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According to La Crónica de Hoy, several hundred Mexican heavy metal, "skate punk" and alternative rock fans joined forces last Friday (March 7) in the in the center of Querétaro, Mexico to confront a group of "emos" (followers of the "emo" subculture, which is short for "emotional") who regularly use the city center as a gathering place. Four people were injured and 28 persons were arrested (22 of them minors) when more than a thousand youths clashed in the area of Jardín Guerrero, Plaza de Armas (front of the Government Palace).
Authorities in Mexico are reportedly concerned that similar incidents could happen in other cities, especially Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
An Internet campaign is reportedly being waged to launch attacks against "emos" in other parts of the country, with various web postings portraying emos as "homosexuals" who give a "bad image" to tourists who visit their towns.
Warning: graphic footage
this is really messed up.
Music is supposted to unite people. Anyway.
REALLY ! This is just sick when you think about it.
Tip of the iceberg. I was joking on an earlier post about possible factional rioting at an upcoming Midwestern festival that's gonna feature a mixed bill of country-rock, metal, punk, and alt-rock bands. But this ain't funny.
And it's not all that new a thing - though there was a bit more involved than just their music, look at the Teds, the Mods and the Rockers.
Of course, there's more involved here, too - the choice of music is just one of a set of cultural inmdicators that different groups exhibit.
OMG that is insane!! Though is it really to do with music? Emo seems to be more of an image than a music genre nowadays. At least I can never see what's so "Emo" about some of the "Emo" bands out there.
Insane! And it's quite creepy cause you feel if could happen anyway. Emos hang out in the town centre where I live too.
Wow, this is way a better image to tourist of their country.
^Yeah! Really? Good observation RGM !
Now, wait a minute. Am I to assume that the scruffy, pierced, tattooed runaway/homeless teenagers that lay about Haight Street in S.F. and Decatur Street in NoLa, beg, and annoy passersby should be called "emo" rather than "gutter punks," which has been the widely-accepted label up 'til now?
Depends if they were born in the suburbs, Mike..
sickening.
I see we're not the only country with a fear problem.
This is very sad, but it's a history that goes all the way back. The mods and the rockers, and the punks, and all kinds of other groups have always fought each other. If there was a non-violent group (like the emos seem to be), the violent kids would prey on them. In my day, you had the break-dancers, the punk rockers, the mods, the "socialites", etc., and there were fights from time-to-time, often one group against another (rather than one individual against another).
I wonder how many of the attackers go to the same school as the emos, and know them, and/or their families going back to kindergarten.
I was never much of a joiner (Mog is an exception)..I've never been beat up nor have I have beat anyone else up. It is pretty amazing, cause I have no problem shooting my mouth off.
pinche emo jotos.
I don't think of metal heads as being a violent group - there are so many big metal festivals etc. where there are no problems. But then, they are with their own!
This makes me sad.
awwww. poor emo kids. i kinda like emo kids, most of the ones i know are pretty quiet until they start talking...... then you find out that they are really funny.
PEACE love and music, duh! crazy mexican punks!
It's stuff like this that makes my parents never let me go to metal shows. :-( I mean, not that they can stop me since I'm 19 now, but... things like this just shouldn't happen.
Man... there are SO MANY good reasons for kicking the crap out of someone, but music (really, just fashion at this point, regarding "emo") isn't one of them.
I just assumed dondeluxe was being facetious. I ignored it, which I find is usually the best thing to do in an online situation.
beating up emo kids...that sounds...not good...seriously though, what if they dress differently, big deal, no reason to beat them up, most of them are pretty cool, music is supposed to unite us and bring harmony upon our world. this articles makes me just a little sad this morning...
talk about sick--> no one should act like that--> being mass-beaten for being emo is a travesy--> all it takes is a couple of crazy metal-heads to give all of us a bad name--> MUSIC IS FOR UNITY not segregation, hatred, violence--> dodgy feckers
i was being a smartass....whatever. si creas que yo so alguen que tiene algo contra los gays estas pendejo. no tengo nada contra los gay pero los emos es otra cosa. i found the story amusing because when i was in high school in the mid to late 80's the metal head and the punks used to beat the shit outta each other. and im all about unity.
later,
don
We've learned two thing:
-There will always be waring factions within youth movements.
&
-Dondeluxe isn't down with the emos.
just wanted to share my first ever mog post from 5/07...for the record i'm not a homophobe:
That's what I'm talking about double D!
that's a surprisingly low number of arrests, considering there were hundreds of them attacking the emo kiddies.
that's just insane
this news comes right on the heels of the young woman who was killed for being "goth". what is going on with the youth today?
