand what it's all about. Even I'm a bit past it for an emo, to be honest."

The Times article is far better however with a wideranging article on the problems of emos in South America. But why no mention of emo attacks in the UK?

Emo kids are under attack.
Times Online, UK - 29 May 2008

Coincidentally, Mexico is one country that has recently experienced a wave of antiemo attacks. The emo cult is growing throughout Latin America, and its followers are regularly subjected to abuse, prejudice and even violent attack. They are seen as homosexual, antisocial poseurs, weird and fanatical. In March antiemo attacks swept through Mexico.

On March 7 a mob of 800 in the city of Queretaro went looking for emos to beat up. On March 15, a silent march against the attacks, organised by a gay rights group, was staged in the same city.

In Chile there are reports of skin-heads attacking emo kids. In São Paulo, Brazil, emo teenagers report regular attacks, especially in the city’s poorer Eastern suburbs. In Lima, Peru, a gang of anarchist punks recently attacked emos, kidnapping one who was kicked and punched before he was rescued.

For South American emos, the appeal is more about identity, means of expression, and style. Especially for those in the continent’s enormous urban sprawls, where the increasing economic boom means that families have internet and cable television but where there are few outlets for increasingly sophisticated teenage youth.

This is clear in the shabby, nondescript Galeria Brasil in Lima, situated on the edge of the city’s drab, grimy, suburban sprawl. It’s one of Peru’s most famous destinations for rock fans. But this grubby concrete mall, with its CD and T-shirt shops, looks like a Hackney tower block. Teenagers idle out their afternoons playing out-of-date video games for 25p an hour. Looking around, it’s easy to see why a cult about teenage identity and isolation might spread so quickly.

Jimmy Carrillo, a Peruvian TV reporter, profiled emos recently. “The emo movement is very strong here in Lima,” he says. “It’s a new movement. It’s very colourful, weird, very estranged from other movements.” Emo is gaining ground in poorer, transitional barrios such as Villa El Salvador and Los Olivos, where people are open to the influence of American rock and MTV. But the prejudice against the perceived homosexuality of emos runs deep. “This is a very macho country. So homosexuality is taboo,” Carrillo says. Anarcho punks particularly hate them. “They hate homosexuals. And they look at the emos as people who stole ideas and music. It’s a double punch.”

Junior Medina, 20, is a singer in Lima’s hottest emo band Ediana. “We are called gays, queers, pussies, faggots,” he says. “The lyrics are one cause, because they are romantic, about heartbreak.” Their followers are accused of being poseurs. “Emos are more concerned about the way they look,” Medina says, fiddling with his floppy fringe.

Yet Latin American emos are fighting back. In March Medina took part in a studio debate for the Peruvian TV chat show Enemigos Intimos, in which emos were heavily satirised. “That was fake,” he says. Realising some of the other emo participants were imposters, he waited until 1am, and filmed two of the vacant emo teenagers – actually channel employees – leaving work. Medina posted the video on YouTube. The national newspaper El Comercio ran an exposé and the show’s producers were forced to apologise.

“Emo isn’t emotional, it’s just queer,” is a popular saying among fashionable youth in Brazil’s most style-conscious city, São Paulo. When the cult hit the city in 2006, homemade “comedy” videos appeared on YouTube showing how to lynch an emo.

The assumption among many Brazilians is that emos are gay, unsociable, and self-centred – none of which goes down well in this conservative, sociable country. Victor Sousa, 20, is a former emo and he encountered plenty of prejudice, he says. “The homosexual prejudice is unfair. People say that, but it isn’t true for everyone.”

Typical of emo’s critics is Ligia Terceira, 30, a salesperson in Shopping Tatuapé, a vast, hectic mall in Zona Leste, São Paulo, where many emos gather and where many are attacked. “Many of them look like homosexuals,” he says. “It seems they don’t like people. They exclude themselves from society. They have closed minds; they’re radical and fanatical.”

More tributes to Sophie

Kevin Bullock and his wife, Michelle, who are landlords of The Appleby, in Grange Street, have already sold more than 200 SOPHIE (Stamp Out Prejudice Hate Intolerance Everywhere) wristbands in memory of goth Sophie Lancaster.

The couple travelled to the Whitby Goth Weekend in April, and attended a dedication bench ceremony for the tragic 20-year-old, where the wristbands were being sold. They brought 400 home to Burton in a bid to help raise money for Miss Lancaster's family to celebrate Sophie's life and also help fund group sessions with young people to teach them about alternative cultures and to respect everyone.

A helpline is also being set up to combat hate crime. The campaign has so fa raised more than £6,000.

