Why be PEG (Punk/Emo/Gothic)?
"Everybody sucks so I think
I'll go get my brain pierced,
have a satanic symbol
tattooed onto my spleen
and listen to bad music."
-- From a book called How to Confuse Idiots.
(You can tell where this is going!)
Goth and punk are the same thing. Punk is just a nicer way of saying it. As you should notice, people are proud of being punk. Gothics, however, are not, and most refuse to admit they are. Let's look at the facts -- they both dress in black, they both listen to the same music, they both hate popular people, they both think they're special, misunderstood, and better than everyone else.
Really, goths and punks are just like the popular people; they both all do what their friends do to fit in. I don't know any goth/punk that doesn't dress goth/punk. I mean, you can have goth/punk opinions without showing it off. It's just another style.
I sort of have a gothic/punk personality, because of my negative outlooks on the world and stuff, but I do not dress punk/gothic at all. I wear tie-dye. Not because I'm a hippie, but simply because I like tie-dye. You guys have to realize that if you want to be so different, you shouldn't dress like everyone else. You hate to be judged, and yet you fit perfectly into the stereotype that you are. Tis hard to find a unique style that isn't like everyone else's, because almost everything has been tried, but all you gothics/punks dress the same, act the same, listen to the same music, etc. If you're so unique, why is it you don't like what YOU like, and not what all your friends like? I mean, it is possible for you and your friends and all the other gothics/punks out there to like the same stuff you do, but tis highly unlikely; twould be too much of a coincidence for the whole population of gothics/punks to like the same music, clothes, and have the same viewpoints. Especially if you are as different as you say you are. But then, since everything you do is to fit in, you're not different at all. You're just like the rest of them. [shakes head in disappointment] Tsk tsk tsk, shame shame shame, naughty naughty naughty. Not that you'll listen to ME, though, since the almighty you knows everything, being the punk that you are! All hail phonies!!
Emos are also the same as gothics/punks. Emo kids dress in all black too, but they do it a bit different. They wear tight and small stuff to make themselves look poor. (Also pins, Converse shoes, and rectangular black-rimmed glasses.) Emos are all about making other people feel sorry for them. Goths/punks look down on emos because emos are all like, "Oh woe is me, the world hates me, I want to die." Emos are all about getting attention and aren't hardcore goths/punks, but really--in my opinion--THEY ALL DRESS IN BLACK AND LISTEN TO SIMILAR MUSIC, SO THEY'RE ALL THE SAME. Sure emos may be more obvious in their quest for attention, but ALL OF THEM WANT ATTENTION or else they wouldn't dress in all black, get lots of piercings and tattoos, have their hair dyed odd colors and in weird styles like mohawks or foot tall spikes, etc. In conclusion, goth, punk, and emo may have a few minor differences among them, just like Christian, Catholic and other branches of Jesus-believers. They are just different words for the same thing, because some group of people thought they were different and wanted to form their own little group with their own special name. But they're really the same.
In your many attempts to be unique, you have thought of many different names for the types of music you like: heavy metal, gothic, alternative, punk rock, hard rock, hardcore, and emo. BUT REGULAR ROCK IS NOT IN THAT LIST. Some of you even call yourselves "Rockers." Rock is the Beatles, man, get the vibe. Rock is closer to pop than it is to that screaming junk you listen to. You gothics/punks/emos prove my point about wanting to be different and not having a mind of your own when you don't like music for what is it; you like music based on how popular it is. You hate pop because tis popular, and you like your own music because tis "underground" groups that are not well known. But oh gee, once they get well known, you don't like them anymore! So much for loyalty!!
Oh, and by the way, your styles are ugly. Black is just plain dull. Just because you're surrounded by pain and darkness doesn't mean you have to dress in all black. And if you guys aren't wearing black or red (symbolizing blood), tis those crazy clashing clothes -- the stripes, the torn stuff. Geez, you look like you came out of a second hand store or something, just throwing miscellaneous stuff together. Do you not believe in matching? Do you think matching is conforming? Well, you're conforming by dressing like all the other crazy gothics/punks out there.
Remember, you're a gothic. Punk is just a pretty word for it. But why should there be a pretty word when you don't dress or act pretty? You're the dark, ugly gothic. So stop saying you're punk.
Reminder not to send me hate mail or anything. Gothics/Punks have their "different" opinions, and I have mine, so respect that. This is my website, and I get to put what I want on it. If you have a problem with that, go complain on your own website.
