We've discovered a weird cultural divide at work. Apparently, Generation Xers are at serious risk of being too old to know what Emo is.
The circumstances behind how it came up are unimportant, but what we've found is that only about 50% of the Xers polled had any clue what emo was. Goth? No problem. Punk? Sure. 100% recognition. But, Emo?
Nope.
And beyond just not knowing, it started to make people get defensive and angry. I was told "I pride myself on being up-to-date on pop culture and I've never heard of emo." as if to say "So, stop making shit up that no one knows but you." And yet, the people who had heard of the term looked at me like I was retahded even asking them about it.
::smirk:: "Of course I know what 'emo' is. How could you not know what 'emo' is?"
Now, I don't think I'm crazy in saying that emo is a pretty common term these days. I think what disturbed the people that didn't know the term is that it was the first sign that they might be getting old and out of touch with youth culture.
Anyway, it's an interesting division and one I thought I'd point out.
I'm not crazy, right? Emo is well-known ... isn't it?
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5 comments:
Be careful, if you get them too angry you might find yourself in a full-on emo riot. ;)
I had no idea what emo was (had never heard of it) until "emo riot" -- and even then, you had to explain it to me! To this day, I understand the term when others use it, but I wouldn't bring it up in a conversation on my own. That's probably partly because I don't have any reason to, and partly because I'm not really confident about its use.
It's starting to sound like a school-bus conversation:
Bully: Hey Harlin! Do you know what emo is?
Harlin: eh... yeah joey... sure I know what emo is.
Bully: So what is it?
Harlin: I'm not saying.
Bully: Why not? If you know what it is, why not say what it is?
Harlin: Why you say what it is?
Bully: I asked you first, Harlin.
::PUMMEL::
::pummel:: is a great little online command.
It does seem strange to me that emo's not more widely known. Especially since everyone in our generation knows Weezer, one of the kings of emo bands.
Maybe you'll be happy to know that they sell an Emo Bear Shirt on Threadless.com. That should help educate the world, through modification of popular culture.
P.S. I originally spelled that as "mofidication."
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