This is so idiotic. It reminds me when I was in middle school... all the 2pac fans and Biggie fans used to fight. It was fun....but then again we were only 13 years old.
Beating up an "emo" cause you think they are gay, is just as gay... I've known some "metal" people like this, it goes back to the whole pecking order in high school ideal and I refused to be a part of that idiocy then and I refuse it today.
You can even see it in factions of metal vs. hardcore kids and black metal kids vs. non black metal kids etc etc.
Retardation of the highest order... grow up!
Doom - You're Right to refuse that kind of nonsense.
Bottom line... People just suck. You see this kind of behavior in every facet of life; Christians vs. Muslims, advertising vs. accounting, Honda vs. Chevy, blue vs. red, up vs. down... it never ends. One group has to feel superior to another for whatever reason, and sometimes they feel the only way to do that is to kick someone's ass. Maybe we'll figure it out in another million years, but until then...
^another million years? Wow! That's sooner than I thought.
I /did/ say "maybe". :P
The first time I heard about this I couldn't believe it. I still don't really believe it.
man... I like a lot of metal bands, but from my experience, metalheads are one of the most retarded and reactionary subcultures ever (at least in Latin America).
There are just small group of people who are insane, but most metalheads respect all other subcultures..
What here happends is inconceivable :o
ridonkulous. I find this all sick. But all those who say it's nothing new are right. Stuff like this has happened ever since ancient greece's dionysis festival, where people would riot over which acting troupe had the best performance. I have no great love for the emo culture, but I do have love for all people. Guess you can't expect people to change.
What?? No one thinks to mention the notion of a class element in this? I am wary of over-generalizing but it seems like one element in engendering these clashes is a tendency to associate with other people of one's own socio-economic status to the exclusion of the rest. Along with that are certain attitudes like "metalheads are one of the most retarded and reactionary subcultures ever" and "pinche emo jotos". I think "disco sucks" was almost as much a denigration of working-class suburbanites by upper middle-class "punk" kids as it was a musical criticism. Weren't mods and rockers somewhat associated with different classes as well? Isn't "emo" much more prevalent among the college-bound while metal-heads are more commonly expected to find minimum wage jobs as they move into the work force? I feel lucky to have been a middle-class kid with broad musical taste going through HS at a time (early 70s) when, to a degree, the positive spirit of "Peace and Love" and mutual acceptance meant kids in my school who were jocks and brains and art/theater geeks and stoners all had mostly a "live and let live" attitude. We also had a radio culture where AM played top 40 hit, which meant one would hear Tommy James followed by Stones and Creedence and Sly and the Family Stone and Bobby Sherman and Santana and FM radio was in its glory years offering some of the above and long side-length doses of Hendrix, King Crimson and The Allman Brothers. We have a lot of diversity of music offered today, of course, but specialization of "stations" can't add much to a young person's exposure to and appreciation of difference.
In the current atmosphere of economic uncertainty and increasing divisions by class and economics (likely exacerbated in Mexico and among people aware of a US immigration policy tightening around one's neck), I think the mis-direction of frustration onto a group of people who dress differently and listen to different music and who may be perceived as more privileged and well-off might be understood more easily, though not condoned. Certainly homophobia is not exclusive to the lower classes but might a macho sensibility be seen as more tolerated and even encouraged among working-class people?
You know, I think I exhausted all of my vitriol for this subject on an earlier (later?) post, but it does bring me to an interesting theoretical question.
If music genres were gangs...who would win the warfare.
I'm betting on Scandanavian Metal Heads...those guys burn down buildings and stuff...way more hardcore than beating up social outcasts who may or may not dress "gay"--In my completely unprofessional opinion.
Any other thoughts?
-Dusk
If music were gangs the Mog would be a street on fire with bodies lying around each post corners, with blood dripping on your Kboard and a bullet hold amidst your screen maybe.
One'd find cocaine hidden in most of his CD cases and wonder where and how he's got that blue patch riveted around the left eye.
You could see yourself sneak out of your home armed with a booyer just to try to reach the next record store alive. Would Colombians ask you "Buy our music or plomo ?"
You would probably also see that The Police is a stinging powerful gang, they are backed by legions of reckless rednecked fans.
If music were gangs we would all get a few grenades and keep 2 or 3 Molotov bottles ready for use, just in case.
Where is my Uzi now ???