Be afraid. Be very afraid. Yesterday newscasters in Utah suffered an extreme bout of ridiculous stupidity, gullibility, and fear mongering. If you still inhabit your parents home and live in this state, please carefully guard your parents. Be alarmed if they display any of the following symptoms and behaviors of having watched the “Emo segment” on the ABC 4 news: grounding, forbidding use of the internet, unprovoked prodding into your musical tastes, and a ransacking of your iTunes.
The segment opens with the two anchors stressing the importance of the “investigative report,” on Emo culture done by Reed Cowan. Suicide and self mutilation are brought up, along with statistics to add a quantifiable dose of fear. A warning is given to viewers to be prepared because some of “what they are about to see is disturbing.” And disturbing it is, if only because people may take it seriously.
This unintentionally hilarious segment smacked of satire and parody. It would have been a clear front runner for placement on a “Best of” DVD had it been aired on Saturday Night Live. Watching it, one can’t help but anticipate the moment when Andy Samberg runs into the shot al la the great ‘50’s docu-drama “Marijuana” and throws himself out of a window after listening to My Chemical Romance.
But sadly, this was not parody.
The report begins by stating Emo as “sadness, rage, and pain.” It came from the internet and can be found all over the web, as well as in music and even Spider-Man 3. A video montage of Emo imagery follows and includes visuals of broken hearts, eyeliner and a page of words defining generalized negative emotions including “agony” with the "g" written backwards as if Emo also causes dyslexia. Reed Cowan warns in dramatic voiceover to “not react with fear,” because “advanced” Emo kids cut themselves and may commit suicide.
Sounds kind of serious, right?
Cowan then goes on to discuss fashion and a picture of an orange striped polo shirt pops up, thus incriminating everyone from the preppy-jock on the football team to even my sixty year old father. Next, a pair of jeans that look like they could be from the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen collection for Wallmart are shown, decorated in pink and neon green cartoon flowers, accompanied by the warning that Emo boys may wear “girl pants.”
Article comments
1 - High Heels
I was laughing long before the emo boys in girl pants, but that was the last straw for my mouthful of coffee. Very amusing article, thanks. :) HH
2 - Graham McKnight
Very enjoyable read!
3 - Katie McNeill
great article!
4 - Jesse
The naivety is amusing and disturbing, like it is in so much media sensationalism. I think I'll have to write about this one, as well... especially about the failure of Fox-4 to distinguish between sarcasm and seriousness, between norms and outliers, and their own culpability in stigmatizing these poor kids (Mr. Tanner, whose name was read on-air?)
5 - Mara Siegler
Your so right, Jesse. I was really surprised that they read out Mr. Taner's name considering he is a minor, but I guess you have to assume his father gave permission as his legal guardian. His case was heartbreaking. The segment completely exploited him and belittle his very serious problem of cutting himself. Instead of seeing it as a deep psychological issue or cry for help,they made it seem like he was merely self mutilating to be part of a larger trend.
6 - Jesse
Retrospectively, I find it interesting that I keep having the urge to blame this on Fox, instead of ABC. The fact that it's appearing on a slightly more respected public network makes it even more disturbing, in a way.
7 - Aiden
haha stupid utah. i hate you utah for this everyone stares at you funny if you wear stuff like that i know i did it before and still do it but i would never hurt myself ... and its gotten way out of hand like a new sterio type i hate it! it did make me laugh though.
8 - Nurse
I'm a school nurse & you wouldn't believe how many of the "emo" kids cut. They call themselves "emo," by the way. We've sent at least a dozen kids to the local psychiatric hospital for self-injury and suicidal ideation just during this school year. About 90% of those kids were self identified "emo" kids. I was pretty confused about the whole "emo" thing until one of the kids showed me . Once I saw that site, I understand the issue much better; please take the time to view this and protect yourself and your loved ones.