Miss Lancaster and her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, were attacked in August last year as they walked through Stubbylee Park, in Bacup, Rossendale, Lancashire.

While Mr Maltby recovered, his girlfriend slipped into a coma as a result of her head injuries and later died. Police said the attack may have been provoked by the couple wearing 'gothic' fashion. Two teenagers were jailed for life for her murder earlier this year.

Mr Bullock said: "We have sold more than 200 in just two weeks, so that says how strongly people feel about the circumstances of her death. Sophie was a goth, just like a lot of our customers are, and she was murdered because of how she looked.

Offering support after Sophie murder
Burton Mail, UK

Second interview with Robert Maltby

Very interesting interview with Robert Maltby indeed at Vice Magazine. Some extracts below but read the complete interview as well. Vice Magazine comments at the beginning that:

Because the media feels the need to simplify every story to the point that a five-year-old should feel his or her intelligence insulted, it was decided that the couple got jumped because they were slightly goth-looking. And so the whole thing turned into a weird "Do goth kids deserve rights?" debate instead of the sincere moment of "Holy shit, when did our nation's youth turn into the real version of Clockwork Orange only way dumber and scarier?"-type reflection it should have been. In his only interview aside from one done for the BBC shortly after the attacks, we talked to Robert about the real nature of the attack, as well as his thoughts on the high-profile trial which just ended with two of the assailants being sentenced to life...

In fact it was the police who first attributed the attack to their appearance. Many newspapers played down this angle. It was generally the alternative community who saw it as being involved in prejudice in discussions online from the beginning

LONDON - ROBERT MALTBY IS NOT GOTH (BUT THE KIDS WHO STOMPED HIM ARE FERAL MONSTERS)

VICE: The tabloids said that you and Sophie were attacked for being Goths. Is that what happened?
Robert Maltby: I was more interested in the whole goth thing when I was about fifteen and wore black lipstick. I’d get shit then. I think I could cope with it a bit better when I was a big fat goth as I felt there was a reason for it. When I was attacked I wasn’t really dressed that goth.

What were you wearing?
Blue jeans and a green hoodie. Sophie wasn’t dressed outrageously either. She had a lot of piercings: over twenty in her ears, as well as a few facial, nipple, and belly button piercings.

So you don’t think they attacked you because of how you were dressed?
I believe what was originally said was “Let’s get the moshers!” They just needed some kind of excuse to the beat shit out of us. I think it’s more about the kind of person that attacked us.

He also says:

Did you not have to attend as a witness?
No. I was pretty useless to the Prosecution as I don’t remember anything. I was going to go to the sentencing, but I heard that a bunch of Goths were going to congregate outside the courthouse. I didn’t like that at all.

Did they all go in the end?
Yes. I think about 50 Goths ended up there.

Despit Robert's disquiet about the prejudice angle. It is interesting to note:

How did you feel about the verdict?
I was really happy. I didn’t think that they were going to get anywhere near the sentences they got. The police weren’t expecting them to get the amount of time they are going to serve.

In fact one of the reasons for the severity of the sentence is the judge decided it was a hate crime (although it was not one strictly under the definition) . In law hate crimes mandate a more severe sentence thus he used his discretion to go for the maximum tarriff. Whether or not Robert feels he crime was motivated by prejudice the judge did hence the longer sentence.

Basically this blog shows such prejudice does exist and it does trigger violence. What is interesting about the violence we are talking about it is that it is triggered by differences of all kinds whether racial or being disabled or even simply defying yobs. Any violence can be trigger just being a mosher. Society as a whole has a problem this sort of hatred is perhaps one symptom.

Anyway the interview is very interesting I only hope Robert feels better at some point.

Sophie Lancaster's dad in tattoo tribute

Sophie's dad in tattoo tribute
The Sun, UK - May 28th
By GUY PATRICK

THE anguished dad of Goth murder girl Sophie Lancaster has made sure she is always close to his heart - by having a tattoo of her face on his chest.

John Lancaster, 45, came up with the idea of having her features etched on to his left breast after attending a Goth Day in her honour.

And last night he said: "I wanted to have a permanent picture of Sophie put there. It will help me to remember her lovely smile."

Tragic Sophie, 20, was kicked and battered to death by a group of yobs - just because she was a Goth...

Father has Sophie tattoo over his heart
Fleetwood Today, UK - 29th May
The father of Lancashire Goth student Sophie Lancaster has shown his affection for his daughter by having a tattoo of her face over his heart. ...

