Um, About Emo's Place in Punk...

I was going to save this one for tomorrow, but I thought I'd write this now. It's the type of blog that will lead people to say "duh", so if this seems obvious to you, I'd run along elsewhere.

Now, being a person who had my music called "emo", in a positive way, by a fellow afro-punk ex, it took me a while to wonder exactly why people, punks included, spit at emo kids. I thought that it may only be the fashion, but otherwise, people know that it fits snuggly into punk. For those who don't see it, here is why.

These days, I noticed an epidemic where you are frowned upon for being open with your emotions. Nothing got you a beatdown from the bullies at school like being open-hearted and honest with who you were. Sing a love song, one of heartbreak or anything that includes your feelings and you are basically an outcast amongst men.

Seeing as how punk is mostly a patriarchy these days, to hear a man be open about their feelings on record is likely to catch a bottle to the head metaphorically. For every man thatdoes that, there are about a couple of men looking to call him a "fag" for it, and the others applaud him for the honesty and the ability to make someone feel. For those who say "aww, poor little crybaby sad about his girl, his life and the fact that he sucks", there are a lot of people buying his album and feeling right with him.

As long as it isn't all weeping, emo is punk because it realizes and embraces the embarrassing, human side that so many people look to dismiss and look down upon. Sadness, anger, depression, rage, confusion, love, fear, disillusion, etc. If punk is generally about saying fuck you to all the robots that surround you or about breaking some rules, isn't being emo doing just that in it's own way? Isn't the idea of the genre all about spitting a loogie at the norm even if the norm is right at the centre of it's own community?

Feel free to share your thoughts here.