Weather most you are aware of it or not prejudice just being a part of everyday life is a firm underlying belief in many people minds, and when it comes to people that are part of an alternative subculture such as the goth or punk culture and show this visually on the outside by ways of clothes and makeup and because of this are targeted by prejudice, many people think in the back of their minds 'Aren't they are just asking for it by dressing that way?".The answer to this question is no they're not, but in many cases they receive it anyway. and quite often in ways that is not just mentally damaging but physically as well. These have escalated into hate crimes such as the murder of Sophie Lancaster a young woman in Britain who was attacked and beaten to death while trying to protect her boyfriend Robert Maltby from being hurt on the 11 august 2007. The police stated that this attack was provoked due to the couple wearing 'gothic fashion' and being part of this sub-culture.The attack on this poor woman and her boyfriend was truly brutal and when help arrived their faces were so badly swollen they found it hard to tell which was female and which was male. Sophie fell into a deep coma that they soon found apparent that she was not going to recover from and on the 24th of August 2007 her family agreed to turn off life support and she died. One of the most tragic factors of this horrible occurrence is that the killers never showed any remorse they seemed proud of what they've done and that never came to change.Which brings around the question 'why is there so much hate towards those that are different?' especially those that are part of a well known alternative subculture. I think the main blame would be found in the negative stereotypes placed upon people due to their image and the narrow minds of people creating these views. One major fuel to this fire is the media who in particular attack the goth culture by reflecting negative stereotypes.One big example was the tragedy which was the 'Columbine high school massacre' where many teenagers were killed by two of their classmates who bought guns to school. The media were quick to incorrectly label these killers as goths and put the blame onto goth culture especially on that of Marilyn Manson a shock rocker who portrays a goth image through clothes and make up.The media continues to make negative statements about the gothic culture such as in a 'Times online' article when journalist Chris Campling (2009) stated referring to American goths, "In America, they machine gun their classmates, having missed the point of the whole thing". This was responded back to by Frank Trenton (2009), "It is lazy for you to group the entire goth culture in America with a couple of mentally unstable people. Not only is it incorrect, but it is offensive."The reaction to the accusation and the grief felt from the death of fellow goth Sophie Lancaster seems to have bought the goth community together to fight against prejudice with the creation of the S.O.P.H.I.E campaign which stands for stamp out prejudice hate and intolerance everywhere. Also many blogging sites have been put together to discuss the subject of prejudice in alternative subcultures which helps to relieve a sufferer of the stress on this by sharing with other likeminded sufferers.The main question are though how can this prejudice be stopped? is there anyway that we can change the narrow views of others? Will we ever be able to live in a world that is accepting of people that are different and that perhaps have other norms and values to our own? This question is still left unanswered but perhaps one day it won't be.
http://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com/ (website for the S.T.A.M.P campaign)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goth_subculture (Describes what the goth subculture is)
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article5833441.ece (A times online article that contains pejudice towards goths)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Manson (Describes who Marilyn Manson is)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Lancaster (Describes the murder of Sophie Lancaster)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre (Describes what The Columbine high school massacre was)
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5923915/columbine_whose_fault_is_it/ ( A Rolling Stone Article that describes how Marilyn Manson was virtually blamed for the Columbine high school massacre)
http://alterophobia.blogspot.com/2007/10/hate-crime-and-subcultures-debate.html (A bog website discussing prejudice against alternative subcultures)
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A very confronting article Danielle. It's very bluntly established that the committed crimes which you've talked about are not acceptable and are as heinous as an attack on any other denizen you might see on the street. They're still hate crimes, whoever they happen to be targeted at. It's also clear that you've researched your topic very well and thoroughly judging by the amount of websites that you've listed and provided on the page, so suffice it to say anybody who feels obliged to visit this blog would certainly get the full frontal impact of what you're discussing.