Expert study shows how accusations of being "emo" are tied to being bullied

Survey finds as many as half of children are victims of peer abuse ...
Akron Beacon Journal, OH

A survey by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry discovered that as many as half of all children are bullied at some time during their school years, and at least 10 percent are bullied on a regular basis.

Amanda Brace and Rachel Vitale, who developed a program last year to prevent cyber-bullying, said kids often learn such adverse behavior from their mothers. They watch how she interacts with her friends. But, of course, there's also that middle-school culture that can lend itself to relational aggression.

''There is a lot of independence seeking at this age,'' explained Brace. ''There have always been mean girls, but I think it's just coming to a head now.''

A Stark County 13-year-old shared her story about being falsely identified as ''emo.'' Loosely defined, people who consider themselves emo often wear black clothes, tight jeans, huge bangs and black eye makeup. Hardcore emos are depressed and may even cut themselves. An abbreviation for ''emotive hardcore,'' emo also is a certain genre of music.

''I am often bullied for being different. My hair is cut differently on each side and I like to wear black,'' the teen explained. ''Anyone who calls me that is too busy being a bully to realize that I am almost always happy.''

Sometimes, the name-calling gets carried away. A seventh-grader from Summit County said she was physically pushed around after being accused of being both a lesbian and emo.

''They would write things on my locker, shove me into the walls, and block my locker so I would be late for class,'' explained the young teen. ''They also slapped me in the face one time.''

Both girls are part of the Beacon Journal's Kid's Group, a team of 12- to 18-year-olds who are helping us define and tell stories affecting teens. Because they are victims, we elected not to identify them.

March against the Mail - other band back My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance's official statement:

We have recently learned of the suicide and tragic loss of Hannah Bond. We’d like to send our condolences to her family during this time of mourning. Our hearts and thoughts are with them.

My Chemical Romance are and always have been vocally anti-violence and anti-suicide. As a band, we have always made it one of our missions through our actions to provide comfort, support, and solace to our fans. The message and theme of our album “The Black Parade” is hope and courage. Our lyrics are about finding the strength to keep living through pain and hard times. The last song on our album states: “I am not afraid to keep on living” - a sentiment that embodies the band’s position on hardships we all face as human beings. If you or anyone that you know have feelings of depression or suicide, we urge you to find your way and your voice to deal with these feelings positively.

My Chemical Romance speak about 'emo' suicide

Following this a variety of other bands have backed them:

Exclusive: Stars Hit Back At Emo Scapegoating

Ahead of this Saturday's (May 31) protest march, Elbow's Guy Garvey, Kate Nash and The Pigeon Detectives have come out in support of emo and all forms of music after the genre was scapegoated in the pages of the tabloids.

NME are doing good reports on this including one on the story we highlighted:

My Chemical Romance march hit by 'internet terrorists'

The Mail's pitiful journalism is lambasted in this US article:
The Big Hurt: Pied-pipers lead innocent teens to emo cult Valhalla!
The Phoenix, MA

Goths/emos arrested for school dress code violation

Another chapter in long tradition of school dress code protests in the USA. Arresting people for a dress code violation seems harsh to say the least. That can't be right surely.

School fashion protest leads to arrests
The Columbian, WA - 26 May 2008

In the past two weeks, four eighth-grade boys have been arrested and charged with misdemeanors for leading protests against the school’s dress code. About 20 more students have been suspended.

Parents of those students are wondering whether this tough-love approach has gone too far — the dress code, after all, was implemented to curb bad behavior.

Amy Proffer, whose son, Joey, was among those arrested, said she was upset that the principal allowed police to question her 14-year-old son without calling her.

“I was concerned that the officer was taking a statement from my child,” Proffer said. “They told me that they have a right to question him without a parent because he’s over the age of 12.”

The dress code, dubbed “Mac attire,” was implemented at the start of the school year after a parent vote of approval. Proffer voted against it.

Principal Rich Reeves referred reporter calls to Vancouver Public Schools spokeswoman Kris Sork, who said the district stands by Reeves’ decision to call the police.

“I don’t dare talk about the specific case,” Sork said, citing educational privacy laws. “It was investigated by Mike Stromme (director of secondary education), who found that it was all absolutely appropriate.”

Events unfold

The frustration over Mac attire took root the afternoon before the lunch protest, at a Fort Vancouver High School track meet.

According to student and police accounts, several eighth-graders were playing in the grass, turning somersaults and using crass language when an assistant principal from their school approached. She told them to knock it off.

The next morning, one of the boys received a letter saying he wouldn’t be allowed to partake in any more after-school functions through the end of the school year.

That boy, Sam Ruble, said he nearly started crying. He’s a wiry boy with long side bangs and a flair for the dramatic. Sam, 14, said that he was upset because his alternative rock band had been planning to perform after school next month.

