Gothic... ness? Is that a word? Anyway...

[RJ]

I've never actually met a 'goth' before. There seems to be a serious lack of them in Australia. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realise that there doesn't seem to really be a serious group of stereotypes here at all. 0_o

[Tracy]

I like some of the gothic look, the more original creative stuff. However, to me... red stripy socks and black hair... that's just... well.

At my school, it's always year 8's who are goths. That's 12-13 year olds. Seriously, it's always been that way. When they leave that year, they stop being goths. In fact, I think those were the years I dressed entirely in black. Not because I wanted to be a goth, because I like black. Anyway, I never viewed myself as a goth. To me, if you label yourself anything, you're a 'wannabe'. Anyone who says they're goth, punk, emo, whatever... it just seems so conformist.

And I see what Rishiy's saying. I think Jhonen Vasquez makes some pretty funny and valid points on the topic in alot of his comics. Alot of 'goths' go out of their way to be different and unique, yet in all fairness... they're all exactly the same.

And when I say goths, I mean people who call themselves goths. People who stick themselves to a stereotype.

[ashketchum173175]

I think that the definition of "goth" has been lost on most people (I said most here) due to its commercialization. TEOW pretty much summed it up, so I won't try. To some, it's a new stereotypical description they can use to describe people who dress in a certain style, namely the one TEOW outlined. I can back this up using THIS:

ak-17.deviantart.com/journal/3417948/

Me, *, ** and *** found this piece of junk hilarious.

(sorry to the mentioned if they didn't want their names here. I have omitted them in case.)

EDIT: Here's the paragraph at the start, which proves my theory.

"Gothic is a very obscure and often dangerous culture that young teenagers are prone to participating in. The gothic culture leads young, susceptible minds into an imagined world of evil, darkness, and violence. Please seek immediate attention through counselling, prayer, and parental guidance to rid your child of Satan's temptations if five or more of the following are applicable to your child:

Also, I forget where, but somewhere I found this stupid comic relating D&D to invoking cultism/belief in witchcraft, and with the Lord God as the only way out. It included a scene at the end where a bunch of peeps set this huge stack of D&D stuff on fire. Absolutely humiliating to any religion that believes in Jesus Christ and God, since they were mentioned.

[Komori]

Also, I forget where, but somewhere I found this stupid comic relating D&D to invoking cultism/belief in witchcraft, and with the Lord God as the only way out. It included a scene at the end where a bunch of peeps set this huge stack of D&D stuff on fire. Absolutely humiliating to any religion that believes in Jesus Christ and God, since they were mentioned.

I am Christian, and as such, I would like to say that not all Christians are that extreme. In fact, those extremists are really giving Christians a bad name. The extremists shy away from anything resembling the occult in any way, shape, or form, and that's really a bummer. That's not the point of our religion, in fact, it's completely the opposite. Christianity is supposed to be a religion of love and understanding, as Jesus Christ loved humanity. Burning books and labeling people as Satanists isn't the right way to deal with people who disagree with our faith. Just because someone dresses a certain way doesn't make them evil. Why, we had a Halloween party at my church! Candy, trick or treating, pumpkins, and orange lights! I even dressed up as a vampire, and everyone loved my costume! Like our group leader said, "Why make Halloween into some 'evil' holiday? Why let the Devil have all the fun?"

.... But I guess I digress from the topic. I'm sorry, I just didn't really like that idea that we Christians are intolerant of others.

[TheEaterofWorlds]

GhostKomori said:

.... But I guess I digress from the topic. I'm sorry, I just didn't really like that idea that we Christians are intolerant of others.

They were saying that the people writing that give other Christians a bad name, and it's true. Some Christians are REMARKABLY intolerant and I have had to deal with a LOT of them. There are perfectly fine Christians out there, but the loonies are a lot more... vocal.

[Jessica Coconut]

One of my closest friends is goth. Well... sorta.

She dresses in black all the time, and has the goth attitude, but ya know? She's not EVIL. She has limits. Yeah, she's not the nicest person, but she knows where to draw the line. We often have very moral and deep discussions about the world. And about how stupid people are. (But we back it up)

We just look at things quite the same way - we agree a lot on how dumb things are, how much we hate stuff, and we also talk about the great things out there. Like weekends. Not as often, but just because she's goth doesn't mean she spares a chance to be happy and hang with friends.

Goths aren't seen as outcasts at my school. But, you're looking at a VERY diverse school. We're K-12 community school, probably the essence of Canada and multiculturalism (we have probably every ethinicity and religion you can think of - and we've had PM Paul Martin visit us: Canadians, yes, that was us last spring).

It's just a different style. As different as prep, skater, ghetto, being in the latest fashion, wearing the latest style, being yourself, athlete style, nerd, punk, grannie, specific brands, or being weird.