Rant: People who dress goth/emo/punk are the worst

[slamjoetry]

I hang around a lot of different places, bars, and clubs, meeting people of every type of sub-culture, and in my experience goth-types (and other adjacent styles) are consistently the worst kind of people. I feel like they used to be outcast groups years ago but now it's more popular of a style than the preppy, country-club types, but they still act like they're edgy and counter-culture (while they all wear the same clothes they bought from Hot Topic at the mall). They're often very self-absorbed and act like high school bullies even though they're grown-ass adults. And I'm someone who's really into punk and metal myself. I dress in pretty much nothing but leather and denim. But I'd still rather hang out with preppy types because they're usually a lot nicer to me. The one that frustrates me the most is people who claim to be punk, but don't live up to punk philosophy at all. They're just playing dress-up.

This doesn't apply to all people in these groups, I've met many who are great people. But most are fake and not nearly as counter-culture as they would want you to believe. Let me know if you agree or disagree.

 

[escape_from_hell]

What sucks is being like me where you're so fucking alien that just wearing edgy clothing won't garner enough cool points to get friends in a 'counter-culture' cultural group, which is still a highly popular cultural group.

Being counter-culture means being a REAL isolated and hated loner and it fucking sucks, usually. It means people find you unworthy. It means your hot and edgy takes won't be listened to anyway so there's no point expressing them at all.

As an aside, does anyone think tattoos are rebellious or counter-cultural (in USA) still? I rarely see people without them and I'm guessing a huge % of people have ones that aren't visible with clothing.
But to your point and agree, I just don't think it's limited to specifically the goth/punk/emo aesthetic.

Most 'rebels' are just trying to gain social points and you still need to be a cool hyper-social butterfly to properly get status in such self-described outcast demographics. So yes they are FAKE and it is annoying. But so, so, so much is fake, regardless of the aesthetic.

 

[Mirrory Me]

"Gothic fashion allows individuals to express their individuality in a world that often promotes conformity.

I guess this could be said about any "edgy" fashion style.

 

[Necrosis]

As an alt person I agree, most nowadays are posers/fetishists. Especially the "goth girls" who were the ones bullying the emo kids in grade school. I think punks are some of the wildest posers ever, they are never activists or care about politics. If I see someone with an anarchist symbol on them I cringe because every time I asked a punk if they can fully back what they believe in if they're an anarchist they make so many "exceptions". Especially when I ask if they support sex workers lol. Suddenly they're not so anti-establishment. It is mostly all dress up to them, and I hate being approached by other younger alt people because they assume we are the same...we rarely have anything in common and I'm often left annoyed/offended by their "kinship".

 

[Mirrory Me]

Each of these fashions seems to indicate that you do belong to a group or ideology, a bit like when there are tribes or different religions. Surely there aren't any Satan worshipers or neo-Nazis here?

 

[WhiteRabbit]

It was like this 20 something years ago when I was part of the scene. So many of the guys were creepy sex pests despite supposedly being supportive of women's issues. There was constant talk of who was a poser, constant judgement.

It all seems so silly to me now.

 

[leloyon]

I guess this could be said about any "edgy" fashion style.

Nothing says individuality like all dressing the same in a highly popular cultural group.

What sucks is being like me where you're so fucking alien that just wearing edgy clothing won't garner enough cool points to get friends in a 'counter-culture' cultural group, which is still a highly popular cultural group.

Being counter-culture means being a REAL isolated and hated loner and it fucking sucks, usually. It means people find you unworthy. It means your hot and edgy takes won't be listened to anyway so there's no point expressing them at all.

But to your point and agree, I just don't think it's limited to specifically the goth/punk/emo aesthetic.

Most 'rebels' are just trying to gain social points and you still need to be a cool hyper-social butterfly to properly get status in such self-described outcast demographics. So yes they are FAKE and it is annoying. But so, so, so much is fake, regardless of the aesthetic.

Pretty much said everything else I'd want to say.

 

[Plentiful_Despair]

I think you take this a bit too seriously. I dress like this and don't consider myself to be anything. Fuck politics/culture of any kind, I just like the style.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

Goths aren't punk or emo, at least to my knowledge (this isn't the day that they cannot be, btw). They are all different subcultures with different values. Punk is more anti-establishment, focusing more heavily on themes revolving around different political and social issues, such as white supremacy, classism, and capitalism. I have seen some people claim to be a part of it, due to their personal philosophies lining up with the ones promoted by the culture, despite not listening to the music. I don't know if you can be punk without being into punk music, but I'm not one so I have no say in this. It was at one point a movement and, while many still treat it as such today, a lot of people have been treating it more as an aesthetic. There have also been a lot of complaints over right-wingers trying to appropriate said culture, which I find fucking funny. Goth, on the other hand, more heavily focuses on dark romanticism, with the music genre stemming from post-punk. Emo is the youngest of the three, also emerging from punk, with emo being short for "emotional".