The next day at lunch, the boys fumed. They were angry at administrators about their punishment, and that gave way to conversations about the dress code, which they said crimps their style.

By the end of the lunch period, a decision had been made: They would protest the dress code.

“What made us angry at first was barely a protestable issue,” Sam said. “But we realized that many people understand the dress code cause, and we decided that we were long overdue for a dress code protest.”

They wanted to show off their “randomness,” student Desirea Allen said later. They wanted to draw on their jeans and wear the colors of their choice. They acknowledge that they’ve been able to show off their personalities in spite of the dress code, which allows them to dye their hair any color and write on their shoes.

They believed they would be allowed to protest: Desirea, 13, had checked her student handbook, which states students may express themselves so long as it’s “not disruptive to other individuals or to the educational process.”

Their ranks grew to about 20 students.

Most involved call their style “emo” or “goth,” a look that tends toward black jeans and thick eyeliner.... read more

In our view: School's uniform test is worthwhie
The Columbian, WA - 6 hours ago
For a learning environment, Mac Attire beats baggy-pants, the “emo” or “goth” look, exposed midriffs and visible underwear that some students prefer. ...

Guardian - on The Devonshire Arms

Rather bizarre article on the changes in The Dev in Camden which we covered here [Camden Fire - Aftermath] earlier:

Cocktail girl
guardian.co.uk, UK - 26 May 2008

Why?

Because the Hobgoblin-Devonshire Arms is the focus of a Great Goth Controversy. Until recently the Hobgoblin was called the Devonshire Arms - or simply 'the Dev'. It was a gloomy, forlorn establishment situated just round the back of Camden Market in north London, a road down from the rowdier (and following the Great Fire of Camden, more singed) Hawley Arms. It styled itself Camden's premier Alternative Destination, and operated a strict Goths-only door policy. Non-Goths were not welcome, so I never went in.

In summary: you were too scared to go in.

No! In summary: The Dev was stricter than your average super-elitist members bar with its door policy; indeed, when a colleague tried to arrange a photoshoot inside the pub, the management turned her down flat, insisting: 'the Dev is a refuge for Goths'. Imagine, then, the outcry when new management arrived early in 2008, tweaked the Dev's name, implemented a £6,000 refurb and (eek!) relaxed the Goth-only policy. The Goths were not amused. But my friend and compadre in columns Lairy Jon and I were pleased. Now we could get an entrée on this demimonde! Or - whatever's left of it.

So it had a dress code... Shock!!! There are loads of places with a dress code many block alternative dress or blue jeans - fair enough its the management's choice all entirely legal. And why should a pub open its doors to the media if the management does not want too exactly? The Dev was not "super elitist" any more than the average town nnigh club was. All you needed was some black or dark clothing.

Hoax videos have own website!!

The complex intrigue surrounding the hoax march videos is remarkable. They have even put up an an entire duplicate website to host their videos mimicking the official one almost exactly.

Make sure you only use the official site www.whatthefrank.co.uk or the youtube official site www.youtube.com/whattheffrank .

Who is going to such lengths to discredit a harmless and fully legal protest march?

March to have large turnout

Latest reports from the NME indicate the march is gathering support:

My Chemical Romance march 'aiming for 1000 protestors'
NME.com, UK 23 May 2008

Explaining that the march is "100% for My Chemical Romance" rather than emo music in general, Smith said: "The [Daily Mail's] words 'suicide cult' really stand out for me, because it's just so far from the truth. As a fanbase it's such an insult 'cause we fight so hard and so many of us suffer from depression, and we fight everyday to ward it off.

"The way [many teenagers are] fighting it is with My Chemical Romance's help and it's just such an insult to tell us that the last thing we have to hold on to and the last thing that's keeping us alive is killing us, because it's not."

Smith directly attacked the Daily Mail's suggestion that the emo group promotes suicide and self-harm, saying: "My Chemical Romance is my whole life and I take it very seriously, but at the same time the message that we're taking seriously isn't about death and how you should die and killing yourself and all that, it's about how you should love life and experience every moment that you can."

The march, set to begin at Hyde Park's West Pond in central London, takes place on the afternoon of May 31.

In an example of decent reporting the Western Mail talked to a Welsh MCR fan who is clearly not suicidal. Once again fake media reports are linked with bullying as well by somon who would know:

Sophie Brown, 14, from Llandybie, writes from a teenage perspective

ALOT of teenagers want to grow up too quickly these days. It isn’t healthy. You hear so much about pregnancies and underage sex. And then there’s the whole issue of teen suicides.

