Emo Kids Are Getting Attacked In Mexico!

Principessa

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Why Are Emo Kids Getting Attacked In Mexico?

'At the core of this is the homophobic issue,' a youth worker in Mexico City suggests of the violence

By James Montgomery


On March 7, in the central Mexican city of Querétaro, a mob of nearly 800 teenagers poured into the Plaza de Armas, fists cocked, blood boiling, looking for emo kids to take their frustrations out on.

It didn't take them long to locate their targets. The Plaza is a frequent hangout for the city's many subcultures of bored youth, and the mob quickly surrounded a trio of kids bearing the tell-tale markings of emo fans: skinny black jeans, eyeliner and black hair jutting straight down over their eyes. They shoved the three against a wall and began kicking and punching, shouting, "Kill the emos!" and filming the incident on their cell phones. By the time police arrived, the three emo fans lay on the Plaza's concrete floor, sobbing and bleeding. The mob streamed through the streets of Querétaro, laughing and cheering.

And this was not an isolated incident. Over the next three weeks, a wave of "anti-emo" violence swept through Mexico, first in the capital of Mexico City, where mobs attacked emo kids, and then in the border towns of Tijuana and Juarez, where members of other social cliques (primarily punkeros, cholos and darketos, or goths) skirmished with emos. The shaky camera-phone footage of the beatings aired on Mexican television and quickly spread to YouTube, becoming news on a host of blogs in the U.S.

Emo kids responded by staging silent marches for peace and tolerance in each of the cities, but those demonstrations quickly turned violent as well, and police were forced to step in to keep the peace. Anti-emo message boards promise even more attacks, while the Mexican government is making a plea for unity, meeting with leaders of various youth cliques in Mexico City and unveiling a tolerance campaign that operates under the slogan "For the freedom of being young, live and let live."

So what's the reason for all the violence? On the surface, it seems to be a classic (albeit much more terrifying) example of the same schoolyard dynamics that have existed for decades: the strong pick on the weak. Other kids see emos as an easy target, because they are usually younger and come from comfortable, middle-class backgrounds. Still, other anti-emos claim to use violence only s a way of stomping out emo music, which they see as a dangerous and wholly un-Mexican form of music that is ruining society. As one anti-emo wrote on his blog, "Mexico is ... turning worse and worse. If someone tells you that Mexico is walking to the progress, [they're] a f---ing liar."

But the real reason seems to be something much simpler — and much more disturbing. With their tight jeans, makeup and teased hair, emos dress in a way that is an affront to hypermasculine Mexican culture. The reason for the attacks, some say, is latent homophobia.

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

That was apparent on social-networking sites and blogs frequented by Mexican youth in the weeks leading up to the Querétaro attack. Hundreds of YouTube clips sprung up, pointing to emos' tight shirts and makeup as evidence of their homosexuality, and message board commenters urged anti-emos to take the Plaza de Armas back from the black-clad kids who spent their days there. And, most prominently, Kristoff, a host on the popular TV channel Telehit, launched into a lengthy and vitriolic diatribe against emos, comparing them to "pre-pubescent 15-year-old girls" and calling their lifestyle "stupid and idiotic."

After the attacks, Kristoff condemned the assailants and said his rant was just a joke, but many within Mexico's government see him — and his words — as the spark that lit the power keg. There are also rumors that he might take the fall if Telehit is publicly blamed for the violence.

In recent days, the situation in Mexico seems to have cooled a bit, but that doesn't mean there isn't still a large anti-emo sentiment simmering below the surface. And while the emo attacks were brutal, some hope they can serve as a way to shed light on the ugly underbelly of Mexican society.

"The danger is that hate is permeating more and more into Mexican society," columnist Hugo Garcia wrote in Mexican newspaper Milenio. "We should not forget that intolerant violence leads to fascism."
 

Smooth88

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Sad... Honestly.... It makes me angry that people have no tolerance for people who seem different than them or not normal. Like my one of my best friends says. There's no such thing as normal.
 

psidom

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this whole emo thing trips me out...
when i was a teen ya had
jocks
nerds
dorks
metalheads/stoner
goths/punk
and preps.

when did EMO begin?

either way it is a sad story and kids will always have
the "freaks" they wanna hurt.
sadly,things do not change much after ya supposedly grow up.
whoever invented the word normal was very high on crack.
 

D_one and done

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thats just.....

*hangs head*

people are so stupid. too blinded by their own closed minds to see that what they're perpetuating is no different than what martin luther king and malcom x and susan b. anthony and the like were fighting against. history is there for a reason, idiots! learn from it! but of course most are too scared and ignorant to question their own beliefs. its sad and infuriating.
 

B_Nick4444

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I seem to recall reading the same thing pretty much happened in the US as baby-boomer youth began to adopt tight pants and long-hair in emulation of the Beatles
 

Principessa

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And what proof does this source have that is had to do with homophobia?
It appears to be an observation based on the fact Mexico is an old fashioned, patriarchal; and VERY Catholic country. The men are expected to always be macho. By wearing tight clothing, makeup and hair styled in a somewhat feminine fashion these young Emo men are perceived to be gay. Yes, I know that's stupid but it's the truth. Homosexuality is not acceptable in Mexico, the Carribean; and many Latin cultures and countries.
 

roger_dodger

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Even though I don't agree with hurting the poor emos, I don't think we should fret too badly.

After all, they are more than capable of crying about this whole thing by themselves.
 

yurkon

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I don't know what to think. Clearly, violence is bad. However, if ya look like a freak your going to get picked on. Beat on them? Unacceptable though. My son, no way would I let him go out like that if he wanted to. Just like my daughter isn't allowed to go out looking like brittney spears wanna be like so many her age.

If you are going to attract attention to yourself, some attention isn't always wanted.

Never understood the emo or goth look and then see those kids on Oprah saying they are called freaks in high school. No shit sherlock.

If anyone knows what emo actually represents, please post. I don't know for sure, my impression is that it's short for emotional, but that's a guess. I know the look and associate it with skate boarding boys. Not sure about that either.
 

roger_dodger

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I think they just cry about a lot of stuff. At least thats the stereotype. There was this emo in one of my college classes a couple years ago and he was a mess. He would come to class with streaked eye makeup running down his face. And he wore these black and red striped sleeves that looked like tube socks with holes in the end. It kinda even made me sad.
 

MTHgasm

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emo-melodramatic inexcess...their style

some emos probably have depression or some mental illness but i think a lot of people who make up the group are who people don't know where they fit in so they just do the norm of that group.
 

frizzle

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It appears to be an observation based on the fact Mexico is an old fashioned, patriarchal; and VERY Catholic country. The men are expected to always be macho. By wearing tight clothing, makeup and hair styled in a somewhat feminine fashion these young Emo men are perceived to be gay. Yes, I know that's stupid but it's the truth. Homosexuality is not acceptable in Mexico, the Carribean; and many Latin cultures and countries.

Then why aren't they attacking gay people instead of emo's?