Each of these subcultures is different and within these subcultures, you have different types of punks, goths, and emos. You can't group everyone a part of one subculture together, let alone everyone a part of three different subcultures, each with their own different set of values. This isn't to say that said subcultures don't have their issues. For example, not surprisingly, these subcultures have a lot of issues with racism, especially amongst goths and emos (at least based on the complaints I've heard from other POC). If you are a person of , particularly if you are brown or dark-skinned, then it can be hard to become part of said communities. There are also issues with sexual predators who hang out in these communities. A good example of this is shown when looking at the muliplmultiple in which we have had cases blowing up online in which men, particularly those a part of the emo subculture, got in trouble for grooming, assaulting, or allowing their friends to prey on women and girls. Along with that, as I mentioned before, a lot of these subcultures have been having a growing problem with posers, especially with the raise risepularity of tiktokTiktoketicism.

Still, there are a lot of nice people a part of those subcultures who do try to live up to said culturculture'ssophies, so I feel like we shouldn't make any generalizations based on our own subjective experiences. People in general are kind of just assholes and that is unavoidable. Doesn't matter if they are a part of a particular subculture or not.

 

[birthdayboy]

Eh, in my experience they're not bad, but it is interesting how certain things become trends.

I was really into the hardcore scene in the 90s, and I remember trying to have an attitude of "wear whatever, this isn't fashion" so people would come to shows wearing athletic sneakers and gym clothes because they were comfy, and eventually that became a trend and I felt like some crews would look down on people who weren't dressed "right". You can't win lol

 

[BecomingTired]

I hang around a lot of different places, bars, and clubs, meeting people of every type of sub-culture, and in my experience goth-types (and other adjacent styles) are consistently the worst kind of people. I feel like they used to be outcast groups years ago but now it's more popular of a style than the preppy, country-club types, but they still act like they're edgy and counter-culture (while they all wear the same clothes they bought from Hot Topic at the mall). They're often very self-absorbed and act like high school bullies even though they're grown-ass adults. And I'm someone who's really into punk and metal myself. I dress in pretty much nothing but leather and denim. But I'd still rather hang out with preppy types because they're usually a lot nicer to me. The one that frustrates me the most is people who claim to be punk, but don't live up to punk philosophy at all. They're just playing dress-up.

This doesn't apply to all people in these groups, I've met many who are great people. But most are fake and not nearly as counter-culture as they would want you to believe. Let me know if you agree or disagree.

I don't at all see the point of attaching such importance to it, just let people dress and claim whoever they want. The meanings of the terms changed ages ago, and people enjoy using some parts of the culture as a way to live life; it don't matter if they don't "live up" to the whole thing.

 

[sugarb]

What sucks is being like me where you're so fucking alien that just wearing edgy clothing won't garner enough cool points to get friends in a 'counter-culture' cultural group, which is still a highly popular cultural group.

Being counter-culture means being a REAL isolated and hated loner and it fucking sucks, usually. It means people find you unworthy. It means your hot and edgy takes won't be listened to anyway so there's no point expressing them at all.

As an aside, does anyone think tattoos are rebellious or counter-cultural (in USA) still? I rarely see people without them and I'm guessing a huge % of people have ones that aren't visible with clothing.
But to your point and agree, I just don't think it's limited to specifically the goth/punk/emo aesthetic.

Most 'rebels' are just trying to gain social points and you still need to be a cool hyper-social butterfly to properly get status in such self-described outcast demographics. So yes they are FAKE and it is annoying. But so, so, so much is fake, regardless of the aesthetic.

Yep

There's definitely counter-culture out there today, but goth/punk/etc isn't it. Like, how the hell is it counterculture if you're still more or less doing exactly what everyone else is, you aren't an outcast in any meaningful way, and there's little to no moral panic?

Imo neckbeards, weebs, trans culture, 4chan, Tumblr, polycules, furries and paganism are counterculture.

 

[Lady Laudanum]

Idk I just wear what I want and treat people with respect unless they give me a reason not to. It's not that complicated.

 

[Pluto]

 

[Kavka]

Where and in which decade do you all live? I never see Goths on the street anymore.