2007 Rewrite
Once when I was going door-to-door in my neighborhood to sell cookies or something for my elementary school, one of the neighbors invited me into her house. I don�t know why I was doing this alone; usually Mom was always with me, and if she had been that day, she probably would have told me not to go into her house. But since Mom wasn�t with me, and I was too young to know any better, I went into the neighbor�s house. I didn�t even know her name, but she apparently knew me. Maybe she knew my father, since he always got chummy with the neighbors.
"What pretty nails you have," she told me. "My boys paint their nails too, but they always paint them black."
That�s all I remember from my visit with her. I remembered it because I always wondered why boys would paint their nails, and why they would paint them black. Even though I never met her sons, I admired them for their courage to do something different that most boys wouldn�t do.
Then when I got to high school, I realized that those boys weren�t different at all. About a quarter of the student population was PEG (punk/emo/gothic). Some of them painted their nails black, some had tattoos or piercings, some dyed their hair black or an unnatural color like hot pink, and some had very pale skin as if they tried especially hard to stay out of the sun. But what every one of them had in common was that everyday they all dressed in black and hung out in the same spot on campus. They also listened to the same PEG music, inappropriately called �rock��while real rock was called �oldies��hence they called themselves "rockers." I call them PEGs because punk, emo, and goth are what they all are, not rockers, since the screaming music they listen to is not real rock.
Any one of them would object to my label. Their first objection would be that punk, emo, and gothic are each very different; punks are just wanna-be gothics, and emos are just crybabies who whine about how much they want to kill themselves but never have the guts to actually try. As for objecting to being called gothics, they just deny having any association with that word, as if it is too insulting. All they admit themselves to be are rockers. Their second objection to my PEG label would be that I�m stereotyping them. Some have told me, "I don�t believe in stereotypes." As much as they don�t want to believe it, stereotypes exist. Any psychology or sociology book will tell them that. It is human nature to classify things and people into categories. Everyone does it, even them�especially when another thing they have in common is their hatred of "preps," the stereotype label for the popular people, also inappropriately labeled, since "prep" should mean someone preparing for college, while those called "preps" are not always smart or preparing for college, just popular. I don�t know about other high schools, but in my high school, smart people were called nerds, and popular people would never be caught dead being smart. PEGs just called the popular people preps because they didn�t know what else to call them.
Why do they dress in all black? Just because they like �rock� doesn�t mean they have to dress in all black. PEGs use loneliness and depression as other excuses. Just because they�re lonely or depressed doesn�t mean they have to dress in all black. By dressing the same, hanging out in the same spot, and listening to the same music, they are willingly joining the PEG clique and willingly trying to fit into the PEG stereotype. If they didn�t want to be stereotyped, they wouldn�t conform to their PEG peers. Conformity is another thing PEGs are against�something they consider preps to do, yet PEGs are also conforming by dressing in all black everyday and doing the other things I mentioned. Another reason I call them PEGs is because of the Japanese proverb, �The nail that sticks out must be pounded down.� A peg is like a nail, so �The PEG that stands out will be pounded down.� In other words, pegs become pegs in an attempt to rebel and not conform, but in reality they are conforming to just another group�the group of PEGs.
Just as being a PEG was a high school fad, so was being gay. In middle school, my friends Elisa and Cyprian thought I was weird for liking Elton John�s music. They both said to me, "Did you know he�s gay?" as if his rumored homosexuality should be reason enough to stop liking his music. Elisa said she knew it was true because she saw Elton John holding hands with another man (yet she always insisted that I hold hands with her). Cyprian said he didn�t like Elton John�s music because it was "too happy" (yet he liked the lyrics of "Empty Garden" which I showed him before he knew it was by Elton John). That was the clue right there that Cyprian would be turning into a PEG. He and Elisa both did in high school; Elisa dyed her hair blue and read every David Sedaris book she could find, Cyprian "turned gay" (if that�s even biologically possible), and they both started wearing all black everyday. In middle school, it was an insult when someone said, "That�s so gay" or "He�s so gay." In high school, it was still an insult for the most part. Except now, there were kids actually popping up and proudly claiming to be gay. No surprise that every boy who said so was a PEG, probably more concerned about trying to be different than about the truth of his sexual orientation. If they really wanted to be different, they would say they were sexually attracted to a snail, but no. They chose to conform into yet another group, being just a little different to attract attention and be cool among their friends, but not willing to be their true self because that would mean being different enough to be a true outcast.
Copyright © 2004-2007 JANS INDIGO. All Rights Reserved.