ReplyDeleteThere are one or two grammatical mistakes in your sentences, but only minor ones, and they don't detract at all from your subject. The only other thing that I am inclined to oppose slightly is towards the bottom of your essay where you start asking "How can this prejudice be stopped? Is there anyway that we can change the narrow views of others? Will we ever be able to live in a world that is accepting of people that are different and that perhaps have other norms and values to our own?"
I personally don't believe that this time will ever come. That's just me, but I reckon that prejudice will probably always exist in the world because you can change laws, but you can never change people; neither their views or beliefs on others. You can lock them up for 20 years for a heinous hate crime but that still wouldn't necessarily change them as a person. And those traits they'll continue to pass on to every oncoming generation, so I think they'll always be around. I'd LIKE to live in a world without prejudice, don't get me wrong, but considering that the world's as prejudice now as it's always been, I'm still highly skeptical that it will ever be different. If I'm proved wrong, I will absolutely eat all of my words, but I'm not particularly hopeful about that right now.
You've still produced a great blog though.
I never knew how bad pedjudice against "Goths" was. That news story about the young british girl and her boyfriend is just to brutal. I must admit when i see people walking down the street wearing gothic fashion i think to myself "Thats a bit weird" but then somethings (well most :P) i do in pubic are just as bad. But to go as far as to verbally or physically assault someone because of what they are wearing is just unthinkable, its those kind of people that bring our societies down. However if you have ever done chemistry you will no that all equations must be balanced and nature corrects its self to do so meaning that where ever there is good people there are bad people also. Its a sad but true reality.
ReplyDeleteI think you've done a great job of putting this out there :) ... but Im still going to think people dressing in gothic fashion are a little bit strange :P
Hey Guys
ReplyDeleteThanks for your feedback.I also agree that prejudice is a hard act to stop and there are always a few rotten apples in with the good ones but I think by putting these undelying issues out there it can bring more awareness and lead to the small act of people thinking twice before saying some nasty comment to someone they think is a bit freaky or different, which can make all the difference to that person.
Like chappie said there are a couple of spelling/grammatical mistakes in your article, but over all it's well written and flows nicely. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's shocking what happened to that poor girl...I can't believe people would just stand by (or participate even) as such a pathetic attack occurred right in front of them. I'm amazed that in a country like England (where you'd think people would be more accepting of differences etc than in some of the more developing countries) you'd be safe from such attacks, but I guess not huh. o.O I'm also amazed by the police's attitude to the attack, as they don't appear to be the slightest bit concerned by the attack and even seem to encourage the attitude of hatred towards goths.
I really hope that the incident with Sophie is a turning point in such attitudes and that we don't have another incident like that, but like chappie I'm skeptical of such a change coming about anytime soon. :(
I also love your closing paragraph; it really drives home your point nicely, and makes people think...as well as leaving some optimism for the future. :)
Just like anyone eles goths have chosen to be who they are. Just because someone doesn't beleive in excatly the same thing as you does that automatically make them wrong. No. It's a personal choice no one has the right no abuse others because of how they look or act. We should not judge or pick on just because of the choices people have made this is true in some many other areas as well such as sexual perfence, religion and other areas of personal. So after that danielle you have written the eassy really well and used great quotes and source to help you agruement. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI've also never heard of prejudice against goths before. However, with the way that racism and what not is in the world, I can see how even just wearing something different is going to attract you into having some kind of negative feedback. I've never really been one to follow a crowd of people, or dress like robots like the rest of the world. But the fact that people would actually 'hate' someone for being slightly different and turning to hurt, and even murder someone for it, is totally unacceptable. In the end, we're all humans, and we all look the same on the inside, so why does our outside really matter to other people? As far as I'm concerned, if your different, and your happy, show the world!
ReplyDeletewow i never really thought of this before. i myself do sometimes judge people on the street in what they are wearing but i would never go to the extreme to visual, emotionaly or physically asslut someone about it. It is each owns choice in what they wear and it shouldnt be held against them because of it. I found it very sad what happend to this girl.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Danielle.