Recently, a coroner linked the death of Hannah Bond in Kent with her liking for Emo music.

But, in my view, that’s an easy scapegoat. People make their own choices and would not simply do something of that magnitude because a song told them to.

Suicide is a serious decision. It may even be an insult to victims to say their death was due to the music they listened to.

In reports of Hannah’s inquest, Emo was described as a “suicide cult”, followed by a brief description of “what Emo fans look like”. This included black hair, wristbands and black clothes – a description which did not help with bullying problems I have endured.

I spoke to my mother about washing the black out of my hair but she asked if I was doing it because of what people said. We both realised I should stand up for myself and not give in.

Yet it is the idea that self-harm is an important part of the Emo culture which I find most annoying.

Emo culture has come to play a part in music, fashion and – consequently – bullying. But it started off very differently.

In late 20th century America, boys who let their emotions show, who wore their hearts on their sleeves, were “Emo” – short for Emotional Rock.

In the family tree of music, Emo branched off from punk.

And at the turn of the Millennium, Emo began making its way to the UK. It picked up fans slowly until two bands changed everything – My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy.

Fans of the former seemed full of raw emotion while Fall Out Boy fans seemed more about bright colours and complicated, heartfelt lyrics.

Emo music is about expressing yourself in many ways and standing up for your beliefs and choices. It is not about cutting yourself to pieces. The media did a lot of harm by saying that.

Wearing black doesn’t make people depressed and being Emo doesn’t mean self-harming, being gay or being suicidal, which is what many people think.

After these reports, many adults turned against Emo bands, as well as social networking sites, which have been unfairly linked with youth suicides lately.

My sister and I used to use the Bebo site but we have had to delete our profiles because my parents believe it plays a part in bullying. They don’t like social networking sites. I disagree. I miss Bebo a lot. It may be addictive, but at the end of the day it’s just like free texting.

Last week, I had a letter about Emo culture published in a London newspaper and since then more people have been interested in what I have to say.

Generally, you only hear how bad it is from adults who don’t understand, or misunderstand, it.

I want to set the record straight. I want to stand up for it and I won’t let people be blinded with what is sometimes published.

When Emo came under attack, My Chemical Romance lyrics were interpreted as promoting suicide and glamorising death. That was wrong.

The song Famous Last Words, from their Black Parade album, features the lyrics, “I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone”.

hese are very uplifting to me. They are about teenage angst, love and being true to yourself.

Fall Out Boy songs aren’t depressing either. Their writer, Pete Wentz, who is often labelled “the King of Emo”, is an inspirational and successful man who has his own record label and clothing line – not all in black.

In school, Emo children are treated as outcasts. I am among those who has most problems. I’m also the only one with black hair.

But I learnt to hold my head high and stand up for myself, and this was largely down to songs by My Chemical Romance. Similarly, Fall Out Boy lyrics made me want to be more creative.

Never in my mind have I considered suicide. To me that would feel like giving in.

Emo music makes people see that life is not a fairytale, and I think that’s a good thing. I don’t want to be blind to the truth anymore. It simply isn’t fair.

‘Emo’ music is far from a black suicide cult
ic Wales, United Kingdom - May 21, 2008

Conspiracy against the March - Anti-Emo propaganda sinks to new depths

Someone is clearly very worried by the idea of a march on the Daily Mail refuting allegations of suicide connected to Emos and MCR. A very worrying development is the posting of fake videos on youtube which suggest that the march is actually going to be an act of mass suicide. These are clearly quite cleverly constructed and use music from MCR and imagery from the March website. They are designed by someone in an attempt to support the Daily Mail's point of view about Emos and MCR and undermine the protest by saying the march will result in suicide. The most successful video MCRsuicidecult has over 19,381 views far more popular than any of the real videos supporting the march.

Are these videos designed merely as a joke? Why spend so much effort on them then? They use similar language to each other suggesting they are created as part of an organised effort. There at least 6 different videos advocating this "mass suicide" lie all on accounts created in the last few days. It is a deliberate campaign to undermine and attack the march.

You can see one here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-60SpwyogY&feature=related

Who would benefit most if the march was undermined?

It seems unlikely that even the Daily Mail itself would stoop to such a level. But if a story does appear from them suggesting the march will be a mass suicide attempt then it is perhaps possible they may be connected to this.

The most likely culprits however are the many people online who are simply intolerant and prejudiced against emos or MCR and who wish to perpetuate the lie connecting them to suicide and self harm. The best way to fight this is by supporting a real video backing the march.

Like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3d81_cxoyE&feature=related